Stanton, Frank

Frank Stanton, in full Frank Nicholas Stanton, (born March 20, 1908, Muskegon, Mich., U.S.—died Dec. 24, 2006, Boston, Mass.), innovative American radio and television executive, who was president of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from 1946 to 1971.

Stanton grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and attended Ohio Wesleyan University (B.A., 1930) and Ohio State University (M.A., 1932; Ph.D., 1935). His doctoral dissertation on measuring the reactions of broadcast audiences to radio programming led to a summer job with the network. His subsequent rise in the broadcasting hierarchy was rapid, and by age 38 he was president of CBS. With chairman William S. Paley, Stanton helped transform CBS into a communications empire, especially noted for its powerful and preeminent television network. Combining popular entertainment programming—including I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners—with highly respected journalism, CBS was acclaimed as the “Tiffany Network.”

Stanton’s career included several decisive actions. In 1954 he backed a segment on Edward R. Murrow’s See It Now program that challenged Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and his allegations of communist subversion in the U.S. government. The show was credited by many as bringing about the end of McCarthyism. In the late 1950s, when scandals had tarnished numerous personalities in televised quiz programs, Stanton discontinued the network’s remaining quiz shows. In 1960 he flouted the Federal Communications Commission’s “equal time” regulation to broadcast debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, the only presidential candidates he considered significant. A decade later he refused to submit to Congress CBS’s preparatory materials for the controversial documentary The Selling of the Pentagon. In 1971 he argued in hearings in Washington, D.C., that broadcasting should enjoy the same freedoms as the press under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

After stepping down as CBS president in 1971, Stanton served as vice chairman (1971–73) before retiring from the network. From 1973 to 1979 he was chairman of the American Red Cross. Later he was on the boards of several institutions, including the Rockefeller Foundation and Harvard University. The recipient of numerous honours, Stanton received five Peabody Awards (1959, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1972) during his career. In 1986 he was elected to the Television Academy Hall of Fame.