By John Donovan
BUSINESS PARTNERS OF DON MARKETING
I had a meeting in 1979 with NBC Entertainment President, Myron “Mike” Weinblatt (left). My colleague Don Redhead and I made a presentation to the full board of NBC at the Rockefeller Centre in New York. Also present; Irwin S. Segelstein (President NBC Television) and W Watts Biggers (Buck Biggers – shown right) NBC VP Advertising & Promotions.
Following negotiations in New York and London with NBC Senior Vice President Steve Sohmer, I subsequently signed an agreement for a joint NBC/Don Marketing project with Ray Timothy, President of NBC Television. Lars H Lenck, President of Don Marketing USA, a former Chevron executive, was also involved in the negotiations with NBC.
Steve Sohmer NBC Senior VP
Also had a meeting in 1979 with Robert Hoskins, President of CBS Radio Division, at his New York apartment.
This was quickly followed by meetings with James H. Rosenfield the President of CBS TV Network. The first was an early morning meeting at CBS NY HQ known as Black Rock. My colleague Don Redhead and I we were served breakfast by his butler. Mr. Rosenfield kindly arranged for us to meet later the same day with Walter Yetnikoff, the then President of CBS Records.
Walter Yetnikoff
Obituary: Myron Weinblatt (76) former president of NBC Entertainment and one of the first network executives to move into cable TV as president of Showtime in 1980. Weinblatt (right) was president of Multimedia Entertainment Inc. and spearheaded the 1983 merger of Showtime with The Movie Channel Inc., creating a cable company second only to HBO. He died of Alzheimer’s disease in New York City on August 18, 2005.
Interview with Jim Rosenfield at the Media Legends Dinner on June 6th, 2013.
His business card when Don Redhead and I met Mr Rosenfield on 24 July 1979
Also met with Bertrand M. Fainberg, Director of Business Affairs at ABC Television Network.
Business card given to us by Mr Fainberg when we had dinner with him at the New York Hilton.
Also met Robert L. Hosking. President of the CBS Radio Division at his NY City apartment. Meeting arranged by Steve Sohmer.
The CBS-Broadcast Group announced Monday Robert L. Hosking has…
Business Card for our NY lawyers: DIFALCO AMHURST SMITHSON TANNENBAUM & DUVAL: 605 THIRD AVENUE, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10016
Last but not least, the business card of the late great Dick Kane, co-founder of Marden-Kane, Inc. A sales promotions and marketing company. Took us many times for lunch at the Friar’s Club in NY City. Non-stop jokes from an avid admirer of Benny Hill. My memory, perhaps faulty, is that he always dressed in light coloured suits like an entertainer, which he certainly was. He always insisted on paying. Nothing but fond memories of him and his enthusiasm for innovative sales promotion campaigns. So good to see his photograph and article about him all these years later. It confirms that my memory of Dick Kane is correct.
JIM CLARKE OF ZETTERS
Another good man that we had dealings with in 1967 and again from 1979 onwards, was Mr Jim Clarke (now deceased) for many years Managing Director of Zetters Football Pools in the UK. He was later awarded the British Empire Medal for his services to sport. See News Years Honours List for 2004. Clarke, James Dudley Henderson, BEM, Chair, London Marathon. For serv Sport. (James Dudley Henderson Clarke)
From an article published in The Times on 10 Sept 2012
James Clarke
Executive at the Zetters Pools company whose organisational flair brought order to the chaos of the London Marathon’s entry system
There are few people in the world of the marathon that could be described as a “genius”, but this was the verdict of Chris Brasher, the co-founder of the London Marathon, on James Clarke.
Clarke was chairman of the board of directors of the London Marathon from July 1995 until May 2009. He had been a trustee of the London Marathon Charitable Trust since 1987 and was recently appointed its vice president.
The infant London Marathon was overwhelmed by would-be entrants from its inception in 1981. In those far-off days, before computers had come to the rescue, the race was hopelessly oversubscribed.
Given its helter-skelter genesis it was hardly surprising that Brasher, John Disley and the marathon team had come up with a bizarre entry… FULL ARTICLE
Former London Marathon chairman Clarke dies
By Mike Rowbottom
September 16 – Jim Clarke, who served as chairman of the London Marathon from 1995 to 2009 and was instrumental in setting up the entry system for the first event in 1981, has died at the age of 89.
Clarke (pictured), who was awarded the OBE and BEM, had also been a trustee of the London Marathon Charitable Trust since 1987, having been brought into the organisation by co-founder Chris Brasher, who felt his expertise and familiarity with handling mass mail handling operations in his position as chief executive of the pools company Zetters would be ideal for the organising of marathon entries.
Clarke went on to join the London Marathon board in 1991, and was recently appointed vice-president.
London Marathon chief executive Nick Bitel commented: “Jim was a true gentleman, a stalwart who turned out at all London Marathon events to support both the competitors and staff and in all weathers. FULL ARTICLE