John Severino, executive director of ABC in Los Angeles and New York, who also led the CBS station group and served as president of regional sports network Prime Ticket, has died. He was 85 years old.
Severino died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles, his family said.
Between a four-year stint at ABC in New York, Severino was general manager of KABC-TV in Los Angeles from 1974 to 1981 and 1986 to 1988. (He hired presenter Jerry Dunphy during his first season on the station, which went on to reach number 1 in the rankings).
In local news circles, Severino was known for creating the “eyewitness news” format starting as vice president and general manager of WLS-TV in Chicago. Critics called it too sensational, but it proved to be popular with the public.
Prime Ticket, which carried Los Angeles Lakers basketball and LA Kings hockey games, was launched in October 1985 by cable pioneer Bill Daniels and Lakers owner Jerry Bass. Severino worked in offices in Century City from 1988 until announcing his retirement in August 1992. (The channel became Fox Sports West and now Bally Sports West.)
“It’s been a great four-year run,” he said. Los Angeles Times when he left “For three and a half years, I found this job challenging and interesting. But then it started to get a little repetitive and not that difficult.”
He later was CEO of Central European Media, which introduced Western-style television programming to former Eastern Bloc countries, and chairman of CBS’s television stations division, overseeing all 16 O&Os, since 1999.
He was also the general manager of KCBS-TV as part of that job, which spanned several years.
A native of New Haven, Connecticut, Severino graduated from the University of Connecticut, where he played football and was part of four consecutive Yankees Conference championships between 1954 and 1958.
He began his industrial career in 1965 as a sales manager and has lived in Los Angeles since 1974.
Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Sally; sons Mark and David; eight grandchildren; and brother Larry.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
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