Jeff Gralnick

Jeff Gralnick began what is now a 45-year career in broadcast news in 1959 as desk assistant and coffee and donut wrangler at a little organization called CBS News that at the time had a 15-minute network newscast called Douglas Edwards with The News.

In his 11 years with CBS News, he was first a writer for Harry Reasoner an Walter Cronkite and then a producer in special events covering among other things every space launch from Alan Shepard to the landings on the moon and the political conventions and elections of 1964 and 1968. He served as field reporter for six months in 1968 in Viet Nam reporting for the network on the Tet Offensive and the battle for Khe Sanh and then went back behind the camera where he finished at CBS as one of the first producers on a new little program called 60 Minutes, working again with Harry Reason and Mike Wallace.

After a year off from broadcasting working in politics as George McGovern’s press secretary, he returned to television in 1972 and rejoined Harry Reasoner as a field producer on the ABC Evening News with Harry Reasoner and Howard K. Smith.

During his first 20 years with ABC News, he served as executive producer of World News Tonight twice and as vice president and executive producer of special events. In that role, he produced ABC’s coverage of every Convention and Election from 1980 to 1992, the four days of Liberty Weekend special programming as well as instant coverage of first space shuttle disaster and much more.

In 1993 a call from Tom Brokaw took him to NBC News where for the next three years he served as Executive Producer of the NBC Nightly News helping to take the program from third place to where it has remained ever since—first place.

In 1996 he returned to ABC News where he served as Vice President and Assistant to the Chairman of News to help start ABCNews.com which continues today as one of the more successful news Internet sites.

In 1999 he left ABC News once again to become Executive Vice President of Financial News for CNN and finally in 2001 took a step back and formed E-Splosion Consulting. As its chairman, he has continued to work in broadcasting and new media for—among others--Public Television, CNBC and now once again with NBC News.