Alfred Michael Masini (January 5, 1930 – November 29, 2010) was an American

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

Life and career

Early life and education

Al Masini was born in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

. Raised by his widowed mother, Masini started working after school at age 10 in a

Tootsie Roll Tootsie Roll () is a chocolate Taffy (candy), taffy candy that has been manufactured in the United States since 1907. The candy has qualities similar to both caramels and taffy without being exactly either confection. The Manufacturing, manu ...

factory to help support the family after his father died. Masini graduated from Xavier High School in 1948 and from

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

in 1952, where he was a three-sport star. After serving as an

Air Force officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, he found a job in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

News department. From there he moved to CBS Network Station Relations and then into television sales."Al Masini: January 5, 1930 - November 29, 2010" ''MarketWire via Yahoo! Finance''
December 1, 2010 By the late 1950s, Masini was a spot sales representative for the Edward Petry Company (now Petry Media), an advertising company. There he developed sales systems and procedures and established the first programming department. He also created individual spot pricing, a system by which each individual spot was priced according to the actual size of the audience.

TeleRep

In December 1968, Masini founded TeleRep in New York City to sell advertisements for client television stations. TeleRep grew to represent hundreds of stations and entered the TV programming business. The firm is now part of CoxReps, a television station sales company.

Operation Prime Time

In 1976 Masini and TeleRep organized

Operation Prime Time Operation Prime Time (OPT) was a consortium of American independent television stations to develop prime time programming for independent stations. OPT and its spin-off syndication company, Television Program Enterprises (TPE), were formed by ...

, a consortium of American independent television stations, to develop high-quality prime time programming for local, independent stations. Working with Richard H. Frank, who was the general manager of

KCOP-TV KCOP-TV (channel 13), branded Fox 11 Plus, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet K ...

Los Angeles, Shelly Cooper, general manager of

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...

Chicago, and representatives of

KTVU KTVU (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Oakland, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division along ...

WPIX WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City, serving as the ''de facto'' flagship of The CW Television Network. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, the station is operated by CW majority owner Nexstar Media Group under a local market ...

and

KSTW KSTW (channel 11), branded on-air as Seattle 11, is an independent television station licensed to Tacoma, Washington, United States, serving the Seattle area. Owned by the CBS News and Stations group, the station maintains its transmitter on ...

, Masini organized a plan by which individual stations, acting collectively, would commission their own big-budget programs, thereby circumventing the major networks. Under this arrangement, the bulk of commercial time would be sold on a local basis, reversing the pattern followed by the major networks. Operation Prime Time was launched in May 1977, with ''Testimony of Two Men'', a six-hour series based on

Taylor Caldwell Janet Miriam Caldwell (September 7, 1900August 30, 1985) was a British-born American novelist and prolific author of popular fiction under the pen names Taylor Caldwell, Marcus Holland and Max Reiner. She was also known by a variation of her mar ...

’s best-selling novel, debuting on 93 stations. Another early program,

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was an English television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ...

’s conversations with

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

, drew 45 million viewers. Among the early executives to sign on were

Frank Price Frank Price (born May 17, 1930) is an American retired television writer and film studio executive. He held a number of executive positions including head of Universal TV; president, and later chairman and CEO, of Columbia Pictures; and presid ...

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a division of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#Universal Studio Group, Universal Studio Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which, in turn, is ...

, who offered the Caldwell novel, and Archa Knowlton, media-services director for General Foods. Operation Prime Time specials include many

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

nominees and several Emmy winners, such as

Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cin ...

in ''

A Woman Called Golda ''A Woman Called Golda'' is a 1982 American made-for-television film biopic of Israeli Prime Minister of Israel, Prime Minister Golda Meir directed by Alan Gibson (director), Alan Gibson and starring Ingrid Bergman in what would become the fina ...

'', about Israeli Prime minister

Golda Meir Golda Meir (; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was the prime minister of Israel, serving from 1969 to 1974. She was Israel's first and only female head of government. Born into a Jewish family in Kyiv, Kiev, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) ...

;

Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. In the BFI, British Film Institute listing of 1999 of BFI Top 100 British films, the 100 most important British films of the 20th century ...

in ''Smiley’s People'';

Louis Gossett Jr. Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. (May 27, 1936 – March 29, 2024) was an American actor. He made his stage debut at the age of 17. Shortly thereafter, he successfully auditioned for the Broadway theatre, Broadway play ''Take a Giant Step.'' Gossett co ...

in '' Sadat'', a 1983 miniseries on Egyptian President

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until Assassination of Anwar Sadat, his assassination by fundame ...

; Robert Blake in ''

Blood Feud A feud , also known in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, private war, or mob war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clans. Feuds begin ...

'', about

Jimmy Hoffa James Riddle Hoffa (; born February 14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975, declared dead July 30, 1982) was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 to 1971. He i ...

and

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...

; and

Barbara Taylor Bradford Barbara Taylor Bradford (10 May 1933 – 24 November 2024) was a British Americans, British-American best-selling novelist. Her debut novel, ''A Woman of Substance (novel), A Woman of Substance'', was published in 1979 and sold over 30 mi ...

’s '' A Woman of Substance''. Masini also founded Television Program Enterprises (TPE), the production arm of TeleRep. TPE owned and ran Operation Prime Time. Masini created and produced many popular syndicated series and made-for-TV movies. His programs won more than 35 Emmy Awards and include the long-running shows ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Par ...

''; ''

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous ''Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous'' is an American television series that aired in syndication from 1984 to 1995. The show featured the extravagant lifestyles of wealthy entertainers, athletes, socialites and magnates. Cast and crew Th ...

;

Fame, Fortune and Romance ''Fame, Fortune and Romance'' is an American television series about the lives of the wealthy and famous, hosted by Robin Leach and Matt Lauer. A spin-off of the television series ''Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous'', the show aired on ABC at ...

''; '' Solid Gold''; and ''

Star Search ''Star Search'' (later known as ''Ed McMahon's Star Search'') is an American television show that was produced by T.P.E./ Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Al Masini. A relaunch was produced by 29 ...

''. For ''Entertainment Tonight,'' Masini pioneered the use of satellites to transmit the syndicated program.

Activism

Masini and his third wife, April Masini, lobbied to change Hawaii state law to lure movie and TV productions to the islands. They have been credited with persuading the producers of ''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American Drama (film and television), drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz ...

'' and '' Pacific Blue'' to film in Hawaii, and they brought the

Miss Universe 1998 Miss Universe 1998 was the 47th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 12 May 1998 at the Stan Sheriff Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii. Wendy Fitzwilliam of Trinidad and Tobago was crowned by Brook Lee of the United States at the end of the event. Th ...

Pageant to the Stan Sheriff Arena, along with delegations and news media from 85 countries.

Death

Masini died of

melanoma Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it develops from the melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes. It typically occurs in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye (uveal melanoma). In very rare case ...

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

. His survivors were Charlyn Honda Masini, whom he had married in 2001, a sister, Melba Marvinny, and two nieces. He had no children of his own.

Awards

Broadcasting Inaugural Hall of Fame, 1991

National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a Industry trade group, trade association and lobbying, lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasting, broadcasters in th ...

, Broadcast Pioneer Award, 2003

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Masini, Alfred 1930 births 2010 deaths United States Air Force personnel of the Korean War Businesspeople from Jersey City, New Jersey Deaths from cancer in Hawaii Deaths from melanoma in the United States Fordham University alumni Operation Prime Time United States Air Force officers 20th-century American businesspeople Television producers from New Jersey Military personnel from Jersey City, New Jersey