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Thomas James Snyder (May 12, 1936 – July 29, 2007) was an American television personality, news anchor, and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows '' Tomorrow'', on NBC in the 1970s and 1980s, and '' The Late Late Show'', on CBS in the 1990s. Snyder was also the pioneer anchor of the
prime time Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
''NBC News Update'', in the 1970s and early 1980s, which was a one-minute capsule of news updates.


Early life

Snyder was born in
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,
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, to Frank and Marie Snyder, who were of German, Dutch, and Irish descent. He received a
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
upbringing, attending St. Agnes Elementary School and graduating from
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
-run Marquette University High School. He then attended Marquette University, after which he had originally planned to study medicine and become a doctor. He graduated in 1959 with a major in journalism.


Newscasting career

Snyder loved radio since he was a child and at some point he changed his field of study from pre-med to journalism. He once told ''
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper and also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely read. It was purchased by the G ...
'' reporter Tim Cuprisin that broadcasting became more important to him than attending classes, and he skipped a lot of them. Snyder began his career as a radio reporter at WRIT-AM (unrelated to the present-day FM station) in Milwaukee, now WJYI-AM and at WKZO in
Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...
(where he was fired by John Fetzer) in the 1950s. For a time he worked at
Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...
, AM station WSAV (now WBMQ). Snyder moved into television in the 1960s; he talked about driving cross-country in an early Corvair from
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
to
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
around 1963. After a year-long stint in a news job at
KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is ...
, he became a news anchor for KYW-TV (now WKYC-TV) in Cleveland in 1964. In 1965, when
Westinghouse Broadcasting The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndi ...
moved KYW-TV back to Philadelphia as the result of an FCC ruling, Snyder went along and remained in Philadelphia for five years. In July 1970, Snyder returned to Los Angeles and joined
NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...
, who assigned him to anchor the 6:00 pm (Pacific time) weeknight newscast on
KNBC KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network ...
. Snyder remained in this capacity even after NBC launched the '' Tomorrow'' show with him as host in October 1973, working alongside
Tom Brokaw Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American author and retired network television journalist. He first served as the co-anchor of Today (American TV program), ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anch ...
, Jess Marlow and Paul Moyer at the KNBC anchor desk. Another KNBC broadcaster, Kelly Lange, later became Snyder's regular substitute guest host on the ''Tomorrow'' program, prior to the hiring of co-host Rona Barrett in the program's last year. Snyder moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
in late 1974, taking the ''Tomorrow'' program with him and kept his hand in news, anchoring weeknight newscasts on
WNBC-TV WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo s ...
until 1977, and Sunday broadcasts of ''
NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas'' for its weeknight broadcasts ) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NBC television network ...
'' during 1975 and 1976. Snyder returned to local news in 1982 after ending ''Tomorrow'', to become an anchor at WABC-TV in New York City. In 1985, he returned to Los Angeles but stayed with ABC, to anchor at KABC-TV.


''Tomorrow with Tom Snyder''

Snyder gained national fame as the host of '' Tomorrow with Tom Snyder'' (more commonly known as ''The Tomorrow Show)'', which aired late nights after '' The Tonight Show'' on NBC from 1973 to 1982. It was a talk show unlike the usual late-night fare, with Snyder, cigarette in hand, alternating between asking hard-hitting questions and offering personal observations that made the interview seem more like a conversation. Unique one-on-one exchanges were common to the program, notably with
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
in 1975,
John Lydon John Joseph Lydon ( ; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a British-born singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. He was the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, which was ...
of PiL and the
Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...
in 1980,
Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017) was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some cult members committed a Manson ...
in 1981, actor and writer Sterling Hayden, author
Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave science fiction, New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. His published wo ...
, and author and philosopher
Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; , 1905March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which s ...
. A one-on-one program with David Brenner as the sole guest revealed that Snyder and Brenner worked together on several documentaries. In 1981,
"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...
had his first appearance on national TV performing " Another One Rides the Bus". An infamous edition of ''The Tomorrow Show'' broadcast on October 31, 1979, saw Snyder interview the rock group
KISS A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...
. During the episode, a visibly irritated
Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; ; born August 25, 1949) also known by his stage persona "The Demon", is an Israeli-born American musician. He was the bassist and co-lead singer of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss, which he co-founded wit ...
(bass) and
Paul Stanley Paul Stanley (born Stanley Bert Eisen; January 20, 1952) is an American musician who was the co-founder, frontman, rhythm guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss from the band's inception in 1973 to their retireme ...
(guitar) tried to contain the bombastic (and drunk) Ace Frehley (lead guitar), whose nonstop laughter and joking overshadowed the rest of the band. Snyder and Peter Criss (drummer) were obviously enjoying it though, chiming in with several jokes, much to Frehley's delight, and Simmons' disgust. Criss made repeated references to his large gun collection, to the chagrin of Simmons. Some of the footage from this show was later included on the ''Kissology—The Ultimate KISS Collection'' Vol. 2: 1978–1991 (2007) DVD. In the late 1970s Snyder interviewed Disney animator Ward Kimball regarding his toy train collection and his full-size trains. Snyder appeared to be as happy as a "kid in a candy store," picking up various locomotives and asking lots of questions. Snyder's love of toy trains started with his first Lionel locomotive, a scale steam switcher, which he claimed never worked too well. His collection was later donated to a New Jersey toy train club, the NJ Hi-Railers. When not grilling guests, Snyder would often joke around with offstage crewmen, often breaking out in the distinctively hearty laugh that was the basis of
Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Aykroyd was a writer and an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" cast on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Nigh ...
's impersonation of Snyder on ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'' (12 occasions, 1976–79 and 1995). Following a disastrous experiment with turning ''Tomorrow'' into a more typical talk show—renaming it ''Tomorrow Coast to Coast'' and adding a live audience and co-host Rona Barrett (all of which Snyder resented)—the show was canceled in fall 1981, to make way for the up-and-coming young comedian
David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, and auto racing team owner. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ''Late N ...
, after Snyder turned down moving to the 1:30 to 2:30 am time slot after Letterman.


After ''Tomorrow''

In 1982 Snyder joined WABC-TV in New York, anchoring the 5 pm '' Eyewitness News'' program with Kaity Tong. He stayed at WABC for two years, then returned to the talk format in 1985 at KABC-TV in Los Angeles with a local afternoon show. He had hoped to syndicate the program nationally the following year, but those plans were scratched after
Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...
's Chicago-based syndicated show entered the market first, and took over Snyder's time slot on KABC-TV. In 1988 Snyder inaugurated a similar three-hour program on ABC Radio. The first hour was spent chatting with a celebrity guest; during the second hour Snyder engaged someone in the news; and the final hour was consumed chatting with his legion of fans. Occasionally the caller would be a well-known fan like David Letterman or
Ted Koppel Edward James Martin Koppel (born February 8, 1940) is an American broadcast Journalism, journalist, best known as the News presenter, anchor for ''Nightline'', from the program's inception in 1980 until 2005. Before ''Nightline'', he spent 20 y ...
. One of Snyder's favorite callers was Sherman Hemsley, the actor who played George Jefferson on the hit television sitcom '' The Jeffersons''. The ''Tom Snyder Show'' for ABC Radio Networks went off the air in late 1992. Snyder returned to television on
CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...
on January 21, 1993, adding the opportunity for viewers to call in with their own questions for his guests. Snyder nicknamed his show the Colorcast, reviving an old promotional term NBC-TV used in the early 1960s to brand its color broadcasts. He also continued his trademark of talking to offscreen crew and made frequent reference to the studio, reminding viewers of its location in
Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a Borough (New Jersey), borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop The Palisades (Hudson River), The Palisades. As of the 2020 Uni ...
. The final CNBC show aired on December 1, 1994.


''The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder''

Meanwhile, Letterman had moved on to CBS and was given control of creating a new program to follow his at 12:35 am. Letterman, who had idolized Snyder for years, hired Snyder in 1994 as host of '' The Late Late Show''; the announcement was made by Letterman and CBS president Howard Stringer on August 9 that Snyder's show would begin on January 9, 1995. The idea had actually begun as a running joke on Letterman's show that Snyder would soon follow him on the air as he had once followed
Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, and writer best known as the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson is a cultural phenomenon and w ...
on ''The Tonight Show''; the unlikely suggestion caught on. As part of the joke, Snyder appeared as himself in 1993 in ''
The Larry Sanders Show ''The Larry Sanders Show'' is an American television sitcom set in the office and studio of a fictional late-night talk show. Created by Garry Shandling and Dennis Klein, the show ran for six seasons and List of The Larry Sanders Show episodes, ...
'' episode "Life Behind Larry," in which talk-show host Sanders ( Garry Shandling) steals Snyder from Letterman to host a talk-show in the slot immediately after his. ''The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder'' aired live in the Eastern and Central Time Zones, and was simulcast to other time zones on radio to allow everyone a chance to call in. Snyder's CNBC show was taken over, largely unchanged in format, by Charles Grodin. One of the many interviews conducted on ''The Late Late Show'' was with Gloria Vanderbilt about her son's suicide, told dramatically over an entire hour. Another was a lengthy interview with Robert Blake shortly before Blake was charged with murder. When Snyder took ill with the flu, comedians Martin Mull and Jon Stewart filled in as hosts. Snyder's final ''Late Late Show'' aired on March 26, 1999. It was then reformatted for his successor Craig Kilborn, as a more traditional late night show with an audience, comic monologue, comedy segments, shorter interviews, and a greater emphasis on guests from the entertainment industry. Scottish comedian Craig Ferguson maintained a similar format when he succeeded Kilborn in 2005, though Ferguson cited Snyder as an influence in his interview style, and even experimented with an audience-less episode, in the style of Snyder's tenure, on February 23, 2010. After stepping down from ''The Late Late Show'', Snyder was offered a news anchor position with
KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2), branded CBS Los Angeles, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship station of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the n ...
in Los Angeles, but he declined to join the station. In February 2000, Snyder hosted two episodes of ''The Late Show Backstage'' that aired in ''The Late Show'' time slot when Letterman was recovering from heart surgery. Snyder also hosted a
documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
for TM Books & Video called ''A Century of Lionel Electric Trains'', commemorating 100 years of Lionel Trains covering Lionel from 1900 to 2000. Part 1 featuring Lionel history from 1900 to 1945 and Part 2 featuring Lionel history from 1945 to 2000. Additionally, he hosted another program by TM Books & Video called ''Celebrity Train Layouts Part 2: Tom Snyder'', featuring his own collection of trains.


Colortini.com

Snyder posted regular messages on his own now-defunct website colortini.com during the early 2000s. A "colortini," according to Snyder in the CNBC era, was the drink you should enjoy while watching the show ("Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air."). For the CBS show, he redubbed the mythical drink a "simultini" as his show was also heard on selected radio stations. On July 28, 2005, Snyder announced he was deleting his website after six years, stating: "The novelty of communicating this way has worn off." On August 1, 2005, his page was abruptly taken offline. The front page was replaced with a white screen with the simple phrase: "Colortini is gone. Thanks for the Memories." However, some have been preserved. The
domain name In the Internet, a domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services, and more. ...
has since been reused for other purposes.


Personal life

In addition to being an avid model train collector, Snyder was also a car buff. On his radio and television programs, he would occasionally talk about current cars he owned as well as cars from the 1950s and 1960s he admired or owned in his teens and twenties. When Snyder left ''The Late Late Show'' in 1999, David Letterman gave him a white 1960 Cadillac Series 62 convertible as a going-away present.


Final years and death

In April 2005, Snyder revealed that he had been diagnosed with
chronic lymphocytic leukemia Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow. In CLL, the bone marrow makes too many lymphocytes, which are a type of white blood cell. In patients with CLL, B cell lymphocytes can begin to colle ...
. In June 2006, he sold his home in the Benedict Canyon area of Los Angeles, where he had lived for almost 30 years, and relocated to Belvedere, in the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
, where he owned a second home. Snyder died of complications from leukemia on July 29, 2007, in San Francisco at the age of 71.


Legacy

Snyder was posthumously inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame in 2008. He is played by Ed Helms in '' A Futile and Stupid Gesture''.


Credits


Television


Radio


References


External links

* (archived by
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
on 2006-04-30)
Career timeline
(archived by
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
on 2005-02-10) *
Archival video of Snyder
(KYW-TV news footage from July 15, 1965)
Tom Snyder Radio Show Episodes
*
Tom Snyder's trains


{{DEFAULTSORT:Snyder, Tom American talk radio hosts American television talk show hosts American people of German descent American people of Cornish descent American people of Irish descent Late night television talk show hosts Television anchors from Los Angeles Television anchors from New York City Television anchors from Philadelphia Radio personalities from Milwaukee Mass media people from the San Francisco Bay Area Marquette University alumni Deaths from chronic lymphocytic leukemia Deaths from leukemia in California 1936 births 2007 deaths CNBC people NBC News people CBS News people Marquette University High School alumni