Woody Allen, Bob Dylan and Me

About the Book

This book is a compilation of articles written over the past twenty-five years or so. They were published individually by The TV Quarterly Magazine. This is the first time they appear in print all together. They were originally written to express opinions and feelings about how the broadcast industry was developing.

They now serve as a sterling review and retrospective of an industry that has literally changed the world we live in and how we see that world.

These articles were written by an insider in that industry and were intended for insiders and the general public to use as guidelines for perspectives and perceptions that are constantly changing.

"Getting back to Woody Allen, Bob Dylan And Me, I loved it! I don't think there is a single actor, actress scriptwriter, director, musician, agent, TV studio, etc., etc. who is not mentioned time and again and always with a new recollection and a new twist. At this time the book is being bicycled around from one of my kids to another. For anyone who has had any curiosity about the last fifty or sixty years of television, it is a must. Of course my lending it to my Kids does not help your sales — but that's life!"
-Mr Robert I. Smith, Former Public Relations Director, United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York

About the Author

Julius "Jack" Kuney

• Born: 7/24/1919
• Graduated: University of Illinois 1942 with a B.A. in Speech
• First Radio job: WDWS 1940
• Military Service: 1942-1945 U.S. Navy Dept of Communications
• First TV job: CBS 1952 Program Producer Children's Program 1-2-3 GO!
• Retired from Brooklyn College, N.Y. in 1989 as Head of Television School of Communications

In his own words...

"At Illinois however, I did pinpoint my life's career; first radio and then, as it emerged, television. I played many roles: Producer, Director, and Executive, and finally, as a Teacher." "My coming of age as a writer came twenty years ago when I was awarded an Emmy, the much prized statuette given by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for excellence in radio and television. At the time of its reward, as I read the plaque on its base: ÔOutstanding individual award for a writer to Jack Kuney, I felt liberated, my hidden creative demons had surfaced and been recognized. I had received many other awards during my long television career, but none gave me greater satisfaction than this one as a writer."

"There were things happening I didn't write about, stories affecting all of us who worked in television during its formative years. Something was occurring every day that warranted documentation, but I didn't have the perspective to write about them. I watched from my NBC office in Radio City as the network was divided in two by the FCC, creating the new American Broadcasting Company; I saw the beginnings of the blacklist in radio and television, with its tragic implications; I noticed a chimp named Jiggs come up on the NBC elevators, with Dave Garroway holding its hand, eager to appear on the first versions of the Today show; I sat on the sidelines watching the battle between NBC and CBS over color; I was present at the first demonstration by the Ampex Corporation of Videotape; then went back to the editing room as we cut that tape with a demagnetized scissors- electronic editing was yet to come."

"I looked on with wonder as a whole parade of technical innovation passed by: shrinking cameras to hand-held size. I listened with new microphones which heard more with greater clarity. I recorded with taping systems which were portable, filmed with cameras which could be carried. I was amazed at computerized, electronic editing when it came along, even more amazed at dishes and satellites which could send those signals around the world"

On June 23, 2005, The Florida Association of Broadcasters met for their 70th annual convention at the Four Seasons Resort in West Palm Beach, Florida. At luncheon that day they presented their yearly Broadcast Pioneer Award to Jack Kuney.