Yet few have heard of Batten, a media pioneer whose Virginia newspaper was the only major daily to back school integration. At a time when American corporate greed was making headlines, without fanfare and limelight Batten built a media empire centered on honesty, integrity, and ethics.
Starting out in his uncle’s newspaper business in Norfolk, Virginia, as a reporter and advertising salesman, he assumed leadership of the Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star at the age of twenty-seven and grew Landmark Communications into a media powerhouse. He championed racial equality, a position not often taken in Virginia during the 1950s. His flagship newspaper, the Pilot, was the only daily paper in Virginia to back court-ordered school desegregation. He created two billion-dollar businesses and gave away more than $400 million to charity, nearly all of it to education. As chairman of the Associated Press from 1982 to 1987, he helped guide the news agency back on a sound financial footing.
Batten also faced a tremendous personal challenge that would have sidelined many: he lost his vocal cords to cancer two years before starting the Weather Channel.
This is the untold story of a man whose name few recognize, yet who helped change the face of the media in the twentieth century.
Yet few have heard of Batten, a media pioneer whose Virginia newspaper was the only major daily to back school integration. At a time when American corporate greed was making headlines, without fanfare and limelight Batten built a media empire centered on honesty, integrity, and ethics.
Starting out in his uncle’s newspaper business in Norfolk, Virginia, as a reporter and advertising salesman, he assumed leadership of the Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star at the age of twenty-seven and grew Landmark Communications into a media powerhouse. He championed racial equality, a position not often taken in Virginia during the 1950s. His flagship newspaper, the Pilot, was the only daily paper in Virginia to back court-ordered school desegregation. He created two billion-dollar businesses and gave away more than $400 million to charity, nearly all of it to education. As chairman of the Associated Press from 1982 to 1987, he helped guide the news agency back on a sound financial footing.
Batten also faced a tremendous personal challenge that would have sidelined many: he lost his vocal cords to cancer two years before starting the Weather Channel.
This is the untold story of a man whose name few recognize, yet who helped change the face of the media in the twentieth century.
![Frank Batten: The Untold Story of the Founder of the Weather Channel](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.10.4)
Frank Batten: The Untold Story of the Founder of the Weather Channel
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Frank Batten: The Untold Story of the Founder of the Weather Channel
216Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780813931555 |
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Publisher: | University of Virginia Press |
Publication date: | 08/29/2011 |
Pages: | 216 |
Product dimensions: | 5.70(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.70(d) |
Age Range: | 18 Years |