Gabe Pressman
Encyclopedia
Gabe Pressman is the senior correspondent for WNBC-TV. Pressman has been a journalist in the New York City area for over 60 years. He is considered one of the pioneers of United States television news
.
.http://www.nbcnewyork.com/station/about-us/Gabe_Pressman.html He attended public schools there and was graduated from Morris High School
.http://docs.newsbank.com/g/GooglePM/CC/lib01217,1064A02355D91CD3.htmlhttp://www.nysbroadcasters.org/history/hall-of-fame/2006-inductees/gabe-pressman/ Pressman is a graduate of New York University
and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
. He is a past president of the New York Press Club
, and as head of that organization fought for the rights of New York's journalists, both print and electronic.
. He won many of those awards for his coverage of the plight of New York City's homeless population.
He is now working on his memoirs.
He is a current member of the Inner Circle
After serving in World War II
, Pressman worked for various New York City newspapers before becoming a reporter in 1954 for what then was NBC
's radio
station WNBC
, and moved over to television
in 1956. Since 1945, Pressman has covered the lives of ten New York City mayors, ten New York State governors, 15 New York Senators, and 13 United States Presidents. Many of those politicians and other world leaders have said "Well, Gabe" at least once in response to Pressman's pointed questioning.
Pressman was also the co-anchor (with Bill Ryan) of New York's first early-evening half-hour newscast, the Pressman-Ryan Report, born out of a devastating 1963 New York City-area newspaper strike.
Pressman covered the New York region for NBC News
, WNBC-TV
and WNBC-AM
radio. He was sent by the network to report on many historic events, including the 1956 sinking of the Andrea Doria
, Elvis Presley
's Army stint which went through Brooklyn
, one-on-one interviews with Marilyn Monroe
, Harry S Truman and Fidel Castro
, the 1964 arrival of the Beatles at Kennedy Airport, the murder of Malcolm X
, chasing after newly inaugurated New York mayor John Vliet Lindsay in the streets during a 1966 transit strike, the 1968 Democratic National Convention
in Chicago, where he reported on the clashes between demonstrators and police
, and the aftermath of the assassinations of John F. Kennedy
, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr..
Pressman was a reporter for NBC News
at the Woodstock music festival in upstate New York in 1969. He is seen in the motion picture Woodstock (film)
that came out of the festival.
Pressman spent the bulk of his broadcast career with NBC, except for a period 1972—79, when he reported for what was then the Metromedia
station, WNEW-TV (now WNYW
).
In Pressman's later WNBC-TV years, he was sent to Israel
quite often to cover Middle Eastern crises and conflicts, and often dealt with Israel
i, Palestinian
and other Mideast politicians and diplomats back in his home base of New York. It was always joked amongst New York television insiders that Gabe had covered Middle Eastern politics since the time of Moses
– Robert Moses
– but on a serious note Pressman's reporting on Israel pre-dated the state's official 1947 existence.
Gabe Pressman worked with producer Inara de Leon for over 14 years, until the long-time NBC producer asked for, and was granted, an early retirement package in December 2006.
Every Christmas, Pressman re-tells the story of the famed New York Sun
column Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
set to drawings by graphic artist Roy Ruan. Gabe's interpretation of the classic tale has been featured every Christmas for over 30 years.
His reputation as an intrepid reporter is the subject of a gentle lampoon on a recording of Bob and Ray
("The Two and Only," Columbia Records
, ca. 1970).
A reporter billed as "Gabe Pressman" was played by actor J.D. Cullum in Billy Crystal
's HBO film 61*, reporting unfavorably on the baseball exploits of Roger Maris
(played by Barry Pepper
).
United States television news
Television news in the United States has evolved over many years. It has gone from a simple 10- to 15-minute format in the evenings, to a variety of programs and channels...
.
Early years
Pressman grew up in the New York City Borough of the BronxThe Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
.http://www.nbcnewyork.com/station/about-us/Gabe_Pressman.html He attended public schools there and was graduated from Morris High School
Morris High School (Bronx, New York)
Morris High School was a high school in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It was built in 1897. It was the first high school built in the Bronx...
.http://docs.newsbank.com/g/GooglePM/CC/lib01217,1064A02355D91CD3.htmlhttp://www.nysbroadcasters.org/history/hall-of-fame/2006-inductees/gabe-pressman/ Pressman is a graduate of New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is one of Columbia's graduate and professional schools. It offers three degree programs: Master of Science in journalism , Master of Arts in journalism and a Ph.D. in communications...
. He is a past president of the New York Press Club
New York Press Club
The New York Press Club is a membership organization of and for journalists and media professionals in the New York City metropolitan area. The club is a private, non-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any government office or agency and does not advocate or participate in any political...
, and as head of that organization fought for the rights of New York's journalists, both print and electronic.
Awards
Pressman's many awards for his work include eight Emmy Awards, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and a Peabody AwardPeabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
. He won many of those awards for his coverage of the plight of New York City's homeless population.
Personal life
Pressman lives with his wife and son in the New York area. He has three children from a previous marriage.He is now working on his memoirs.
He is a current member of the Inner Circle
Working life in broadcast journalism
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Pressman worked for various New York City newspapers before becoming a reporter in 1954 for what then was NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
station WNBC
WFAN
WFAN , also known as "Sports Radio 66" or "The FAN", is a radio station in New York City. The station broadcasts on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio...
, and moved over to television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
in 1956. Since 1945, Pressman has covered the lives of ten New York City mayors, ten New York State governors, 15 New York Senators, and 13 United States Presidents. Many of those politicians and other world leaders have said "Well, Gabe" at least once in response to Pressman's pointed questioning.
Pressman was also the co-anchor (with Bill Ryan) of New York's first early-evening half-hour newscast, the Pressman-Ryan Report, born out of a devastating 1963 New York City-area newspaper strike.
Pressman covered the New York region for NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
, WNBC-TV
WNBC
WNBC, virtual channel 4 , is the flagship station of the NBC television network, located in New York City. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan...
and WNBC-AM
WFAN
WFAN , also known as "Sports Radio 66" or "The FAN", is a radio station in New York City. The station broadcasts on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio...
radio. He was sent by the network to report on many historic events, including the 1956 sinking of the Andrea Doria
SS Andrea Doria
SS Andrea Doria[p] was an ocean liner for the Italian Line home ported in Genoa, Italy, most famous for its sinking in 1956, when 46 people died. Named after the 16th-century Genoese admiral Andrea Doria, the ship had a gross register tonnage of 29,100 and a capacity of about 1,200 passengers and...
, Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's Army stint which went through Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, one-on-one interviews with Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, Harry S Truman and Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, the 1964 arrival of the Beatles at Kennedy Airport, the murder of Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
, chasing after newly inaugurated New York mayor John Vliet Lindsay in the streets during a 1966 transit strike, the 1968 Democratic National Convention
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...
in Chicago, where he reported on the clashes between demonstrators and police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
, and the aftermath of the assassinations of John F. Kennedy
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr..
Pressman was a reporter for NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
at the Woodstock music festival in upstate New York in 1969. He is seen in the motion picture Woodstock (film)
Woodstock (film)
Woodstock is a 1970 American documentary on the Woodstock Festival that took place in August 1969 at Bethel in New York. Entertainment Weekly called this film the benchmark of concert movies and one of the most entertaining documentaries ever made...
that came out of the festival.
Pressman spent the bulk of his broadcast career with NBC, except for a period 1972—79, when he reported for what was then the Metromedia
Metromedia
Metromedia was a media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and owned Orion Pictures from 1986-1997.- Overview :...
station, WNEW-TV (now WNYW
WNYW
WNYW, virtual channel 5 , is the flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan...
).
In Pressman's later WNBC-TV years, he was sent to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
quite often to cover Middle Eastern crises and conflicts, and often dealt with Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i, Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
and other Mideast politicians and diplomats back in his home base of New York. It was always joked amongst New York television insiders that Gabe had covered Middle Eastern politics since the time of Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
– Robert Moses
Robert Moses
Robert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...
– but on a serious note Pressman's reporting on Israel pre-dated the state's official 1947 existence.
Gabe Pressman worked with producer Inara de Leon for over 14 years, until the long-time NBC producer asked for, and was granted, an early retirement package in December 2006.
Every Christmas, Pressman re-tells the story of the famed New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
column Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
Is There a Santa Claus? was the title of an editorial appearing in the September 21, 1897, edition of The New York Sun. The editorial, which included the famous reply "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus", has become an indelible part of popular Christmas folklore in the United States and...
set to drawings by graphic artist Roy Ruan. Gabe's interpretation of the classic tale has been featured every Christmas for over 30 years.
His reputation as an intrepid reporter is the subject of a gentle lampoon on a recording of Bob and Ray
Bob and Ray
Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding were an American comedy team whose career spanned five decades. Their format was typically to satirize the medium in which they were performing, such as conducting radio or television interviews, with off-the-wall dialogue presented in a generally deadpan style as...
("The Two and Only," Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, ca. 1970).
A reporter billed as "Gabe Pressman" was played by actor J.D. Cullum in Billy Crystal
Billy Crystal
William Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes...
's HBO film 61*, reporting unfavorably on the baseball exploits of Roger Maris
Roger Maris
Roger Eugene Maris was an American Major League Baseball right fielder. During the 1961 season, he hit a record 61 home runs for the New York Yankees, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record of 60 home runs...
(played by Barry Pepper
Barry Pepper
Barry Robert Pepper is a Canadian actor. He is best known for playing roles like Sergeant Michael Strank in the Clint Eastwood film, Flags of Our Fathers, Private Daniel Jackson in Saving Private Ryan, Roger Maris in 61*, Ned Pepper in True Grit and for his recent role as Robert F...
).