I just learned that Harvey Nagler, who for the past two decades has been in charge of radio news at CBS, has announced he'll retire in January after nearly 30 years with CBS and more than 50 years in radio news.
My contact with Harvey Nagler was limited to the time when I was working at CBS all-news radio station WWJ in Detroit in the early 1990s. Harvey was news director of all-news WCBS-AM in New York, and I went to New York to observe their operations, which at that time were based in the corporate headquarters building in Midtown known as Black Rock.
Harvey made sure I saw the entire operation, from how scripts were written, to how producers created half-hour newscasts and how anchors presented those casts on the air. He was generous with his time and attention during my visit.
But Harvey also wanted to ensure that I got to see the famed cafeteria in Black Rock, which was the envy of the network radio folks, who operated out of the Broadcast Center on W. 57th Street. It was a quite nice cafeteria (I guess Bill Paley expected no less), and it was treated as a sign of honor that I was able to experience the Black Rock cafeteria.
I have fond memories of my visit to WCBS-AM all those years ago and the kind welcome I received from Harvey Nagler.