Has Anyone Seen Tom Snyder lately?

He was described as mean, ornery, conceited, self important and an aristocratic self centered man.... A surf board bully on a private beach, and a son-of-a-bitch of the first order. People were told not to speak to him if they saw him walk the hallways, riding an elevator, or sitting in the network cafeteria at NBC headquarters, better known as '30 Rock' He was known to literally take a stranger's head off, should they cross that line. Many would say that Tom Snyder was only on, when the camera was on.

He was also described as professional, a hard worker, kind, funny, fiercely private, a perfectionist, a family man, competitive, a work-a-hollic and one of the best television news reporters, anchors and interviewers in the business. From 1974 to 1983, Tom Snyder ruled late night network television in America as host of the NBC-TV program called The Tomorrow Show. It followed perhaps one of the most watched, celebrated, and highly acclaimed television programs in America at the time, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Tomorrow aired at the then Un-Godly hour of 1am. Even with that odd hour of a broadcast for a network program, ( One in the morning for Christ sakes!!!! ) nearly everyone in the broadcasting and media business in general, would make it a point to watch. Tomorrow was one of those rarest of Television programs for that, or any time. In the tradition of 'firsts,' it could be argued that The Tomorrow Show followed in footsteps of ground breaking programs on the NBC Television Network like Today, and the Tonight Show. In short, a program not to be missed.

During that time he was also anchor of WNBC-TV's NEWSCENTER 4 local news program seen in the New York market. He was the first to do NBC News Update, which was a major, and risky, addition to the Network scene at the time. It pre-dated the explosion of cable television that came later. Prior to that, a lot of stops in between, that included KYW-TV, in Philadelphia and KNBC-TV in Los Angeles. It was a busy period for the Wisconsin native, who in his own way was breaking new ground each day. Here was a man in a rare setting: pulling off both local and network television programming without missing a beat. He was literally, everywhere.

His last stop was the follow-up program to Late Night with David Letterman, on the CBS-TV Network. It was simply called the Late, Late Show with Tom Snyder. After that, well, silence.... until the creation of the web site known as COLORTINI DOT COM where Snyder let it all hang out. And let it all hang out he did... lots of jabs at political coverage on current network television. Calling it as he saw it on both the Bush administration, the war in Iraq, domestic policy, social security, the game of cat-and-mouse in the terrorism debate, and those who parrot the line of the Bush camp, out in the popular press. Indeed, colortini was a needed breath of fresh air amid those who share the political view of, say, Matt Drudge, or dear old Rush.

In recent months going in the second half of 2005, Snyder revealed that both he and his brother were suffering from a rare form of leukemia. He kept plugging away on his web site, none-the-less, making a lot of us laugh, and sharing insights into the broadcasting business that few in that industry reveal, either publicly or privately. Then, suddenly, sometime after Halloween the colortini web site, too, ceased operation. All one gets now when going there is a 'Thanks for the memories' message.

For what it is worth, the Snyder interviews that most stick out in my mind would run along these lines: His 'Q and A' with ex-Beatle John Lennon back in 1975. Lennon, five years before his tragic death in New York in 1980, did not offer very many interviews, to anyone, during his so-called 'hidden' years. Another was a truly revealing interview with the former actor of the 1940's and '50's, Sterling Hayden, who was on TOMORROW to push his book about his life. Snyder got more out of him then mere talk of his book project. Hayden revealed, perhaps for the first time, his regrets over 'naming names,' he said he was forced to disclose, during the Mc Carthy era of the 1950's. He was, at the time, making a comeback after years out of the public view. There were other Q & A's' with folks like the noted film director, Peter Bogdonovich, noted Tee Vee documentarian and journalist, Bill Moyers, then of CBS-TV, and one in France with the ousted Iranian President, Bani Sadr. Turns out that Sadr was living as an exile in Paris, and didn't trust many reporters in the American media. He did trust Snyder, and he knew about the international influence of the Tomorrow Show. Didn't know, like many viewers of the NBC-TV program, that Snyder spoke fluent French! And last, but certainly not least, was his jailhouse interview with convicted mass murderer Charles Manson. Out of the friendly confines of a climate controlled, and 'cooled' Television studio with the soft lights of a late night night program, and out-in- the-field, or trenches, Snyder seemed completely in his element. That Manson interview was riveting television.

One thing I have to add here about Tom Snyder, he was NOT a racist. As a journalist who is Black, I was impressed with the way he handled African-American subjects. That is, he was ALWAYS fair and friendly, rather than hostile or condescending. That is, his interviews with people of color, especially Black Americans, was even keeled. His interviews with noted leaders such as the civil rights figure Jesse Jackson, Disco song writer and producer, the late Van Mc Coy, comedian Richard Pryor, Jazz guitarist George Benson, and Rock and Roll icon, Chuck Berry made superb viewing. His interview with play-write Geoffrey Holder, was lively, and together, they both made it a great television event, as well.

The surfacing of the Colortini web site first came to light for me, in of all places, the media column in the New York Post newspaper in early 2004. There was talk about the murder rap California cops had placed on former Tee Vee actor Robert Blake, known for his role in the 1970's-era detective series, Barretta. Snyder, according to The Post, had written that Blake in his view was a man who was 'ready to fly off the handle at any minute.' Snyder believed that he was quite capable of killing his grifter wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley, in a fit of rage. That short note of the Snyder web site in 2004, an election year, helped it grow by leaps and bounds. It was amazing just how many people logged-on ( I read somewhere of upwards of two million 'hits' during one monthly period,) to read his twice monthly comments on the news of the day. I should know, I was one of them.

When I was a student at the Community Film Workshop Council ( CFWC) in New York back in 1977, Bob Teague, New York's first televison reporter of African-American descent, was the news writing instructor. Teague was a long-time, and highly respected reporter at WNBC-TV's NEWSCENTER 4 program. He was a tough 'take no prisoner' kind of instructor. I have to say, one of the best professors, instructors or teachers I've ever had. A proud Black man, and a straight shooter, Teague was simply no-nonsense. He understood his legacy, as a 'first.' The importance of a Black man doing a great job, in a highly visible position, in the New York market. Teague was a veteran newspaper reporter for The New York Times in the 1950's, before he made the jump to television during the newspaper strike of 1962. Towards the end of my 18 week journalism training cycle at the CFWC, I asked Mr. Teague what was it like to work around Tom Snyder, inside the WNBC Newsroom at 30 Rock. Teague paused for a moment, a broad closed-mouth smile crossed his face, and all he would say was, "He is a Professional." In Teague's books about local Television news, one of them, the noted tome, LIVE AND OFF-COLOR: NEWSBIZ, he referred to Snyder as the "NBC-TV Superstar." Nothing more. No other kind of references, good, bad or indifferent. Just that.

I am not writing the Tom Snyder 'Obit' just yet. But I have to say that he, from a-far, had a positive, though indirect impact on my career. That impact is with me everyday from the way I do interviews, to the way in which I approach a news story. With confidence. Or at least the air of confidence. Ha! He was, and remains, one of those rare television personalities who seemed completely relaxed once that RED LIGHT on top of the main camera came on. For those of us who know what that is like, to sit there, and to feel the butterflies rumble in the belly, inside of a cold television studio, not to mention with hot and bright lights in your face, as the floor director delivers 'the countdown,' and, as the red light is about to go on, well, it is a sensation few really know. Pure terror!!! Ha!

All is quiet on the Tom Snyder front at present. His brother, in a deadly serious, but joking manner called himself Leukemia one, and referred to his brother, Tom Snyder, as Leukemia two. Tom Snyder shared that with his audience this past Fall on his web site, as he shared so much of his personal life during the broadcasting years with those who tuned-in. Snyder will be 69 years old sometime in 2006. I wish him well.

One other thing I have to add here before I sign-off.... Many so-called 'Superstars' are not known to personally answer mail from inquiring fans. Such jobs, it is believed, are left to those down the food chain.

Tom Snyder personally answered an E-mail two years ago I had sent when I told him about one Tomorrow Show guest I had encountered in the city..... It was a memorable guest, a woman named Velvet Rhodes, who runs a California-based group called SPAEACA. That's an acronym in short for the 'Society for the Promulgation And Encouragement of Amazon Conduct and Attitude.' Kid you not. Rhodes is an advocate of female superiority, and had made the rounds to a number of New York-based television and radio Talk Shows, to push a book, and to also push her group. I had attended a forum where Velvet Rhodes was the featured guest in the city that week. When it was over, I went to retrieve my coat to head home. Turns out, the room where my coat, and others were placed, had a bed. Rhodes was on it, and one forum participant was performing oral sex on her! It was, well, embarrassing, awkward, and unexpected, to say the least. She smacked this guy on his head, violently, a number of times, and barked at this man, "I didn't tell you to stop!" I got my coat and got the hell out there! That bit I shared with Snyder in my E-mail.

In the Tomorrow show's intro, Rhodes played bully and asked the provocative question she had posed to about a half dozen, or so, show hosts in the rounds. It caught many flat footed, and completely off guard, and it also tested one's professionalism. She tried it on Tomorrow, and Rhodes asked Snyder would he like to kiss her feet!!!!! Snyder, clearly angered, and in a comment NBC-TV bleeped, told her straight away, quote, "how would you like to kiss my ass??!!!" One could hear the entire studio crew howl with laugher. Ha! Just like that. LIVE and on-the-air.

Now that may be extreme, it was part of the way Tom Snyder dealt with his subjects. Straight to the point, no punches pulled, and with a kind of dignity current day radio SHOCK JOCKS, and other Television talk show hosts have never learned. A throw back to the days of intelligent television. For me, media figures like Dick Cavett and the late David Susskind come to mind. Now I am dating myself. Ha!

Now, again, I have to ask you all, has anyone seen Tom Snyder lately?

Hoping for a fast and complete recovery for Tom Snyder sometime soon.

Happy Belated New Year Everybody!!!!

Catch you all again soon.

Eric K. Williams, Executive Director
International Access Networks / I-A-N, Inc.
New York, New York