RIP Tom Snyder

[Sir Dropham Pants]

Sad news... tv legend Tom Snyder died yesterday.
He was one of the greats.
http://www.nndb.com/people/421/000022355/tom-snyder.jpg

[Diplomat]

Tom was an original. RIP. This is from kyw1060.com.

Broadcaster Tom Snyder Dead at 71

Legendary talk host and national broadcaster Tom Snyder, who has local roots, has died, according to broadcast reports.

"Entertainment Tonight" says Snyder died in San Francisco from complications of leukemia.

Snyder was a news anchor for KYW-TV in Philadelphia in the late 1960s, WNBC-TV in New York City and KNBC-TV in Los Angeles in the 1970s, and hosted the network interview show "Tomorrow," which followed "Tonight" for a time on NBC.

He was 71 years old.

Snyder began his broadcast career in Kalamazoo, Mich. in 1959, and came to Philadelphia in the summer of 1965.

Al Primo, who created the "Eyewitness News" format, brought Snyder to Channel 3, KYW-TV, and teamed him up with Marciarose, where the pair anchored a brand-new noon newscast.

In 1966 Snyder pioneered a morning talk show called "Contact," which was seen on Channel 3 from 9am to10am daily.

Tom left Philadelphia in 1970 to join NBC in Los Angeles, where he anchored local news on the NBC television station and started tomorrow on the NBC Television Network. Snyder's "Tomorrow" show followed Johnny Carson's "Tonight" show on the nightly weekday schedule until it was supplanted by the show of a network newcomer, David Letterman.

[5w40]

One of the best in tv news, ever.
Was once thought of as successor to John Chancellor and Johnny Carson. That's big.
I remember he did the 6pm news on WNBC back in the mid-70's ... when the show was an hour. Dynamic.
Allegedly said when he tossed to weather "Now here's Dr. Frank Field to take a leak out the window ..."
He'd tape the Tomorrow Show after he was finished with the news.
Two of the most memorable interviews ... John Lennon and Charles Manson.
One of the funniest - when the Tomorrow Show did a remote broadcast from the old Hurley's Saloon ... when it closed down the first time in the early '80's ... Hurley was the guy who owned a building on the corner of West 49th St and 6th Avenue in Manhattan ... and would not sell out to the Rockefellers. So they built 30 Rockefeller Plaza around him ... and Hurley's was the drinking choice for many NBC folks until they gave up the ghost for good after 2000.
The CNBC show in the '90's was pretty good.
Snyder's original Tomorrow Show producer? Some fat guy from Ohio named Ailes.
Wonder what became of him?
Fire up that colortini, and drink a toast to Tom Snyder.

[The Invisible Swordsman]

I had to be one of the youngest viewers for The Late, Late Show on CBS. I thought that show was just perfect. I will fire up the old VHS some time soon and watch a show he did with Billy Connolly, it was the funniest interview I have seen on late-night TV.

My two favorite parts of The Late, Late Show; I loved that he always told a joke and then laughed at it first, and of course his outcue into the first break….

“Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air”

[The Thrill]

I hope Letterman does a nice tribute tonight.

There goes a good one, folks. :(

[elmo1959]

Even his website was great, www.colortini.com. (http://www.colortini.com.)

His writing was just as good as his broadcasting skills, and that says a lot.

How many current personalities can you name, who could look into a camera, talk without a script for 20 minutes (at least) and be entertaining?

Damn short list.

[elmo1959]

Oh well. Loreal has taken over his old webpage.

But trust me, it was good.

[TVMattNYC]

Snyder's "Late Late Show" was what a late late show is SUPPOSED to be: low-key. It was the perfect pull-up-a-chair, light-a-cigarette, and sip-your-brandy before going off to bed kind of show.

This new guy is too high energy for his time slot.

[Laughing Angel]

I have great admiration for his work. He was a terrific interviewer and a talented and compelling broadcaster.

May he rest in peace.

[RollTide98]

The final half of this WABC News Brief (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KjP-2cujsM), to me, perfectly reflect's Tom's career. A hard news kind of guy when he needed to be, jovial when he didn't.

[Laughing Angel]

They've archived some of the old colortini.com blog over at a website called Wayback Machine (http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.colortini.com). Some of the links work, some do not.

Check out Tom's recipe (http://web.archive.org/web/20030610170720/http://colortini.com/h_index.html) for the perfect colortini.