The Interview
Ed Ansin
By John Koch, Boston Globe
On your watch, 7 News has gone from third place to the most influential TV news in town. How?
I believe that the key for local TV is news. So, first, we carefully assessed the news programs on 4, 5, and 7. They were all doing the news in a similar fashion. We said, we think we can be much more competitive if we present an alternative to our well-established competitors. We didn't think coverage of news was the strength of the market then.
What do you mean? Channel 5 had a national reputation for news coverage.
What they were not doing aggressively was covering breaking news - they were more prone to cover other types of news in a serious fashion. Aggressively covering a breaking story is a trademark of what we do. In addition, I felt the key was presenting all of the elements of a newscast in a more contemporary fashion, so that the totality of the newscast becomes more compelling. It's much like producing a movie.
But, of course, movies are largely fiction.
Well, think in terms of The Perfect Storm, which is partially fictionalized but a true story. Here you have a story with a great book behind it, well written, outstanding acting, and then all the technical elements and special effects and the scoring. TV is a visual medium: The content has to be there, written well, and today you have to have a presentation that's going to hold the audience's attention.
You use the word "contemporary" a lot. Do you keep up with the youth culture?
Apart from watching television, what I find very helpful is when I go to movies. I particularly like the big productions with a lot of special effects - mainstream state-of-the-art presentations. That's very helpful to me. Our news shows are targeted to a 25- to 54-year-old audience, so MTV is much too young, and a lot of the movies are much too young.
How much of 7 News has your personal stamp?
I don't make the day-to-day decisions, but I've been doing this since 1962 [when Ansin and his father bought WSVN]. I'm very involved in establishing the direction we go and how we go there. Being from Boston and having the sensibility of the market, I was able to say: This is what the product should be. [Ansin's primary home and business offices are in Miami; he has a condominium in the North End.] I don't consider what we do tabloid. Whether it's flashy - that's in the eye of the beholder.
What do you say to critics who hold you responsible for dumbing down all of Boston's TV news?
I came to town with the goal of providing a different type of news. The public embraced it, and it's proving to be successful [the 11 p.m. broadcast has been top-rated for two years]. The fact that our competitors have decided that they have to emulate us - I don't feel I'm responsible. Whether those are decisions they should have made or not, I'm not the one to say.
How has New England defined you?
I grew up in a very traditional New England household, and I went to a couple of very New England schools, which were very disciplined, particularly Andover [Phillips Academy]. It was a very structured environment. I'm a very disciplined person: I like it, and it agrees with me, and I think that is a question of background. I was a lot more like my mother than my father. My father was more gregarious. My mother was much quieter. I'm like her: very New England, reserved.
You bought Channel 7 for...
Two hundred fifteen million dollars, including the receivables.
What's it worth now?
I'm not sure; the television industry is in flux. It surely has more than doubled in value.
According to Forbes magazine, you were among the richest people in the US two years ago.
I was demoted last year.
Was that a blow?
Quite the contrary. I'm hoping they forget me.
What grade would you give yourself as an entrepreneur?
It's incredible to think that Rupert Murdoch went from one little newspaper in Australia to owning half the world. If I measure myself against him, I'm a complete slug. It's all relative. But I don't feel like a slug. I'm happy with life.
How would you characterize yourself as a boss?
[Long, hearty, and puzzling laughter.]
What's the laughing about?
Well, most people probably think of themselves a little differently than their employees do. I'm not certain I, like most people, know exactly what the consensus is, and I decided a long time ago, you can't worry about that too much. Most people think of themselves as being a prince. I think I'm OK; I do my best.
What do you do for sheer escape?
I don't necessarily want to work until I'm 90, but maybe into my mid-70s. I have a good time every day of my life. It may not be what everybody else would choose to do.
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