Sanford Socolow is an executive producer, highly regarded for his work as the executive producer of the
CBS Evening News from either 1948/1949 (sources vary) to 2000. He is a close associate to Walter Cronkite and has worked with him for many years; he was one of the personal speakers that spoke during Cronkite's funeral. He has also worked as a producer or executive producer for shows such as World Monitor, 60 minutes,
The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, etc.
During his years at
CBS, Socolow has worked in many posts. For a while, he was the vice-president of
CBS's Evening News; later the executive producer of Evening News with Dan Rather; and
CBS's Washington Bureau chief during the Watergate scandal. Sanford was also a prominent correspondent and was the CBS's London Bureau chief during the time when he supervised news gathering activities in Europe and the Middle East. He left
CBS mainly because of the declining standards of the media, as well as issues with the news content -- he was a strong opposer to any sort of political ads on TV.
There is nothing much known about his personal life. Sanford Socolow was born in New York and is married to Anne K. Socolow. They have a son, Michael Socolow, who married the scientist Connie Anne McVey in 1999. Michael is currently a journalism teacher in the University of Maine. Socolow is known to be a Christian, and has directed a documentary about the role of religion in the United States, called Christianity Reborn: Prayer and Politics. He also was the executive producer of TV documentaries like "Environment Beware: Here Comes the Counterrevolution (TV Special)" and others.
Socolow is remembered as a strong willed man by his subordinates as well as co-workers, and was highly regarded as a journalist and a "man of ideas". Now, Socolow is the Vice Chair executive producer in Cronkite Productions, Inc and also occasionally works at Internews.
Patti Hartigan, who worked at
CBS News during the reign of Walter Cronkite, recalls Socolow's dedication and straightforward attitude to the job they were doing. "I spent most of my time getting yelled at by the executive producer Sanford Socolow", Patti, who was spending the summer as an assistant for the news, recalls, "if a call was accidentally disconnected, he'd scream, "Mr. Hangup is on the phone!")." Stanford is a Cronkite's family friend. Sanford's son Michael Socolow recalls spending time with Cronkite as a boy, when he and his family were visiting Cronkites' Christmas parties in Washington and on sailing trips on the East Coast.
Sanford isn't exactly a name everyone associates with the beginnings of television. This hasn't, however, denied him the possibility to remain an influence as a respectable producer. His memories, which span to the late 40s, the true beginnings of television, are frequently a source for many people doing academic research; for people who wish to know about the beginnings of Cronkite's career; and for those, who have a general interest about the history of American Television.
