Lawrence K. Grossman, Chief Who Transformed PBS And Defended NBC News, Dead At 86

“Mr. Grossman moved to Washington in 1976 to take charge of PBS, at the time little more than a loosely aligned group of hundreds of locally controlled educational TV stations around the country. During his eight-year tenure, he maintained financial stability while giving PBS more of a national presence, largely through cultural programming and news. … He introduced such programs as Live From Lincoln Center and concerts from the White House and the Kennedy Center and approved production of a 13-part series on the history of the Vietnam War. He led efforts that expanded The MacNeil/Lehrer Report to a full hour in 1983, making it the first hour-long nightly newscast on any network.”