Michael Weisman

Michael Paul Weisman (born January 13, 1950) is an American television producer, specializing in sports, news and entertainment programs.

Michael Weisman was born in Queens, NY, the middle of three children to Edward, who was a publicist at ABC and NBC Sports, and Dorothy.

During his sophomore year at the University of North Carolina his father passed away suddenly from a heart attack.

Weisman returned to New York and graduated from Queens College in 1971.

After college, Weisman became a page in the NBC guest relations program, working on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson when it was filmed in New York.

In 1972, Weisman was hired as the first assistant to the producer in NBC Sports history.

He was promoted to associate producer in 1974 and then to producer in 1976, giving him the chance to work with producer Don Ohlmeyer.

Weisman became NBC's coordinating producer for baseball in 1979, where he learned baseball production from Harry Coyle, whom Weisman calls his idol and mentor.

Weisman was tapped to produce the opening ceremonies and the track and field portions of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Moscow before the U.S. decided to boycott the Games.

Weisman became the executive producer of NBC Sports in 1982.

Weisman, however, first used “sky cam” during the 1983 Orange Bowl.

Weisman led a team covering the 1988 Summer Olympics for the network.

One of those employees was (later CNN President) Jeff Zucker, who Weisman hired as a researcher.

Weisman considered producing the Olympics a challenge, saying, "my mandate is to shatter the mystique that only ABC can do the Olympics."

Weisman assembled the "Seoul Searchers," a group of specialized sports reporters tasked with following breaking news during the Games.

Some criticized the journalistic focus to the games.

Weisman, however, defended the tone, saying "the criticism we hear is that people want to hear positive news . . . we are not the American team. We are clearly rooting for the American team, but we're not going to whitewash anything."

Other ideas Weisman introduced for the Olympics included miniature “point of view cameras” for specific events such as the pole vault and gymnastics; the “Olympic Chronicles,” profiles which highlighted athletes and moments from Olympics past; and an Olympic soundtrack which included an original Whitney Houston song, “One Moment in Time”.

NBC won seven Emmy Awards for their Olympic coverage.

In May 1989, Dick Ebersol, the president of NBC Sports, fired Weisman, who had two years left on his contract, and replaced him with Terry O’Neil.

Ebersol explained the move, saying he had decided to form his own team and went with O’Neil because of their 20-year association.

In November 1989, Weisman was hired by CBS in California to produce the late-night talk show program, The Pat Sajak Show.

In 1991, Weisman was hired as the president and the executive producer of Davis Sports Entertainment, a division of the Davis Companies, whose president was film producer John Davis and whose owner was former 20th Century Fox owner and Davis Petroleum Chairman, Marvin Davis.

The company produced sports programs for network specials, cable, and pay-per-view.

Weisman became president of NMT Productions in 1994.

In 1996, Fox Sports asked Weisman to help launch its televised baseball programming.

Weisman was hired to produce the 1999 MLB All-Star Game at Fenway Park, which scored an Emmy for Best Live Sports Event; and the 2001 World Series in New York.

In 2000, Weisman was recruited by WWE owner Vince McMahon to be a broadcast production consultant for the XFL, which aimed to be a no-holds-barred version of the NFL.

The XFL only lasted one season due to poor ratings, but it is credited with several innovations that are used regularly in the NFL today, including putting microphone on players during games and the "sky cam", which spans the length of the field overhead and gives viewers a unique perspective of the game.

In 2001, 12 years after Weisman was fired by Ebersol, the two men reunited to work together on the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Weisman returned to New York in 2004, serving as the executive producer for the syndicated daytime Jane Pauley Show for one season.

In 2005, NBC Universal Television Group hired Weisman as the group’s first ever executive producer at large.

His first assignment was working with new executive producer Jim Bell on Today.

In 2007, Weisman returned to NBC Sports to serve as the Executive in Charge of Production of Football Night in America.

In February 2015 Weisman was named the Executive in Charge of MSNBC's Morning Joe.

Weisman introduced a number of new concepts to sports broadcasting.

In boxing, Weisman introduced the use of the three minute clock on-screen to mark how much time remained in a round and placed microphones in the boxers' corners between rounds.

In football, Weisman created the ten-minute ticker, which was used to display scores from around the league six times an hour.

This innovation became the precursor for the score ticker now used in various sports telecasts.

He was also responsible for the creation of the "Silent Minute" in the pregame show of Super Bowl XX, during which NBC only showed a black screen with a clock on it.