Howard Blumenthal
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Howard Blumenthal is an American television and new media producer, author, educator, and executive. Born and raised in
Early years
A college assignment resulted in an extensive, unpublished encyclopedia of rock music, which provided access to the record industry. He became a publicist at Warner Bros. Records' New York City office, and a music journalist for ROCK,
New media
In 1976,
In the 1980s, many media companies were beginning to explore the potential of new technologies. The popularity of portable audio devices resulted in a new form of publishing: adaptations of books on audiotape. As head of marketing for Warner Audio Publishing, the company established learning products with Looney Tunes; penetration into the emerging young adults market with Sweet Valley High; and high-profile products suitable for mall store sale with celebrity biographies. For Wiley, he developed and produced a product line for sophisticated business customers; topics included personal finance, creativity and innovation, power and authority, and high-level corporate strategy. Some of these projects resulted in books series, notably The Portable MBA series. As additional storage capacity became available, book and software publishers developed more sophisticated educational games. For Parker Brothers, Blumenthal developed a computer game to demonstrate the cooperative thinking skills provided by various parts of the brain. For The Learning Company, he developed product and market strategies for adult education in foreign languages.[citation needed]
In the 1990s, technology and industry demand shifted to richer interactive works. He worked with
By the late 1990s, new media investment had shifted from the CD-ROM and online service business to internet sites. Partly as a result of its acquisition of competitor Music Boulevard,
Television
Early work as a television producer resulted in various series for Warner and its QUBE network, including a popular movie game show, Screen Test. As Showtime attempted to compete with fast-growing competitor HBO, the U.S.’s second largest pay TV network invested in entertainment specials and the re-staging of Broadway shows. Completed works in this domain include The Me Nobody Knows, a musical whose lyrics were written by inner-city children, presented by James Earl Jones; The Passion of Dracula; Spectacular Scandinavia!, featuring ABBA and Victor Borge at Tivoli Gardens; and Richiardi's Chamber of Horror & Illusion, hosted by Vincent Price.
As the new home video business emerged, new production and distribution opportunities emerged. It was now possible to develop a program for a very specific special interest audience, with targeted sponsorship and targeted distribution. One early example was The World's Greatest Photography Course, sponsored by Minolta Camera Corp. with assistance from AgfaPhoto, distributed not through the new home video stores, but through established camera stores—a new idea in the 1980s. Another was the baseball documentary, The Boys of Summer, based upon Roger Kahn's story of the Jackie Robinson-era Brooklyn Dodgers.[citation needed]
By the mid-1980s, new cable networks were sufficiently well-established to support original half-hour series. For Nickelodeon, this path began with Scholastic Productions and Blumenthal for a series called
From 1990 until 1994, Blumenthal served as project lead for
In 1997, Blumenthal and Calderwood established a new television production company in New York City called Glow in the Dark Productions. Partners included former Carmen Sandiego head writer Charles Nordlander and former Carmen producer Lynn Kestin, along with former Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? producer Shirley Abraham. The company produced seven specials for The History Channel under the umbrella title: The Great American History Quiz, featuring nearly 200 celebrities including Bill and Hillary Clinton,
Since 2005, Blumenthal has served as CEO for Independence Media, a Philadelphia-based public television operation that is among the few unaffiliated with PBS. In 2008, Independence Media introduced a new service, MiND: Media Independence. The service is based upon 5-minute programs in rotation throughout the week, similar to the format originally developed for MTV. MiND programs emphasize learning about a wide range of topics, and also emphasize positive aspects of community building. Over 1,000 people have attended MiND's production Boot Camps; some of them have submitted MiND programs currently on the air. The service is also seen in the New York City market, and on the nonprofit organization's internet site.[5]
Corporate strategy and innovation
Within the public television industry, and the commercial media industries, Blumenthal's efforts have focused on reinvention and new opportunities based upon new technologies.[6] As CEO of MiND, he demonstrated the viability of a low-cost, high-impact public media operation. As Executive Director of New Jersey Network, a New Jersey State Authority, and President of the NJN Foundation, which raised money for New Jersey Public Broadcasting, Blumenthal wrote and lectured about the need for new, more contemporary public television models.[7] Previously, Blumenthal was a senior vice president at Bertelsmann (Direct Group), responsible for integration of CDNow, Napster, and record club operations; a senior vice president at CDNow, responsible for media, business development, marketing, and other customer-facing activities; senior vice president of KidSoft, Inc, which provided children and parents with a safe entry in the new personal computing space; and president of Glow in the Dark Productions, a television program supplier in New York City.[citation needed]
Publications
Blumenthal was an active magazine writer, with work published in
He is the author of more than twenty books about media and culture, including This Business of Television, with attorney and law professor Oliver Goodenough, published by Random House / Billboard Books.[8] Branded for Life examines the role of marketing in daily life, and the sometimes detrimental combination of belief systems, government regulations, corporate activities and the power of brands. The Creative Professional is a business book for the 1 in 30 Americans who earn a living in a creative profession. Both were published by Emmis Books.[9]
He is the co-author of several books, based upon the
Education
Blumenthal has been affiliated with
References
- ^ "iTV | Warner's QUBE". Media Visions. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
- ^ "CDnow, N2K strike first note after merger - CNET News". News.cnet.com. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
- ^ "Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA". Bertelsmann.com. 2000-07-20. Archived from the original on 2012-04-06. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
- ^ Rabinovitz, Jonathan (6 October 1991). "TELEVISION; The Case of the Game-Show Ploy". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
- ^ "Mind - Media:Independence". Mindtv.org. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
- ^ "Public television disintermediation". Technology360.typepad.com. 2011-04-11. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). mindtv.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "This Business of Television by Howard Blumenthal and Oliver Goodenough - Book". Random House. 2006-03-01. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
- ^ "Emmis Books closing down". Bizjournals. 8 March 2006. Retrieved 2013-09-03.