Av Westin

In his three-hour-and-fifteen-minute interview, Av Westin (1929-2022) talks about his early work in network radio news as a copy boy for Edward R. Murrow and his transfer to television news. He recalls co-creating the groundbreaking CBS Morning News with Mike Wallace, as well as his relationship with Wallace. He describes producing a variety of documentaries for CBS News and his eventual departure from the organization. Westin chronicles his brief stint at the Public Broadcasting Laboratory and outlines his arrival at ABC News, where he produced ABC News aka World News Tonight for several years before departing to save 20/20 with an innovative mix of hard news and investigative reporting. He recounts his departure from ABC News, which began with an eighteen-page memo requested by Capital Cities on the state of the organization. He speaks of executive producing the syndicated Inside Edition and touches on his work at the National Television Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Ralph Engelman conducted the interview on June 16, 2011 in New York, NY.