Alan Goodman runs branding and communications for, and is a founder of, TESTD Inc., a company that builds health and wellness data management products for providers, individuals, enterprises, and municipalities. He is a former American media executive, writer, and television producer who has worked in media since 1981.
Early life and education
Goodman began his media career while still in high school as a reporter at
The Hunterdon County Democrat
The ''Hunterdon County Democrat'' is a weekly newspaper that serves Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Currently owned by Penn Jersey Advance, Inc., its offices are in Raritan Township. It is one of the largest paid weekly newspapers in New Jersey, ...
in
Flemington, New Jersey
Flemington is a borough in and the county seat of Hunterdon County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.[Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...]
in 1970, he joined the college radio station,
WKCR-FM
WKCR-FM (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is a Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to New York City, New York, New York, United States. The station is owned by Columbia University and serves the New York metropolitan area. Founded in 1941, the s ...
where he first encountered his future collaborators,
Albie Hecht
Albie Hecht is a film and television producer and media executive. In 1997, Hecht was the president of film and TV entertainment for Nickelodeon before becoming president of the television channel Spike TV in 2003. In 2005, he founded and was C ...
and
Fred Seibert
Frederick (Fred) Seibert (born September 15, 1951) is an American television producer, co-founder of MTV and the CEO of FredFilms, an animation production company based in Burbank, California. His official biography states he has led five (working ...
.
Cable television
In 1981, Goodman was part of the team that launched
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
: Music Television, alongside his college radio alum
Fred Seibert
Frederick (Fred) Seibert (born September 15, 1951) is an American television producer, co-founder of MTV and the CEO of FredFilms, an animation production company based in Burbank, California. His official biography states he has led five (working ...
.
Goodman supervised hundreds of animations and their accompanying soundtracks depicting the MTV trademark designed by
Manhattan Design Manhattan Design was a graphic design collective in New York City from 1979 until 1991. The studio is known for having designed the MTV logo, as well as album packaging, posters, books, and magazines. They also conceived the adaptation of the MTV "m ...
.
Seibert and Goodman resigned from MTV and started their company "Fred/Alan" in New York. Together, they consulted with MTV's sister channel,
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
, which was having challenges finding audiences for their quality kids programming. They led the efforts to rebrand the network as "The First Kids' Network" and help build its new vocabulary, promotional strategies and execution to get the word out the America's cable homes.
Fred/Alan were MTV Networks' advertising agency, conceiving and creating
Nick-at-Nite
Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. ET/ PT, Friday nights f ...
and launching
VH-1
VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communi ...
.
Goodman worked with
MTV Networks
Paramount Media Networks (formerly known as Warner Cable Communications, Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, MTV Networks, Viacom Media Networks, and ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks) is an American mass media division of Paramount Global tha ...
, the parent company of both
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
and
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
, for over 30 years.
Writing and production
There are few mediums that Goodman hasn't written for over the years including newspapers, radio, television, advertising, jazz record liner notes and digital.
He created or co-created the television series ''
Kids' Court'', ''
The Movie Masters
''The Movie Masters'' is an American television panel game show that ran from August 2, 1989, to January 19, 1990. It was the last game show hosted by Gene Rayburn and aired as filler programming on the American Movie Classics (AMC) cable network. ...
'' (both with
Albie Hecht
Albie Hecht is a film and television producer and media executive. In 1997, Hecht was the president of film and TV entertainment for Nickelodeon before becoming president of the television channel Spike TV in 2003. In 2005, he founded and was C ...
) ''
Hey Dude
''Hey Dude'' is an American Western comedy series that aired from July 14, 1989 to August 30, 1991 with a total of 65 half-hour episodes produced over five seasons. The show was originally broadcast on Nickelodeon.
The series, aimed primarily t ...
'', ''
The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo
''The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo'' is a children's mystery television series that ran on Nickelodeon between 1996 and 1999. A total of 41 episodes of 30 minutes each were produced. Episodes from the first three seasons were taped at Nickelodeon St ...
'', among others. Goodman co-created the
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (also known as the KCAs or Kids' Choice) is an annual American children's awards ceremony show that is produced by Nickelodeon. Usually held on a Saturday night in late March or early April, the show honors ...
.
Goodman wrote scripts for several television shows including ''
Hey Dude
''Hey Dude'' is an American Western comedy series that aired from July 14, 1989 to August 30, 1991 with a total of 65 half-hour episodes produced over five seasons. The show was originally broadcast on Nickelodeon.
The series, aimed primarily t ...
'', ''
Clarissa Explains It All
''Clarissa Explains It All'' is an American teen sitcom created by Mitchell Kriegman for Nickelodeon. In the series, Clarissa Darling ( Melissa Joan Hart), is a teenager who addresses the audience directly to explain the things that are happenin ...
'', ''
Clifford's Puppy Days
''Clifford's Puppy Days'' is an animated children's television series that originally aired on PBS Kids from September 1, 2003 to February 25, 2006. The prequel to the 2000–2003 series ''Clifford the Big Red Dog'', it features the adventures o ...
'' and ''
JoJo's Circus
''JoJo's Circus'' is a stop-motion animated television series created by Jim Jinkins, David Ray Campbell, David Campbell, Lisa Jinkins, and Eric Weiner and produced by the Canada-based Cuppa Coffee Studios and Cartoon Pizza. The series was writte ...
''. He was the co-producer and show runner for two seasons of ''Clarissa Explains It All''.
Since 1984 Goodman has been the primary writer and creative director for the all the brochure and website essays for one of the most respected jazz reissue record labels,
Mosaic Records limited edition jazz boxes. This work is in addition to his liner note writing for various independent jazz recording labels.
During his consulting engagement at BBC America, Goodman wrote and produced entertainment news content and specials for the network. He was also one of the developers and first creative director at COZI-TV, a free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. At COZI-TV he also wrote, directed, and produced original content, including the first ever fully auto-tuned TV program, "Autotune The Munsters."
Goodman has written two books -- "A Slash in the Night," the first in a series of novels based on characters in Goodman's Nickelodeon series "The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo,
and "The Big Help Book.
He also was a contributor to "The Rolling Stone Record Guide.
Goodman was a co-creator of the Virgin Comics (now Liquid Comics) title, "The Econauts
References
External links
The MTV Logo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodman, Alan
Living people
American advertising executives
American consulting businesspeople
American television producers
American television writers
American male voice actors
American male television writers
MTV executives
Nickelodeon executives
American voice directors
1953 births
Columbia College (New York) alumni