Frank Magid (September 1, 1931,

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

— February 5, 2010,

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

) was an American marketing consultant, widely known for introducing the "Action News" format of evening local TV news, and was an original developer of ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

''. Fox, Margalit (February 9, 2010)
"Frank Magid, Creator of 'Action News,' Dies at 78"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine named Magid "the nation's leading television news doctor" in 1977, and he became the namesake of the term "Magidized". After serving in the Army during the Korean War, Magid earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

, paying his tuition and living expenses with proceeds from the

GI Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

and a variety of part-time jobs. While in an organic chemistry class, he met Marilyn Young, a chemistry major from

Waterloo, Iowa Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls ...

. The two wed in 1956, and moved to

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

, where his wife had taken a job as a junior high science teacher. While a junior professor of social psychology, anthropology and statistics at the

and Coe College, Magid launched his own company, Frank N. Magid Associates in 1956, selling his first research study to Merchants National Bank in Cedar Rapids. A year later, he left teaching to devote his full efforts to the fledgling business. He built the company into the world's largest research-based strategy consulting company focused on media, entertainment and communications, which it remains. Media executives and on-air personalities frequently noted that the face of television was largely created not in the media centers of New York and Los Angeles, but in

Marion, Iowa Marion is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States. The population was 26,294 at the 2000 census and was 41,535 in 2020, an increase of 58%. The city is located next to Cedar Rapids and part of the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area. ...

, where the company was based. Magid retired as CEO of Frank N. Magid Associates in 2002 and was succeeded by his son, Brent, but remained chairman of the company until his death. Frank Magid died, aged 78, from

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

. He was survived by his wife, two sons, four grandchildren and a brother.

References

External links

''Cedar Rapids Gazette'' obituary

Frank N. Magid Associates
{{DEFAULTSORT:Magid, Frank 1931 births 2010 deaths American entertainment industry businesspeople United States Army personnel of the Korean War Deaths from lymphoma in California People from Cedar Rapids, Iowa Businesspeople from Chicago People from Santa Barbara, California University of Iowa alumni University of Iowa faculty Coe College faculty 20th-century American businesspeople