Larry Finley (May 14, 1913 – April 3, 2000) was an American late-night

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

pioneer, as well a leader in the

audiotape An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present- ...

(I.T.C.C. - International Tape Cartridge Corporation and NAL - North American Leisure Corporation) and

videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassett ...

business and the founder of the

Progressive Broadcasting System The Progressive Broadcasting System (PBS) was a short-lived radio network of the early 1950s. " tering to smaller radio stations," the company had hoped to affiliate with around 1,000 radio stations in the United States which did not already have ...

(PBS) radio network.

Biography

Born and raised in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

, Finley became a

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

in his hometown at age 18 before moving to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in the 1930s and opening a chain of jewelry stores. In the 1940s, he became a business partner with musicians

Tommy Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...

and

Jimmy Dorsey James Francis Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards "I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary People ...

in ownership of the Casino Gardens Ballroom in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, where he also owned

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

KSDJ. He created his own

TV production A television studio, also called a television production studio, is an installation room in which video productions take place, either for the production of live television and its recording onto video tape or other media such as SSDs, or for t ...

company, Finley Productions, Inc., the first such operation on the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

. In 1945, Larry unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against

MCA Inc. MCA Inc. (originally an initialism for Music Corporation of America) was an American media conglomerate founded in 1924. Originally a talent agency with artists in the music business as clients, the company became a major force in the film ind ...

for $3,000,000, claiming there was a conspiracy to restrain trade, and operating a

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

. Finley produced and hosted radio and TV shows in Los Angeles, including ''The Larry Finley Show'', broadcast nightly from his restaurant on the

Sunset Strip The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western border with Beverly H ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

; as well as ''Strictly Informal'', ''Dinner At Eight'', and ''Music is My Beat'', the first TV shows to be

kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940 ...

d and aired by the

Armed Forces Television Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which i ...

to troops in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. It was towards the early 1950s that Finley launched PBS as an attempt at a fifth nationwide radio network. The network existed from November 26, 1950 until January 31, 1951. In 1965, Finley founded & became President and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the International Tape Cartridge Corporation (I.T.C.C.). He acquired the audio tape rights from 57

record labels A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produc ...

and became the largest provider of music entertainment on pre-recorded tape. Then in late 1968 he formed NAL (North American Leisure Corp.) which also produced Music Tape Cartridges and Cassette Tapes and wanted to expand into other phases of the entertainment industry. In 1970, he founded the International Tape Association, which is now known as the

International Recording Media Association The International Recording Media Association (IRMA), previously known as the International Tape Association (ITA), was an international trade association dealing with every facet of recording, recording media, media and related industries. Their me ...

(IRMA), at a time when audio tape products were still finding their market and he also helped standardize the various types of audiotapes. Finley died April 2000, in

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...

at age 86.

Honors and awards

Among the honors he received during his lifetime were: The Los Angeles City of Hope's Annual Torch Bearer Award in 1955, Time-Life Magazine's Man of the Decade Award in 1980, induction into the Video Hall of Fame in 1984, and in 1998 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Vision Fund of America.

References

External links

Larry Finley
at LARadio * {{DEFAULTSORT:Finley, Larry 1913 births 2000 deaths American radio producers Television producers from California American television talk show hosts Radio personalities from Los Angeles Businesspeople from Syracuse, New York 20th-century American businesspeople Television personalities from Syracuse, New York Television producers from New York (state)