Bill Flanagan (born January 14, 1955) is an American author, television executive and radio host. He was born in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

and graduated from Brown University in 1977. His books include ''Written in My Soul'' (1986), ''Last of the Moe Haircuts'' (1986), ''U2 at the End of the World'' (1995), and the novels ''A&R'' (2000), ''New Bedlam'' (2007), ''Evening's Empire'' (2010), and ''Fifty in Reverse'' (2020). He is the screenwriter for the documentary ''Jimmy Carter: Rock n Roll President'' (August 2020) and produced Audible's best-seller ''Breakshot: James Taylor'' (2020) as well as Audible projects with St. Vincent: “St. Vincent: Words + Music” and Smokey Robinson (2020). From 1995 until 2015 he was an executive at MTV Networks, retiring as Executive Vice President of the Viacom Music Group. As EVP/Editorial Director of

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 ...

, Flanagan oversaw the series '' VH1 Storytellers'' and ''

CMT Crossroads ''CMT Crossroads'' is an American television program broadcast on CMT that pairs country music artists with musicians from other music genres such as alternative rock, pop, R&B, Rock, soul and more, frequently trading off performing one anot ...

''. He has also worked on '' VH1's Legends'', ''VH1 Archives'', ''Hotel MTV'', and many other series and specials. He was one of the producers of The Concert for New York City after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

and has produced, co-produced, or executive produced two televised concerts from the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

; ''The Beatles Revolution'' for ABC; ''Elvis Lives'' for NBC; and VH1 specials with Garth Brooks,

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

, Clint Eastwood, Bruce Springsteen, and Oprah Winfrey. Flanagan currently hosts four series on

Sirius XM Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

Channels - ''Flanagan's Wake'' on Tom Petty Radio, ''Written In My Soul'' on Volume, and ''The Fab Fourum'' and ''Northern Songs'' on the Beatles Channel. Flanagan acts as Ombudsman of the

Sundance Channel Sundance Channel can refer to: * Sundance TV, formerly known as Sundance Channel (United States). * Sundance Channel (Canada) * Sundance Channel (Netherlands) * Sundance Channel (Europe) Sundance Channel can refer to: * Sundance TV, formerly kno ...

series '' Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...''. He also appears on air as an essayist on '' CBS News Sunday Morning''. He has written for Rolling Stone, The New York Times Esquire, Spy, Men's Journal, Vanity Fair, GQ, Commonweal, The New Yorker, and The Village Voice.

References

''. February 25, 2010
"Bill Flanagan"
'' Slate''. June 5, 2000 *Flanagan, Bill
"Up Close & Personal with GRAMMY Winning Producer Steve Lillywhite"
Grammy365. January 19, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Flanagan, Bill Living people 20th-century American novelists American television executives 1955 births Brown University alumni American writers about music 21st-century American novelists American male novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers

References

Further reading