Tom Snyder

A native Midwesterner, born in Milwaukee, WI on May 12, 1936, the Jesuit-educated Snyder originally planned to study medicine at Marquette University, but dropped out to pursue his childhood dream of working as a radio disc jockey. In 1959, the physically imposing 23-year-old (Snyder stood 6'4" in his size 13-D stocking feet), with the deep, commanding voice began his broadcasting career as a staff announcer/disc jockey for a Kalamazoo, MI radio station. Over the next 14 years, he worked his way up from disc jockey to KNBC television weeknight news anchor in Los Angeles, where, in 1973, he got the nod to host "Tomorrow."Before the series' premiere on Oct. 15, 1973 at 1:00 a.m. (Eastern time), late-night television had been a programming wasteland - save for "Tomorrow's" phenomenally popular lead-in, "The Tonight Show" (NBC, 1954-). Closer in spirit to Edward R. Murrow's "Person to Person" (CBS, 1953-1961) than Johnny Carson's talk show, "Tomorrow" immediately established Snyder as an idiosyncratic and voluble interviewer who refused to lob "soft" questions at his guests. Snyder's offhand, conversational approach in his one-on-one interviews was a bracing alternative to the usual talk show fluff then served up by Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, and Dinah Shore. Alternately combative and amiable, he did not shy away from controversial subject matter; he discussed everything from male prostitution to film censorship to witchcraft with his guests - who seemed to hail from both ends of the cultural spectrum.In December 1974, NBC moved the series from its Burbank studios to New York City, where Snyder also served as anchor for the 60-second primetime "NBC News Update," and WNBC's "NewsCenter 4." A textbook workaholic, Snyder also occasionally filled in as the weekend anchor for "NBC Nightly News" (NBC, 1970-), but he was most at home on the minimalist set of "Tomorrow," smoking and chatting up guests - save for John Lydon - a.k.a. Johnny Rotten - whose hostile and uncommunicative appearance in 1980 so irritated Snyder, he finally told the snarky British punk rocker, "It's unfortunate that we are all out of step except for you."Although Snyder was no fan of punk or New Wave, "Tomorrow" effectively became a showcase for many emerging bands, such as Elvis Costello & The Attractions, The Clash, and U2. It was no wonder that The New York Timescritic Dave Itzkoff later christened Snyder "the late-night Boswell of punk rock." Yet, while the image of a buttoned-down Snyder talking with a bleeding, agitated Iggy Pop struck many as the height of absurdity, it was a puff piece compared to Snyder's 1981 prison interview with convicted mass murderer Charles Manson, who railed and ranted in response to many of Snyder's questions.By the time Snyder interviewed Manson in prison, "Tomorrow" had been renamed "Tomorrow Coast to Coast," per the dictates of NBC's President/CEO Fred Silverman. In a misguided and justly reviled attempted to boost the series' ratings, Silverman had hired Hollywood gossip columnist Rona Barrett as Snyder's Los Angeles-based co-host in 1980. He also brought in a studio audience, which utterly destroyed the intimate, one-one-one atmosphere Snyder had worked so hard to cultivate. The new and decidedly not improved format infuriated Snyder, who made no secret of his contempt for it and Barrett. Finally, two years after Silverman basically ruined the series, NBC cancelled "Tomorrow Coast to Coast" in 1982. Thirteen years would pass before Snyder returned to late-night network television in 1995, courtesy of longtime fan David Letterman, who had taken Snyder's post-"Tonight Show" time slot in 1982, with "Late Night with David Letterman" (NBC, 1982-1993). Not that Snyder had been idle during his 14 years away from network television; he had served as news anchor for New York's WABC-TV, hosted a nationally syndicated radio program, and headlined the CNBC show "Tom Snyder" (CNBC, 1992-1995). But when Letterman invited him to host "The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder," which aired in the time slot after Letterman's new CBS show "Late Show with David Letterman" (1993-), the talk show veteran seized the opportunity. From Jan. 9, 1995 through March 26, 1999, Snyder introduced a new generation of late-night television viewers to his freewheeling and informal approach to interviewing celebrities and newsmakers.After nearly 800 episodes, Snyder left "The Late Late Show" to launch his own website, www.colortini.com. In April of 2005, he announced that he had been diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia - a supposedly "treatable" form of cancer, as Snyder reported with wry gallows humor. Tragically, he succumbed to the disease on July 29, 2007, at the age of just 71. His death prompted eulogies from television critics, broadcast journalists, news producers and talk show hosts like Letterman, who paid eloquent tribute to his idol: "Tom was the very thing that all broadcasters long to be - compelling. Whether he was interviewing politicians, authors, actors or musicians, Tom was always the real reason to watch."