Buy the book on Amazon: Eyewitness Newsman
About Albert Primo:
Albert T. Primo is recognized worldwide as the creator and author of the Eyewitness News concept. Primo revolutionized the way television news is presented.
He is expanding his vision to the Internet. As President of ForeignTV.com he hired Pulitzer Prize winner Peter Arnett as Chief Foreign Correspondent, conducted exclusive interviews with world leaders including Benizar Bhutto. His latest venture, Africast.com, is devoted to making the world aware of the African continent and the 150 million Afro-Americans and African expatriates. As Co-Founder, he is President of the news and entertainment division of the company
He founded Eyewitness Newservice, Inc. after 10 years with ABC as Vice President of News in 1977. It provides advisory services for networks, local stations, Internet companies and cable systems. He has worked on projects for the New York Times, Hearst, US Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Time Warner New Media and USA Today.
Primo is also an independent producer currently producing Teen Kids News which is syndicated to 200 TV stations, 1,000 locations in 175 countries via American Forces Network and 10,000 schools each week. He assembled the team for the Investigative News series, "Now It Can Be Told" with Geraldo Rivera, whom he originally discovered and trained as a journalist with the Columbia University Minority Training Program. He was Executive Producer of the program.
Primo led the news team at WABC-TV that forever changed treatment for retarded people with his Peabody Award winning series with Mr. Rivera, "Willowbrook, The Last Great Disgrace." He received a coveted Peabody award as Executive Producer.
He is a founding partner of Medialink WorldWide, another public company that produces and distributes video news releases (VNRs) by satellite to TV stations in the U.S. and overseas. It recently expanded its corporate communications service by creating a web site; Newstream.com in partnership with Business Wire and it has become a leading Internet content provider. For eight years, he produced the video news release magazine program, "Newsworthy" which was syndicated to local television stations.
Primo Owned and Published The Village Gazette. Newspaper in Greenwich, CT for eight years and owned radio station WNVR, Waterbury, CT for an equal period of time, developing such talent as Chris Berman, of ESPN, Joe McCoy, of WCBS and others.
He was appointed Director of News and Public Affairs for WABC-TV in 1968 where he launched his Eyewitness News concept that he created at KYW-TV, Philadelphia. The station became the number 1 rated station in New York and has maintained that position for three decades.
Primo was the youngest Corporate Vice President named at ABC in 1972, in charge of local news operations. He set up the guidelines and procedures to work with General Managers and News Directors, which led the station group to record setting ratings and profits. The O&O Division generated 25% of ABC's total profits during his tenure.
He joined ABC News as Executive Producer of the Reasoner Report in 1974. He obtained the first and only exclusive interview ever conducted at Camp David with an American president, President Gerald Ford. The ABC TV stations and network have become a world leader in news using many of his innovations.
He was co-producer of a full-length feature movie, "The Mantis Murder," written and directed by Keith Thompson who Primo discovered as a cartoonist for the newspaper while he was still a high school student. He frequently appears on the major networks, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News as a media expert.
Albert T. Primo served for 10 years on the Board of Trustees of the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a BA degree and the Purchase College Foundation, State University of New York (SUNY).
On May 14, 2000, Newbury College in Boston conferred the Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree on Mr. Primo who delivered the commencement address.
He is married to Rosina Primo. They have three children.
