Joel Chaseman, Longtime Westinghouse And Post-Newsweek Executive, Passes Away

Chaseman Passes

Longtime broadcasting industry executive JOEL CHASEMAN, who was at the helm of WINS-A/NEW YORK for its launch of the all-News format in 1965, died SATURDAY (1/11) in NORTH BETHESDA, MD at 93.

CHASEMAN served in the NAVY during WORLD WAR II and served as a host and Business Manager of CORNELL UNIVERSITY's WVBR/ITHACA before hosting at WELM-A and WENY-A-F/ELMIRA, WSCR-A/SCRANTON and WAAM-TV/WJZ-TV (where he worked his way up to Program Manager) and WITH-A/BALTIMORE; he then became GM of WJZ parent WESTINGHOUSE BROADCASTING's WBC PRODUCTIONS in NEW YORK.

After a brief period based in LOS ANGELES overseeing STEVE ALLEN's show for WESTINGHOUSE, CHASEMAN moved back to NEW YORK in 1963 as Assistant GM, then GM of WINS-A and was in charge when the station flipped to its all-News format on APRIL 19, 1965. A year later, he was named VP for Radio of WESTINGHOUSE BROADCASTING STATION GROUP, moving up to President in 1968 and to SVP/Programming and Production for GROUP W radio and TV stations in 1970.

In 1973, he joined POST-NEWSWEEK as President of the company's station group and also joined the board of the parent WASHINGTON POST CO., promoted to Chairman/CEO in 1988. He also served as Chairman of the NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS AND SCIENCES in 1980-82. After leaving POST-NEWSWEEK in 1990, he was a consultant and headed an investment firm.

In addition to his management duties and DJ work, CHASEMAN moonlighted as "JOE CHASE" to call play-by-play of the original 1950s version of the NBA's BALTIMORE BULLETS on WCBM-A/BALTIMORE in 1953-54 (that version of the BULLETS folded after that season; the later incarnation, the transplanted CHICAGO PACKERS/ZEPHYRS, arrived in BALTIMORE in 1963 and is now the WASHINGTON WIZARDS).

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