Page 86 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

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KROCK,
Koppel
War II, ARTHUR attended boarding school there before his parents emigrated
again in 1954, this time to the United States. Koppel got his first broadcasting
experience working for the campus radio station as a student at Syracuse Uni-
versity. After graduating with a B.A. in speech in 1960, he went to Stanford
for his master's in journalism. Failing the Associated Press broadcasters' test,
Koppel started work at New York City radio station WMCA as a copy boy. In
1963, he moved to WABC, where he soon began doing news and is said to
have been the youngest-ever network correspondent.
Koppel's smooth style became apparent when he had to ad-lib for 90 minutes
during a live report when the arrival of newly installed President Lyndon John-
son was delayed. In 1964 he reported on his first presidential nominating con-
vention and the following year became anchor of the nightly ABC newscast in
New York. In 1967, Koppel began his television career as an ABC correspon-
dent in Vietnam, then went to Miami and Hong Kong as bureau chief. In 1971,
he was named chief diplomatic correspondent for ABC News, covering the
Department of State for the next eight years. Meanwhile, Koppel took on the
added post of anchor of the ABC Saturday Night News in 1975. When the Iran
hostage crisis began in 1979, new head of ABC Roone Arledge created a late-
night news program devoted to covering it. That soon gave way to Nightline,
first hosted by Frank Reynolds, and a new concept in television news was
launched. Koppel increasingly began to fill in for Reynolds and in 1980 took
over the job permanently.
SOURCES: Current Biography Yearbook, 1984; Dan Nimmo and Chevelle Newsome,
Political Commentators in the United States and in the 20th Century, 1997.
Marc Edge

KRAUS, SIDNEY (1927- ) is best known for his studies of political debates.
He edited The Great Debates, a major compilation of research about the 1960
Kennedy-Nixon debates.
He received B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees from the Art Institute of Chicago and
his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. He has taught at DePaul University,
Indiana University, Roosevelt University, Cleveland State University, and the
University of Massachusetts.
Other books he authored, coauthored, or edited include The Effects of Mass
Communication upon Political Behavior and Handbook of Political Communi-
cation.
SOURCE: Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Vol. 10, 1983.
Jacqueline Nash Gifford

KROCK, ARTHUR (1886-1974) shaped both the journalism and the politics
of twentieth-century America in a 60-year career, most of which he spent as the
most influential reporter and columnist on the nation's most influential news-
paper, the New York Times. From 1932 until his retirement in 1966, AK or Mr.