The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Broadcast Pioneers member Rick Fox

Richard Fox, Jr. was born in July of 1950 in Philadelphia. Rick lived in Havertown for twenty-five years. He currently resides in Harleysville, PA with his wife Jeanne and has two grown sons; Ryan and Christopher.

After graduating from Haverford High School in 1968 and upon graduating Taylor School of Business in June, 1970, Rick was hired on June 15, 1970 as a messenger for WPHL-TV Channel 17 by Operations Manager George Finkel at a hefty $80 per week.

In 1971, Rick was added to the crew and started his camera career at Channel 17. He began honing his skills on such programs as “Wee Willie Weber’s Cartoon Club,” “Delaware Valley Forum,” “Scream-In,” Phillies Baseball, Big Five Basketball, and daily commercial productions.

In 1972, at age 22 he started writing and producing “Scream-In” with Dr. Shock. Rick’s association with Dr. Shock continued when the show was moved to Saturday afternoons and became “Mad” and “Horror Theaters.” In 1973, he also took on the responsibility of directing those shows. Rick’s friendship and association with Dr. Shock continued until Joe Zawislak’s (aka Dr. Shock) untimely death at age 42 in September of 1979.

With the help of old videos and Associate Producer and Director George Cummings, Rick wrote, produced, and hosted a one-hour special “A Tribute to Dr. Shock.” The show aired twice in early 1980 (February and April) in prime time on Channel 17 and without commercial interruption.

The Spring of 1977 found Rick leaving the station for a brief time to pursue his dream of opening a recording studio. During this time many Philadelphia announcing giants recorded there including John Facenda, Gene Hart, Steve Levy, Harry Kalas, Sid Doherty, Tom Moran and many others. But fate soon played its hand in Rick’s career.

In March, 1978 Rick received a phone call from Channel 17’s Promotion Manager, Frank Gilbuena, alerting him of Frank’s upcoming departure from the station. Frank requested that Rick consider returning to The Great Entertainer and take his place. In April of 1978, Rick accepted the offer of becoming the On-Air Promotion Manager from Station Manager Ted Baze, and returned to WPHL.

1978 was a very busy year for Rick. During baseball season, in addition to handling the responsibilities of promoting the station programming, Rick also became the studio co-ordinator for Phillies Baseball and was responsible for inserting graphics and stats with the use of the Chyron and calling for the roll cues of the commercials. Also, it was Rick’s job to direct the Phillies pre-game and post-game shows with host Bob Bradley. In addition, each Spring found Rick directing the local overnight portions of the “Easter Seals Telethon” into the very early morning hours.

In May, 1982, Rick married another WPHL employee—Jeanne Linden. In August of that year Rick decided to leave Channel 17 and rekindle his desire to become a Philadelphia freelance cameraman once again.

From August, 1982 through February, 1984, Rick again televised Phillies Baseball, along with Big Five Basketball and various corporate shoots throughout the Philadelphia area.

In October, 1983, and mostly on a whim after meeting and talking with Dave Hagen, (an NBC cameraman who Rick ran into at Veterans Stadium), Rick was convinced he should send resumes to ABC and NBC.

On February 1, 1984 while taping a panel discussion in Philadelphia, Rick received a phone call from NBC in New York asking if he could start as a cameraman the following Monday, February 6, 1984. Rick immediately accepted the offer.

From February, 1984 until January, 2015 Rick was a cameraman for NBC, New York. During his thirty-one year career at NBC he televised virtually every show originating from their 30 Rock and Brooklyn studios including “Today,” “Late Night with David Letterman,” “Saturday Night Live” (for nine seasons), “The Phil Donahue Show,” “Football Night in America,” and “Another World.” He also traveled the world for sports and news broadcasts such as “The Game of the Week” with Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola, ten Olympic Games (including the Opening Ceremonies), sixteen years of NFL Football, the 1986 and 1988 World Series, five Super Bowls and several political conventions.

During his tenure at NBC, Rick established himself as the 18th Green cameraman for NBC Golf for sixteen of the thirty years he covered the sport and was fortunate to have televised twenty-six tournaments a year for many years, which included several Presidents Cups, twelve Ryder Cups, and twenty U.S. Opens.

In January, 2015 Rick retired from NBC but continues to freelance for the network covering five or six weeks of golf tournaments a year and filling in as a cameraman on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on occasion. Rick has felt extremely fortunate and blessed over the years for his career and has been awarded sixteen Emmys for his endeavors.

There isn’t a day that goes by that Rick doesn’t remember and cherish his Channel 17 roots or the friendships he established almost fifty years ago with many of the Broadcast Pioneers. Rick also acknowledges that none of his network experience would have been possible without the foundational and formative experiences he acquired over his many years at Channel 17. Rick is a member of the Broadcast Pioneers.

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com