Longtime Station Exec Jack B. Allen Dies at 89

Jack B. Allen, 89, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a longtime sales and management executive at broadcast TV stations, died on Sunday, May 3, according to his family and a published obituary, which did not report a cause of death.

Jack B. Allen and Howard Cosell at an ABC Network event in an undated photo provided by the Allen family.

Known for his ability connect with people and quick wit, Allen rose from mailroom attendant to stagehand on locally produced programs, then to prominent sales and executive management roles with WLS (Chicago), WABC (New York), WXYZ (Detroit), KNBC (Los Angeles) and WWJ (now WDIV in Detroit), where he led the station as general manager and provided on-air weekly editorials.

In the early 1980s, Allen, who was born in Chicago, moved his family to Westport, Connecticut, to help launch the cable networks Satellite News Channel (later acquired by CNN), The Nashville Network and The Disney Channel for Group W Satellite Communications, based in nearby Stamford. Later he held senior positions in New York at Columbia Pictures Television, Lorimar and Orion.

In semi-retirement, he represented nationally syndicated television programs through his own company, Jack Allen Enterprises, based in Westport and in Bloomfield Hills.

Allen was predeceased by his wife of 58 years, Chandra (Camp) Allen, and is survived by 10 children (two of whom, David Allen of NBC and Tim Allen of Sky & Telescope magazine, are in the national media advertising business) and 24 grandchildren.

LINK:	https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/longtime-station-exec-jack-b-al...
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