Stanton, Frank Nicholas (1908-2006)

US broadcast executive. He was hired by CBS in 1934 when an executive read his dissertation on radio audience research for a PhD in psychology from Ohio State University. Coinventor of the Stanton-Lazarsfeld programme analyser, he shepherded CBS through several decades of successful expansion as its president 1946-71.

He was born in Muskegon, Michigan. He served as chairman of the Rand Corporation, a global think tank, 1969-67, and chairman of the American Red Cross 1973-79. Known as a great advocate for broadcast journalism, he organized the first televised presidential debates, between John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon, in 1960.