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Frank Magid (September 1, 1931 – February 5, 2010) was an American marketing consultant, widely known for introducing the "Action News" format of evening local TV news, and was an original developer ofGood Morning America.[1]Time magazine named Magid "the nation's leading television news doctor" in 1977, and he became the namesake of the term "Magidized".[1]
Magid was born inChicago, Illinois. After serving in the Army during the Korean War, he earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from theUniversity of Iowa, paying his tuition and living expenses with proceeds from theGI Bill and a variety of part-time jobs.
While in an organic chemistry class, he met Marilyn Young, a chemistry major fromWaterloo, Iowa. The two wed in 1956, and moved toCedar Rapids, Iowa, where his wife had taken a job as a junior high science teacher. While a junior professor of social psychology, anthropology and statistics at theUniversity of Iowa andCoe College, Magid launched his own company, Frank N. Magid Associates in 1956, selling his first research study to Merchants National Bank in Cedar Rapids.
A year later, he left teaching to devote his full efforts to the fledgling business. He built the company into the world's largest research-based strategy consulting company[citation needed] focused on media, entertainment and communications, which it remains[citation needed][when?]. Media executives and on-air personalities frequently noted that the face of television was largely created not in the media centers of New York and Los Angeles, but inMarion, Iowa, where the company was based.[citation needed] Magid retired as CEO of Frank N. Magid Associates in 2002 and was succeeded by his son, Brent, but remained chairman of the company until his death.
Frank Magid died, aged 78, fromlymphoma inSanta Barbara, California.[1][2] He was survived by his wife, two sons, four grandchildren and a brother.