Andrew Young, 79, receives a lifetime Emmy on Friday, and those wondering how a politician wins a broadcast honor should know that before he was a civil rights strategist, Young was a television man.
From 1957 to 1961, Young and his wife, Jean Childs, lived in New York and he worked for the National Council of Churches. His responsibilities included producing a Sunday morning television show, "Look Up And Live."
The young minister used music to attract a youthful audience, bringing such artists as Odetta and Dave Brubeck onto the show, which eventually won a Peabody Award. "We used contemporary artists to tell the gospel story," Young said. "We had a number of programs built around jazz and spirituals and the blues."
More importantly, by crafting his narrated 60-second and 90-second introductions, Young learned how to tailor a message for a television audience, and how to keep it short.
After he moved to Atlanta, this training paid off during news conferences at sit-ins and demonstrations. He remembers coaching Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. about talking to the cameras: "I said, ‘Look you can’t get more than 60 seconds on television, and preferably you've got to say it in 35 to 40 seconds. We’ve got to hone the message down each day.'"
Young's media smarts also came in handy when he entered politics, as a congressman, ambassador and as mayor of Atlanta, though some of his unpremeditated words have landed him in occasional hot water.
During the last four years, Young's career has come full-circle, bringing him back into television production, beginning with the documentary "Rwanda Rising." His documentary series, "Andrew Young Presents," has created "about 16 movies shown on WSB television over the last four years," he said.
The newest documentary, this year's "Leaving Selma," retraces the historic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery.
While his documentaries have won regional Emmys, Young joins an august group of lifetime Emmy recipients, including Ted Turner, Roone Arledge and Walter Cronkite.
Friday's ceremony, at the New York Sheraton Hotel, will include appearances by Billye Aaron and former CBS newsman Dan Rather. Young's award, which is called the Trustee's Award, will be presented by Tom Brokaw, who was a reporter at WSB in Atlanta before joining NBC News.
Aaron Rents' founder Charles Loudermilk has bought a table at the ceremony, and will fly up with Atlanta developer Herman Russell. A longtime friend, Loudermilk served as campaign manager during Young’s mayoral run, and said: “Every time I’m with him I’m more impressed, and that’s been for many years.”
The Emmys are sponsored by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, whose chairman this year happens to be Atlanta entertainment attorney Darryl Cohen. "He is the epitome of what we should be all about," said Cohen of Young. "He is such a cool guy and so much of an icon that the local chapter of the academy gave him a Trustee's Award two years ago."
Young, who spoke about his award while driving to a speaking engagement at Rome's Shorter University, was excited about the upcoming ceremony. "It’s awesome," he said.
