Broadcast veteran Victor Ives, star of 'Sinister Cinema' & host of 'The Golden Age of Radio,' dies

Jan. 7, 2015 - PRLog -- Of Victor Ives, Richard P. Kale introducing Ives to a Broadcast Group where he was to be keynote speaker said, "Victor Ives doesn't need an introduction so much as he needs an explanation".

Victor worked in upper level management for two Fortune 500 Companies and consulted a third (a national Drug Store Chain) on media and marketing.

Ives was a broadcast veteran who (in the early and mid 1990's) was Vice President, General Manager and founder of Channel 32 Incorporated of KWBP TV Portland, which Ives affiliated with Warner Bros Network. Following the sale of the station to Warner Bros, Ives and a partner built and sold two high powered (860 AM 50,000 watts non directional Portland and 660 AM 10,000 watts Eugene, Oregon radio stations to Pamplin Communications.(These were the first new high power non directional stations licensed to the markets in 40 years.)

Ives always split his career between being on the air as a talent and behind the camera and microphone in station management and ownership. Ives has managed stations in Detroit, San Francisco, Portland, Tucson, Bakersfield and elsewhere.

In the early 1990's Ives hosted and produced, for two seasons, a weekly radio program on BBC 5 in London. The program, "Night Beat", was a dramatic series based on a Chicago Private Eye. Later Ives was retained by David Plowright of Granada Television (Brideshead Revisited, Sherlock Holmes) to devise the first News/Talk radio format for The United Kingdom and consult for The Bay FM which became number one in a matter of weeks and quickly reached sold out status.

Ives is seen on reruns of an episode of "Rescue 911" (hosted by William Shatner) which depicts the rescue of 7 Killer Wales which Ives organized. Seven Orcas had been trapped in a fresh water lake in Alaska. Victor Ives organized an expedition which rounded up the doomed animals using sound aversion techniques and headed them to the safety of the open sea. Films of the rescue were used in the longest segment of "Rescue 911" ever released.

Victor was a TV pioneer having begun his broadcasting career while a high school student in San Francisco where he co-hosted (with Buddy Hatton) a weekly teen variety show on KPIX TV. The two also did a radio show on KSAN Radio. Ives was a newscaster and quiz program host in Northern California, Operations Director of a Philadelphia TV station and in the 1970's produced and hosted Portland’s highest rated local television program on KATU TV. ‘Sinister Cinema’ which delivered as high as a 60 share.

Ives and Jimmy Hollister were the leading characters on the late night TV Show. The pair also appeared on KEX in Portland where they billed themselves as "the sit down comedy team of Hollister and Ives.

For over two decades Ives has been heard as the host of ‘Golden Age of Radio’ a daily one hour program which in the 1980's was heard on as many as 300 stations including KSFO San Francisco, WCAU Philadelphia, WGN Chicago, KTOK, Oklahoma, WERE Cleveland, KFRE Fresno, KEX Portland and other powerhouse stations. The series continues in reruns on the USA Radio Network.

In the late 1970's Ives organized the Tom McCall Radio Network comprised of over 25 Oregon Radio Stations which carried commentaries of the popular former Governor of the State.

In the 80's Ives founded ONN (Oregon News Network) the first satellite delivered State News Network west of the Mississippi. ONN supplied News and Sport programs to 50 North West Radio Stations. Also in the 1980's as Vice President and General Manager of Magic 107 FM in Portland, owned by Harte-Hanks Communications Corporation he established a ground breaking non-traditional income profit center apart from the station. Such innovations as packaging other media including other radio stations, TV stations and cable systems (acquired at end rates), producing co-op and vendor dollar supported tabloid inserts and invoking the Robinson-Patman Act and Related Federal Statutes to acquire vendor funds for independent grocery chains were among strategies employed which were also incorporated into over a dozen Harte-Hanks Marketing Centers.

Victor Ives held positions in upper level management for two Fortune 500 Companies and consulted a third. He was Vice President in charge of FM radio for Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters which he ran out of Detroit, Michigan where is built and managed Tower 92 FM. During his 12 year stint with "the cowboy" Ives was Program Director of KEX in Portland (1970 to 1975) and KSFO in San Francisco (1975 - 1978). Under his direction both stations became number one in target Adults 25-49 and 25-54. After leaving KSFO, his syndicated Golden Age of Radio remained number one in San Francisco for 3 years after the station dropped out of the top 10.

Ives had been involved in the ownership of a dozen radio stations. A native of San Francisco he attended California State College at Chico, was married and lived on a sport horse (Olympic Disciplines of Dressage and Jumping)  breeding farm at Lake Oswego, Oregon.  Ives won Awards for News and Editorial achievements, Billboard Magazine Program Director and Station of the Year Awards and was the Detroit Renaissances Man of the Year. He is a member of the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters).

Ives was the CEO of Stellar Film Associates which owns or controls a library of motion picture films being readied for syndication to television stations, cable systems and the Internet.. Ives was a principal of StellarFilms.com www.RetroMovies.com. www.PreservationCinema.com and www.MoviesForTelevision.com. Victor recently introduced an online store which offers "Soundies" which were precursors to music videos produced in the 1940's.

In addition, Victor had provided consultation to various clients on such issues as acquiring new broadcast licenses, station purchases as well as general business positioning and marketing strategies.

In 2003, a group headed by Ives acquired a Satellite Uplink (Earth Station) situated in White Springs Florida. The facility is licensed to uplink unlimited channels of audio, video and data and has multiple analogue and digital channels which carried and distributed shows to the international market including The ‘X’ Zone Radio Show with Rob McConnell and others.

When contacted at the studios of REL-MAR McConnell Media Company in Hamilton, Ontario, the parent company of The ‘X’ Zone Radio/TV Show, on the passing of Victor Ives, Canadian media personality Rob McConnell, the host of The ‘X’ Zone Radio Show said, “I was saddened to learn about Victor’s passing.  I always held Victor in the highest of regards and respected him immensely.”

At the time of his death, Victor lived on the Lake Oswego in Oregon on the  horse farm he bought for his wife, Carol, in the 1980s.

Victor’s daughter Melissa Ives said no public service is planned. Victor Ives is survived by Carol, his wife of 55 years; a son, Matt, of Naples, Fla.; and daughters, Michelle and Melissa.