Dalton Delan
Delan in 2006
Born (1954-08-05) August 5, 1954
Manhattan, New York, United States
Occupation(s)Writer, columnist, television producer

Dalton Delan (born August 5, 1954) is an American writer, syndicated columnist, and television producer. He pens his syndicated column, the Unspin Room, for the Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper The Berkshire Eagle.[1][2][3] His work with PBS and Sundance have won him numerous awards for documentaries and primetime shows.[4] A number of his projects include working alongside notable figures like actor Robert Redford, Ken Burns and Henry Louis Gates Jr. Delan oversaw the production of sixteen In Performance at the White House programs in collaboration with the Obama administration, as well as several under the Bush and Clinton administrations years prior.[5] As executive producer, Delan brought music giants like Bob Dylan,[6] Paul McCartney,[7] Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach, and Carole King to the White House.[8] The final program under the Obama administration, The Smithsonian Salutes Ray Charles, is documented on YouTube as "WETA at the White House", features singers like Demi Lovato, Usher, and Anthony Hamilton.[9]

Delan was an executive producer of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor,[10] presented by the Kennedy Center to notable names in humor and comedy. Delan was also co-creator and was an executive producer of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Music, whose first recipient, Paul Simon, was presented the award in a ceremony at the Warner Theater. Delan's most recent work had him as the managing director and chief content officer of One Mind All Media, the media division for the brain health non-profit One Mind.[11]

Delan and President Barack Obama at the "Red, White and Blues" concert at the White House on February 21, 2012

Early life

Delan was born in Manhattan, New York, to attorney and stock broker Daniel Delan, and advertising executive and artist, Stephanie Lord Delan. He has one older brother, Douglas Scott Delan, who works in the educational field.

Delan attended Phillips Exeter Academy[12] alongside subsequent music, film, and television veterans Bobby Shriver, Miles Chapin and Benmont Tench (former keyboard player for the late Tom Petty).[13] Upon early graduation from Exeter, Delan attended Columbia University in New York, making the Dean's List both semesters. As a sophomore, Delan was recruited to Princeton University[14] as part of an effort to strengthen the English Department's student body. During his academic career at Princeton University, Delan was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society, and won the Junior English Prize, as well as the Senior Thesis Prize in English. He was an active journalist during this time, writing for the Henry David Thoreau Journal,[15] as editor of The Nassau Lit, and as a writer and critic for The Daily Princetonian.[16] Delan graduated from Princeton University summa cum laude in 1976.[17] Following college, Delan began his career as a staff writer and editor for Time-Life Books, first in Manhattan and then in Washington D.C.[18]

Delan in rehearsals with Robert Redford on October 15, 2006, for the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, honoring Neil Simon.

Career in television

Awards

OrganizationAwardTitleYear
National Capital/Chesapeake Bay Emmy AwardsOutstanding Program Achievement[19]Worldtalk[20]2003
The Columbia School of JournalismDupont Columbia Award[21]Jihad[22]2006-2007
The Columbia School of JournalismDupont Columbia Award[21]Through Deaf Eyes[23]2006-2007
The Peabody AwardPeabody Awards[24]Washington Week[25]2008
The Emmy AwardNews and Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Science, Technology and Nature Programming[26]The Mysterious Human Heart[27]2009
The Emmy AwardNews and Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming[28]America at a Crossroads: Operation Homecoming[29]2009
The Peabody AwardPeabody Award [30]Latino Americans2013

ABC News

Delan got his start in television in 1979, working for ABC News in the ABC News Closeup documentary unit[31] under Pamela Hill.[32] There, he helped produce investigative reports with several big names in media, including a film featuring writer and historian William Manchester,[33] and hosts Hugh Downs,[34] Peter Jennings,[35] and Barbara Walters.[36] Titles that Delan worked on include "After the Sexual Revolution"[37] and "Growing Old in America".[38] "Rain of Terror", another of Delan's works, was deemed by a The Wall Street Journal editorial as "the single best piece of television journalism we've ever witnessed."[39]

HBO and Lifetime Television

In 1986, Delan was hired at HBO[40] to help build and serve as an executive producer of the America Undercover documentary series, as well as informational family programming specials. During his time working at HBO, Delan was known for recruiting filmmakers such as Alan and Susan Raymond,[41] Jon Alpert[42] and Albert Maysles,[43] and working on programs featuring TV personalities like Walter Cronkite[44] and Mary Tyler Moore.[45] Delan was hired by Lifetime Television in 1990[46] to develop a variety of series and specials ranging from game shows and documentaries, to live events and their first primetime nonfiction series, "Confessions of Crime",[47] as well as working with acclaimed actors and actresses, such as Glenn Close[48] on the documentary "Broken Hearts, Broken Homes".

The Travel Channel

When Landmark Communications in Norfolk, Virginia, purchased The Travel Channel, Delan was hired in 1992 to help restart and grow the network, based in Atlanta.[49] In addition to bringing in personalities such as Charles Kuralt,[50] he also premiered the long-running series Globe Trekker (originally titled Lonely Planet).

The Sundance Channel

In 1996 the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, Robert Redford, approached Delan to be the Creative Director and Executive Vice President of the Sundance Channel[51] —a venture between Redford, Showtime, and Polygram.[31] Working directly with Redford and Festival director Geoffrey Gilmore, Delan produced live broadcasts from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.[52] Delan also worked with filmmakers to develop original films (Marina Zenovich on "Independent's Day" and Leslie McCleave on "Meeting Marty"), as well as with prominent actors like Jon Cryer, Susan Sarandon, and Meg Tilly.

Public Media

From late 1998 to late 2019, Delan was the Executive Vice President and Chief Programming Officer of WETA Washington D.C.,[53] which he took from third to second largest producing station for PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), and the flagship public television station in the nation's capital. At WETA, Delan worked with Sharon Percy Rockefeller, wife of John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV, retired senior Senator from West Virginia.[54] In 1999, Ken Bode's contract as moderator on the popular news discussion talk show, "Washington Week in Review" was not renewed.[55] Despite criticism from Bode and his supporters, Delan held his ground in the ensuing media firestorm, and temporarily brought back long-time moderator Paul Duke before naming journalist Gwen Ifill as moderator.[56] This move would help create a newly successful Washington Week with Gwen Ifill.[57] Upon Ifill's death, Delan brought in Washington Post reporter Robert Costa as moderator.[58] Delan collaborated with Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, on an adaptation of her book Speak Truth to Power, which was filmed onstage at the Kennedy Center, with readings by Sigourney Weaver, John Malkovich and a number of other distinguished actors.[59] Delan also served as Executive in Charge of Production for WETA on the films of Ken Burns.[60] In 2003, Jerry Nachman, then-New York Post editor and editor-in-chief of MSNBC, called Delan "the so-called father of reality TV."[61]

One Mind All Media

After more than two decades in public television, in early 2020 Delan launched a media division,[62][63] One Mind All Media, for One Mind (501(c)3),[64] a leader in brain health research and workplace best mental health practices. As its first Managing Director and Chief Content Officer, Delan cited the goal of telling "the stories of the most pressing issue of our time, brain and mental health". President of One Mind, Brandon Staglin, stated "with Dalton's tremendous acumen and media experience, ONE MIND ALL MEDIA is primed to transform popular culture toward hope, compassion and action to help the sixty million Americans struggling with mental health challenges."[63]

Syndicated Column

Delan writes a biweekly syndicated column, The Unspin Room, for Pulitzer Prize-winning daily, The Berkshire Eagle, whose roots reach back to 1789. Delan's column explores the intersection of culture, media, current events, and institutional memory.[65]

Books

In 2012, Delan wrote a children's book, Christmas Rose, illustrated by Yolanda Prinsloo, which is available as an audiobook on YouTube.[66][67] Delan wrote the entry "Bob Dylan Cover Songs" in "The Enlightened Bracketologist: The Final Four of Everything," edited by Mark Reiter and Richard Sandomir.[68] Delan was also Editor of "Positively Prince Street" in 1979.[69]

Personal life

While working at ABC News in 1981, Delan met his future wife Stacey Lauren Delan (née Berson) (born 1958) of New York City. They married on August 11, 1982. Together, they have two children, Dashiell (born 1988) and Jesse (born 1991).

Selected filmography

TitleYearNetworkCredited as
Growing Old in America1985ABCField Producer
Medal of Honor2008PBSExecutive Producer
Mark Twain2001PBSExecutive in Charge of Production
After the Sexual Revolution1986ABCField Producer
People Like Us: Social Class in America2002PBSExecutive in Charge
Bioterror: Coping with a New Reality2002PBSExecutive Producer
The Irish Gala2001PBSExecutive Producer
The President's Own2002PBSExecutive Producer
A Concert for America2002PBSExecutive Producer
Echoes from the White House2002PBSExecutive Producer
Yeltsin2000PBSExecutive in Charge of Production
A Force More Powerful: A Century of Non-Violent Conflict1999PBSExecutive Producer
There Once was a Town2001PBSExecutive Producer
John Singer Sargent: Outside the Frame2009WETAExecutive Producer
Speak Truth to Power2001PBSExecutive Producer
The Americanos Concert2002PBSExecutive in Charge
Independent's Day1998Sundance ChannelExecutive Producer
Discovered at Sundance1997PBSExecutive Producer
Dangerous Propositions1992LifetimeExecutive Producer
Jennifer's in Jail1992LifetimeExecutive Producer
Shattered Lullabies1992LifetimeExecutive Producer
Broken Hearts, Broken Homes1993LifetimeExecutive Producer
How to Prevent a Heart Attack1990HBOExecutive Producer
Child of Rage: A Storyof Abuse1990HBOExecutive Producer
Buy Me That! A Kid's Survival Guide to TV Advertising1990HBOExecutive Producer
Warning: Food May be Hazardous to Your Health1990HBOProducer
Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip2004PBSExecutive in Charge of Production
In Performance at the White House1999-2016PBSExecutive Producer
Jazz2001PBSExecutive in Charge of Production
Motown Sound2012PBSExecutive Producer
Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered2005PBSExecutive Producer
Through Deaf Eyes2007PBSExecutive Producer
Jihad2001PBSExecutive Producer
Struggle for the Soul of Islam: Inside Indonesia2007PBSExecutive Producer
Unforgivable Blackness: Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson2005PBSExecutive in Charge of Production

References

  1. ↑ Delan, Dalton (6 February 2020). "Dalton Delan | The Unspin Room: Jim Lehrer's legacy is set in concrete". The Berkshire Eagle. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  2. ↑ "The 1973 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Editorial Writing". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  3. ↑ Service, Dalton Delan CNHI News (27 November 2019). "Dalton Delan | A grateful Thanksgiving". The Tribune-Democrat. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  4. ↑ "Series Premiere Credits: America at a Crossroads". PBS. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  5. ↑ "Carole King Honored at Library". Library of Congress. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  6. ↑ Associated Press (11 March 2010). "Obamas, Bidens Celebrate Civil Rights Music (PHOTOS, AUDIO)". Huffington Post. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  7. ↑ Benac, Nancy (3 June 2011). "Paul McCartney Makes Fun Of George W. Bush, Praises Obama At White House Concert". Huffington Post. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  8. ↑ "Gershwin Prize for Popular Song". Library of Congress. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  9. ↑ "Smithsonian Salutes Ray Charles: In Performance at the White House". YouTube. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  10. ↑ Baseline Studio Systems (2013). "Kennedy Center: Mark Twain Prize -- Celebrating Whoopi Goldberg". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  11. ↑ "One Mind Team". One Mind. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  12. ↑ "Rob Dinerman Testimonials". Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  13. ↑ "List of Phillips Exeter Academy alumni". Facebook. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  14. ↑ "Princeton Undergraduate Alumni Index, 1921-1979". Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  15. ↑ Sattelmeyer, John C. Broderick, general editor; edited by Robert (1988). "Acknowledgments". Henry D. Thoreau Journal, Volume 2: 1842-1848. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 0691061866. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ Delan, Dalton (18 November 1976). "John Woods' acting brings 'verbal diddlings' to life". The Daily Princetonian. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  17. ↑ Mrowka, DeLinda. "Series Premier Credits". PBS. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  18. ↑ Bailey, Ronald H. (1977). The home front : U.S.A. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life. ISBN 0809424789.
  19. ↑ "Nominations 2003". Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  20. ↑ Potthast, John (June 2004). "Local Emmy Award Winners". Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  21. 1 2 "Program Descriptions of 2008 duPont Winners". Colombia News. 2007. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  22. ↑ Enger, Jeremy. "Money trails, reservists, gangs of Iraq ." Current Publishing Committee. Archived from the original on 4 August 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  23. ↑ WETA, Washington DC. "Through Deaf Eyes: Credits". WETA. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  24. ↑ Associated Press (1 April 2009). "Complete list of 2008 Peabody Award winners". USA Today. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  25. ↑ "Washington Week with Gwen Ifill: Washington Week - Producers". Public Broadcasting for Greater Washington. Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  26. ↑ Shapiro, Neal (23 September 2008). "2008 News and Documentary Emmys". Thirteen. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  27. ↑ Gruben, David. "The Mysterious Human Heart: A Series by David Grubin". WETA. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  28. ↑ "29th ANNUAL NEWS & DOCUMENTARY EMMY AWARDS WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT NEW YORK CITY GALA". Press Release. The Emmys Press Release. Archived from the original on 10 October 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  29. ↑ "PBS Week-Long National Television Event To Examine War On Terrorism, Conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, Experience of American Troops and Schisms Within the Muslim World". PBS. April 2007. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  30. ↑ "Latino Americans PBS". The Peabody Awards. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  31. 1 2 Gobi, Kim (1 January 1998). "Programming Profile: The Sundance Channel – And the Festival Goes on… Tv". Real Screen. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  32. ↑ "Dalton Delan". Mighty Quinn Management. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  33. ↑ "Reporting America at War Production Credits". WETA. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  34. ↑ "ABC NEWS CLOSE-UP: GROWING OLD IN AMERICA, PT. 2 OF 3: "CRISIS IN HEALTH CARE" (TV)". The Paley Center for Media. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  35. ↑ Fischer, Theodore (9 October 2012). "Pipeline 2013". Current.org. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  36. ↑ "Makers: Women Who Make America on PBS". TV Guide. 26 February 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  37. ↑ "After the Sexual Revolution: Credits". The New York Times. 30 June 1986. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  38. ↑ "Growing Old in America". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  39. ↑ "ABC's Deadly Evidence". The Wall Street Journal Editorial. 18 December 1981.
  40. ↑ Marketos, James (17 September 1986). "76". Princeton Alumni Weekly. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  41. ↑ "The Congregation: Questions of Faith in Changing Times (PBS: DVD Video) (A Film by Alan and Susan Raymond As Seen on PBS, DVD)". Amazon. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  42. ↑ White, Thomas (17 July 2008). "PBS Dominates News and Doc Emmy Nods; 'The War' Captures Six Primetime Noms". Documentary.org. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  43. ↑ Cardillo, Lauren (July 2006). "Welcome to Docuwood! The State of Nonfiction Filmmaking in Washington, DC". Documentary.org. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  44. ↑ "Reporting America at War". PBS. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  45. ↑ "The Mark Twain Prize: Celebrating the Humor of Carl Renier". Archived from the original on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  46. ↑ "Programming" (PDF). American Radio History. 1990. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  47. ↑ Nyerere, Toweri K. Museveni ; edited by Elizabeth Kanyogonya ; foreword by Mwalimu Julius K. (2000). What is Africa's problem? ([Online-Ausg.] ed.). Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press. ISBN 0816632782. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  48. ↑ "Broken Hearts, Broken Homes". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  49. ↑ Brenna, Patricia (5 April 2002). "Travelers Find Their Place With The Locals". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  50. ↑ "ON THE ROAD WITH CHARLES KURALT {PINEY WOODS THOREAU; COFFEE CUPS; WHEAT HARVEST; CADILLAC RANCH; NEBRASKA} (TV)". The Paley Center of Media. 1998. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  51. ↑ "New President at Brillstein-Grey". Los Angeles Times. 25 June 1996. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  52. ↑ "LDS Film Festival: Day 2". Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  53. ↑ Goodman, Walter (7 March 1999). "Ideas & Trends; PBS: Clinging to a Disappearing Niche". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  54. ↑ "Jeffrey Brown betrays Elizabeth Campbell". D2 route. 24 May 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  55. ↑ Matthews, Chris (21 September 2004). ""Somebody Has to Pay" for CBS' Missteps, Prof. Ken Bode Tells MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews". Depauw. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  56. ↑ Shepard, Alicia C. (June 1999). "Not a Black Hat Kind of Guy". American Journalism Review. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  57. ↑ "Ken Bode's Bad "Washington Week"". The Washington Post. 24 February 1999.
  58. ↑ McCarthy, Ellen (April 20, 2017). "Post reporter Robert Costa takes over helm of PBS's 'Washington Week'". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  59. ↑ "Speak Truth to Power" (PDF). cps.edu. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  60. ↑ Fischer, Theodore (21 December 2011). "Faith & America's Founders (w.t.)". Current.org. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  61. ↑ Nachman, Jerry (10 January 2003). "Reality TV now and then". Jewish World Review. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  62. ↑ "One Mind All Media Launch". One Mind. 2020-02-04. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  63. 1 2 "Addressing America's Mental Health Discrimination, ONE MIND Hires Star Media Executive Dalton Delan to Lead New ONE MIND ALL MEDIA Division". au.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  64. ↑ "One Mind All Media". One Mind. Archived from the original on 2020-02-15. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  65. ↑ Delan, Dalton. "Dalton Delan | The Unspin Room: 'Catch and Kill' and control over truth". The Manchester Journal. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  66. ↑ Delan, Dalton (2012). Christmas Rose. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1479203284.
  67. ↑ Christmas Rose by Dalton Delan. Illustrations by Yolanda Prinsloo, retrieved 2020-02-08
  68. ↑ Reiter, Mark; Sandomir, Richard, eds. (2007). The enlightened bracketologist : the Final Four of everything (1st U.S. ed.). New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1596913103.
  69. ↑ Delan, Dalton (1979). Positively Prince Street. Virginia: Irene Rouse.
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