Lowell thomas jr biography

Media Tycoon

Lowell Thomas was an accomplished businessman as well as a journalist. Unlike other top post-World War II American broadcast journalists — Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley — Thomas was never a network employee. Instead, he remained an independent contractor who had his own sponsors, bought time on the networks for his programs and retained ownership of his material. Thomas made and spent several fortunes before establishing himself as a major media tycoon with the formation in 1947 of what would become a group of broadcast stations called Capital Cities. Capital Cities eventually grew large enough to purchase the ABC network in 1985.

Thomas’ remarkably intrepid travels included an overland trip to Tibet in 1949 with his son Lowell, Jr., along as cameraman. They were the first, and last, invited western guests of the ancient Tibetan government, and their remote, battery-powered broadcasts were carried on CBS — another first. Thomas produced surround-screen travel adventures — “Seven Wonders” and “Search for Paradise”are examples — for his own film

Author: Tom Meacham. Climb Year: 2016. Publication Year: 2017.

Lowell Thomas Jr., an Honorary Lifetime Member of the Mountaineering Club of Alaska and longtime AAC member, passed away in Anchorage on October 1. His long life was filled with extraordinary adventures and accomplishments. He was born in London, England, where his father, world-renowned journalist Lowell Thomas, was embarking on his career as a war correspondent. Lowell Jr. grew up in New York State and graduated from Dartmouth College, where he was a member of the ski team. In World War II he was a fighter-pilot flight instructor in the Army Air Corps, and flying came to play a central role in the rest of his life.

Lowell made his first trip to Alaska in 1940, as a teenager, when he was part of the team led by Bradford Washburn that made the first ascent of Mt. Bertha (10,182’) in the Fairweather Range. Lowell and his father traveled and filmed in pre-communist Tibet in 1949, and were perhaps the last Westerners to meet the teen-age Dalai Lama before the Chinese invasion and the religious leader’s exi

Lowell Thomas

American author, broadcaster and traveler (1892–1981)

This article is about the writer born in 1892. For his son, see Lowell Thomas Jr. For the travel journalism awards program, see Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards.

Lowell Jackson Thomas (April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981) was an American writer, broadcaster, and traveler, best remembered for publicising T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). He was also involved in promoting the Cinerama widescreen system.[1] In 1954, he led a group of New York City-based investors to buy majority control of Hudson Valley Broadcasting, which, in 1957, became Capital Cities Television Corporation.

Early life

Thomas was born in Woodington, Ohio, to Harry and Harriet (née Wagoner) Thomas. His father was a doctor, his mother a teacher. In 1900, the family moved to the mining town of Victor, Colorado. Thomas worked there as a gold miner, a cook, and a reporter on the newspaper.[2]

In 1911, Thomas graduated from Victor High School where one of his teachers was Mabel Barbee Lee.[3] The f

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