Longtime Newport Beach resident and television industry innovator Robert “Bob” Bennett died on Tuesday. He had lived in Newport for more than 30 years. He was 89.
Bennett’s television career lasted for more than 50 years. He helped build Metromedia Broadcasting into a dominant group of TV stations, eventually attracting the eye of Rupert Murdoch and Marvin Davis, who bought the chain in 1985 for $2 billion and transformed it into the Fox network.
Bennett began his broadcasting career in 1948 as a page for CBS Radio in Hollywood. In 1952, he went to work as a salesman for Los Angeles television station KTTV, then owned by Times-Mirror Co., former publisher of the Los Angeles Times.
He later joined Metromedia Broadcasting as sales director and rose through the ranks.
Bennett is survived by his wife, Marjie; daughter, Kelly Bennett; son, Casey Bennett; and grandson, Brandon Bennett.
