Philbin, who died Friday at 88, was, in many respects, the consummate broadcaster. He could hold an audience’s attention — as he did for more hours than anyone in the history of American television — without singing, acting or telling jokes.
Philbin honed that craft in local television, at a time when programs like the ones he hosted in San Diego, Los Angeles and New York could be major money makers for network stations.
He parlayed that into a national stage, on the long-running « Live » show in syndication and later « Who Wants to be a Millionaire, » a gameshow that towered over the TV ratings in the US (having already done so in the UK), representing a kind of crowning achievement to his career. Given the show’s importance to ABC, Philbin was fond of telling people with his customary enthusiasm, « Regis saved the network! »
Of course, that career lingered even after « Millionaire » faded and disappeared from primetime.
