Jim Van Messel

Jim Van Messel first made waves in 1969 as a producer at WXYZ-TV in Detroit, first as a producer of a local talk show and of their 11 P.M. newscast; two years later, he was named executive producer of all newscasts at the station, which under his stint began a two-decades-long run at the top. From there, he spent a year (1973-74) as news director at KPIX in San Francisco, which was at the time a distant second to leader KGO-TV (and its charismatic co-anchor Fred Van Amburg), then from 1974 to 1975 was assistant news director at WABC-TV in New York. After his time there ended, he joined WRC-TV in Washington, DC as a producer, then promoted to executive producer in 1978 and news director in 1983. After three years in that position, he was named senior producer, and his former WRC boss David Nuell executive producer, of Entertainment Tonight (1981), becoming executive producer upon Nuell's departure in 1992. In 1996 he left that show to co-create Access Hollywood (1996).