Ed Ansin, chief of Sunbeam Television, has died. He was 84. Sunbeam has WSVN Miami and WHDH-WLVI Boston.
“Besides his family, Ed loved nothing more than owning and operating his television stations,” said Paul Magnes, executive VP and general manager, WSVN. “We are all so fortunate to have worked for a man who truly cared about his employees and the industry.”
Ansin’s childhood was split between Massachusetts, where he was born, and Miami, where he was raised. He has been in the ownership game since he and his father acquired what was then WCKT Miami in 1962.
Ansin had some high-profile battles in the television business, including a spat with NBC over airing the primetime Jay Leno show a decade ago, and a lawsuit against Nielsen. “I’m pretty mild-mannered,” Ansin told B&C. “But if I see something we have to stand up and contest, I don’t mind doing it.”
At the start of 2017, WHDH went independent after NBC gave the affiliation in Boston to its own station. WHDH hired a few dozen staffers and stocked up on local news. “We have the opportunity to build a powerhouse news station, we have a lot more inventory to sell and hopefully we will,” Ansin told B&C at the time.
Ansin was also a major player in real estate. “We will all miss Ed tremendously, but WSVN, WHDH, WLVI and Sunbeam Real Estate are in all good hands,” said Magnes.
