User:Garland Pinkerton/sandbox

Ronald Townsend (b. September 23, 1941) is a former broadcast executive who, on September 11, 1990, was formally inducted as the first Black member of Augusta National Golf Club, the private, for-profit club that has been home to the Masters Tournament since 1934.

Early life
Ronald Townsend was the second child born to Clarissa (Garfield) Townsend and William Allen Townsend in the Durkeeville public housing project in Jacksonville, Florida. After his parents’ divorce, Townsend split time with his father, stepmother, and brother in New Haven, Connecticut and with his mother’s family in Jacksonville. In 1956, he moved in with his mother who by then was living in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.

CBS
In 1960, Townsend was hired to work in the mailroom of CBS in its Madison Avenue headquarters. Over the course of a decade, he held a series of progressively higher profile jobs. By the time he left the organization in 1970, he was leading the CBS News research and marketing division.

Children’s Television Workshop
Townsend moved from CBS to the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) in 1970 to set up television viewing centers in urban areas so that children in the new Head Start program, many without access to a television at home, could watch the diverse, public-broadcast programming that included Sesame Street and The Electric Company.

WTOP/WDVM
In 1975, Townsend was named business manager of Washington, D.C.-based WTOP-TV Ch. 9, a CBS affiliate owned by the Post-Newsweek group. In 1978, the station was traded to the Evening News Association for WWJ-TV in Detroit. As part of the change, the station’s call letters were changed to WDVM and Townsend became the vice president and general manager when the incumbent, Jim Lynagh, moved to Detroit to run WWJ under its new call letters, WDIV.

Oprah Winfrey-Carol Randolph controversy
In 1986, WDVM, under Townsend’s leadership, decided to replace Carol Randolph's eponymous, locally produced television program with the syndicated, Chicago-based Oprah Winfrey Show. Though both were Black women, Randolph saw the move as a betrayal because of her long tenure as a local Washington, D.C. television personality.

WUSA/Gannett Television
In 1986, WDVM was purchased by Gannett and its call letters were changed to WUSA. Townsend was named general manager of the station. By 1989, Gannett owned several stations and formed a new television division with Townsend as its first president.

Membership at Augusta
In 1990, Townsend was approached by Hord Hardin, then-chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and offered an opportunity to become a member of the iconic club. The timing of the invitation, just a month after the Shoal Creek Country Club controversy, led to suggestions that Townsend’s invitation was designed to head off potentially negative publicity about the lack of minority membership at Augusta prior to the Masters Tournament.

Quayle/Skinner visit
In late April of 1991, former Vice President Dan Quayle and Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner used an Air Force jet to travel to Augusta as guests of Townsend. Media reports placed the cost of the officials’ travel at $27,000 and raised questions about the propriety of the taxpayer funded travel.

Personal Life
Townsend has a son and daughter from his first marriage. He and his wife, Maureen, live in Jacksonville, Florida.