Julian Goodman, ex-NBC chief, dies at 90

Former NBC president Julian Goodman, who helped establish Chet Huntley and David Brinkley as a well-known news team and led the network from 1966 to 1974, died yesterday. He was 90.

Goodman died in Juno Beach, Fla., where he lived after retiring as chairman of NBC's board in 1979, according to NBC.

Goodman joined the network at the night news desk in Washington in 1945. He rose through the ranks to become executive vice president of NBC News at the time Huntley and Brinkley were competitors to Walter Cronkite on CBS.

As network president, he later gave Johnny Carson a long-term contract to stay on the "Tonight" show and helped make the American Football League a force by broadcasting the upstart league.

He is survived by his wife and four children.

-- AP