John Fider was born in 1945 in Newark, N.J., and grew up in Union, N.J. He graduated from Union High School in 1963 and enrolled in Parsons College in Iowa. After one year, he left college to pursue a career in radio. John started his broadcast career at WHBI-FM in Newark and moved on to WBIC on Long Island. Soon thereafter, he took a position at WJLK in Asbury Park hosting the morning show, “The Alarm Clock Club.” In June 1965, he accepted a temporary position with ABC, and it became permanent in September and lasted until 2002. John’s career covered the gamut of sound mixer, transmission engineer and technical director, working some of the network’s most exciting programs. The scope included the Winter Olympics, the New York City Marathon, the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby and many others. On the news side, he covered NASA launches and Princess Diana’s wedding and funeral. In 1989, John became operations producer with the News Division covering “Primetime Live,” “20/20,” “World News Tonight” and special events. Promoted to director of broadcast operations, John handled shooting, editing and most studio, remote and bureau operations. He became vice president of production operations in 1996 and remained in that position until retiring in 2002. Since then, he directed “Columbia News Tonight” until 2017. He currently teaches part time at the New York Film Academy and freelances for Bravo Network. John has received six Emmy Awards and a DuPont Journalism Award. He and his wife Marilyn live in Rowayton. In his leisure time, he enjoys classical music, travel, sailing and tennis. Sponsored by Dave McCollum
