When CBS was the king of prime time television, Jeffrey F. Sagansky '74 was the king of CBS.

As president of CBS Entertainment from 1990 to 1994, Sagansky steered the network from No. 3 to No. 1 in prime-time ratings, using programs like "Murphy Brown," "Northern Exposure" and "Chicago Hope" to target younger audiences.

In 1994, he turned his programming wizardry elsewhere, joining Sony Corp. as an executive vice president. By 1998, when he unexpectedly quit his position, he had become co-president of the group's film and television programming arm.

Now, he is president and CEO of Pax TV, a broadcast network that prides itself on airing programs that are "free of senseless violence, free of explicit sex and free of foul language."

Launched in 1998, Pax TV has pledged to bring its viewers the kind of family programs that Sagansky helped developed during his tenure at CBS and in an earlier stint at NBC, including "Touched by an Angel," "The Cosby Show" and "Family Ties."

Sagansky has made Cinderella stories the story of his career, consistently turning fledgling companies or struggling corporations into successes. And while he certainly has changed jobs more than most--working for three television networks and two movie studios in the last 20 years alone--he says his work in Hollywood has always had a single-minded focus.

"I made it a point of trying to be involved in companies or businesses that were either start-up or that had really fallen on tough times," he says. "When a company is down on luck it's much more open to change. There's so much to do, and I can help find the focus of the organization."

Harvard and Hollywood

Sagansky says he now realizes that a liberal arts college in New England was not necessarily the right place to develop a passion for television and films.

"Students don't give much thought to diversity," the former Lowell House resident says. "I just chugged along taking courses in economics. I wish I had spent more time in English and American literature."

The interest in the "business of media" was always there, Sagansky says, but he instead chose to become involved in Republican Party politics in college, eventually serving as chair of the student advisory committee of the Institute of Politics. This passion for politics, the Boston-area native says, was atypical for his politically apathetic class.

"Our class was the in-between class. It was a class in transition," he says, referring to the radical activists who stormed University Hall in 1969 before his class came to Harvard and the divestment supporters who came along well after Sagansky left the College.

Without the necessary connections or the proper experience immediately after graduation, Sagansky gave up knocking on doors in California and headed back to Cambridge to attend Harvard Business School.

Sagansky was eventually hired as a financial analyst for CBS--"I don't think I could have started in a less creative department," he now says-before moving on to NBC in 1977 to work as the director of dramatic development and manager of the film programs.

In 1982, he became the senior vice president in charge of series programming for the station, developing shows like "Cheers," "Miami Vice" and "St. Elsewhere."