Don Meier Display

Barney McCoy Author

05/25/2022 Added

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A video telling the story of Don Meier, creator and producer of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.

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[00:00:00.000](dramatic music)
[00:00:01.240]Mutual of Omaha's ""Wild Kingdom."
[00:00:04.330]University of Nebraska graduate Don Meier
[00:00:06.790]was the creator of Mutual of Omaha's "Wild Kingdom."
[00:00:10.020]For 25 years, the program showed wildlife behavior
[00:00:13.930]never before seen by television audiences.
[00:00:16.887]"Wild Kingdom" was the mold
[00:00:18.400]for every wildlife television program that's followed.
[00:00:22.144](animals grunting) (dramatic music)
[00:00:25.340]All at once there's a shot of the Orca out here,
[00:00:29.440]and you see that big dorsal fin.
[00:00:32.060]Out of nowhere,
[00:00:32.893]this one explodes up onto the beach
[00:00:35.540]and grabs a sea lion.
[00:00:36.800]Few people realize how he got those pictures
[00:00:40.610]and brought them back.
[00:00:42.310]It was more difficult
[00:00:43.890]than if you went out to get a trophy head
[00:00:45.930]in a water buffalo.
[00:00:47.510]30 years earlier,
[00:00:48.610]Meier's passion for broadcasting
[00:00:50.630]began at UNL's College of Journalism
[00:00:52.960]and Mass Communications.
[00:00:54.771](instrumental music)
[00:00:56.180]After World War II,
[00:00:57.700]Meier's experience as a producer
[00:00:59.800]on dozens of Chicago television programs
[00:01:02.810]launched his historic career
[00:01:04.860]as an American television pioneer.
[00:01:07.541](upbeat music)
[00:01:10.630]Meier's biggest dream was to produce a wildlife series
[00:01:13.820]for American television audiences.
[00:01:16.230]It wasn't easy.
[00:01:17.760]Meier pitched his idea to 84 sponsors
[00:01:20.350]and was turned down 84 times.
[00:01:22.910]And then, Mutual of Omaha, looking for a program
[00:01:26.270]to build the insurance company's image around,
[00:01:29.080]signed on to sponsor Meier's program
[00:01:31.890]on the NBC Television Network.
[00:01:34.670]Mutual of Omaha's "Wild Kingdom" is presented
[00:01:37.560]by the company with coverage for everyone.
[00:01:39.870]Mutual of Omaha was the perfect marriage,
[00:01:42.750]because it associated well with their brand.
[00:01:46.380]They were gonna take you places, with risk,
[00:01:49.000]and yet provide you the security
[00:01:50.640]of being able to watch it at the same time.
[00:01:52.820]It was an immediate, immediate hit.
[00:01:55.010]It was just unbelievable, headlines
[00:01:57.700]in the local papers and around the country.
[00:02:00.620]The "Wild Kingdom" program aired
[00:02:02.230]from 1963 through 1988.
[00:02:05.400]Meier paired popular host Marlin Perkins
[00:02:08.430]with younger naturalists like Jim Fowler, Peter Gross,
[00:02:11.700]and Stan Brock.
[00:02:13.090]They traveled the world, wrestling anacondas,
[00:02:15.700]dodging charging bull elephants,
[00:02:18.000]and tracking Arctic polar bear.
[00:02:20.425](enchanting keyboard music)
[00:02:25.930]We did finally evolve into a program
[00:02:29.140]that spent more time
[00:02:30.690]talking about the scientific side of it.
[00:02:34.600]But our concept still was
[00:02:36.640]that it had to be entertaining first
[00:02:38.630]and informative second.
[00:02:39.820]This was the new ingredient.
[00:02:41.420]Instead of seeing them in a zoo environment,
[00:02:43.810]now we could go and see them
[00:02:44.980]where they were actually from.
[00:02:46.390](tropical upbeat music)
[00:02:49.500]Based on Don Meier's business acumen,
[00:02:51.847]"Wild Kingdom's" entertainment recipe
[00:02:54.300]was an audience success.
[00:02:56.150]He often traveled the globe,
[00:02:57.520]coordinating field production teams,
[00:02:59.920]while his wife and business partner, Lorena,
[00:03:02.920]coordinated bookkeeping, logistics,
[00:03:05.280]and editing in their Chicago office.
[00:03:07.650]We decided that they could be done fast,
[00:03:10.840]and if we knew exactly what we were doing
[00:03:12.970]and we let everybody do his job
[00:03:15.810]the best he could do on a schedule.
[00:03:18.240]And so we had a schedule that was very tight.
[00:03:28.280]All the while,
[00:03:29.113]"Wild Kingdom's" ulterior message
[00:03:31.030]focused on wildlife and habitat preservation.
[00:03:34.580]It inspired environmental consciousness
[00:03:36.950]in generations of television viewers
[00:03:39.590]and was recognized with four Emmy Awards.
[00:03:42.757]"Wild Kingdom" was so popular with audiences
[00:03:45.690]that it often outdrew the National Football League
[00:03:48.487]"Game of the Week."
[00:03:49.980]I think it's really
[00:03:50.813]one of the remarkable things about "Wild Kingdom"
[00:03:52.110]that it did manage to speak to people
[00:03:54.100]across so many different generations.
[00:03:56.510]And that, I think was really a key
[00:03:58.390]to how successful it was
[00:03:59.880]and the fact that it was reaching millions and millions
[00:04:02.060]of people every week.
[00:04:03.325](somber music)
[00:04:14.550]Before they died,
[00:04:15.580]Don and Lorena Meier submitted one more enduring part
[00:04:18.880]of their legacy.
[00:04:20.100]They created scholarships for students
[00:04:22.230]at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications
[00:04:25.110]and at the University of Nebraska.
[00:04:27.770]Every year, the Meier scholarships
[00:04:29.340]support learning opportunities that benefit students,
[00:04:32.750]so that their lives and careers may someday
[00:04:35.680]be as fulfilling for them
[00:04:37.540]as they once were for Don and Lorena Meier.

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