Alan Wagner

Alan Cyril Wagner (October 1, 1931 – December 18, 2007) was an American television executive, radio personality, writer, and opera historian and critic.

He served in the United States Navy during the mid-1950s, notably appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 performing a stand-up comedy bit with a group of fellow seamen.

[1] He continued to write articles for the magazine up into the 2000s (decade) with his more recent work including an interview with opera legend Judith Blegen.

[2] He also brought several cultural programs to CBS, notably commissioning Igor Stravinsky's opera The Flood (1962), and orchestrating Vladimir Horowitz: a Concert at Carnegie Hall (1968) and Sills and Burnett at the Met (1976).

Given a $100 million budget, Wagner put together a staff of programmers to create new shows for the channel in addition to drawing from Disney’s extensive collection of prior television programs and films.

[2] Wagner left the Disney Channel after the station's first year of programming,[2] after which he formed his own independent film and television production company, Boardwalk Entertainment.