Born in London, he was the eldest son of Michael Waldman OBE JP, a sometime Mayor of Hackney, and was educated at Dame Alice Owen's School, Islington, and Pembroke College, Oxford.
Following wartime service in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, he became the assistant Head of Variety Productions in 1948.
The British public knew him best for his work with Harry S. Pepper as presenter of the popular Monday Night at Eight radio magazine programme, which was broadcast every week live.
Waldman's speciality was "Puzzle Corner", with a "deliberate mistake" which listeners were invited to spot in time for next week's show.
[citation needed] In October 1950, during Patrick Cyril Henry Hillyard's leave of absence, Waldman was appointed the temporary head of light entertainment for television at the BBC.