Dan Rather Salutes Lost ‘Legends’

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Dan Rather, host of The Big Interview on AXS TV, will offer up a special dedicated to recently departed musical greats, including Prince, David Bowie and B.B. King. The Legends Lost episode airs June 7. “We tend to think of these people living forever,” says Rather. “But the good news is, their music leaves a legacy.”

Merle Haggard and Natalie Cole round out the hourlong lineup. The renowned newsman says the idea for the special episode came from Mark Cuban, AXS TV chairman/CEO/president. It was also Cuban who steered The Big Interview into a music show when the channel rebranded in 2012; recent sit-downs have included Phil Collins, Willie Nelson and Gregg Allman.

The veteran journalist’s own musical endeavors included piano and guitar lessons as a child, at the urging of his mother. A third attempt at lessons, that time on the bassoon, did not make a musician out of young Rather. “My good mother gave up,” he says.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.