HRP cofounder dies at 84

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James Parsons, co-founder of the first TV-only rep firm, Harrington, Righter
& Parsons (now owned by Cox Communications Inc.), died Jan. 19 in North Branford,
Conn. He was 84.

Parsons had been a salesman for WWNY(FM) Watertown, N.Y., and had worked for
McCann-Erickson Inc. and C.E. Hooper (the radio-ratings firm), before joining rep
firm Petry Corp. in 1944.

He was the account executive for TV in 1949 when he teamed up with fellow Petry
executives Jack Harrington and "Turk" (Christened "Volney Foster") Righter to form
HR&P.

There were 50 TV stations on the air at the time.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.