Michael Whitney spent most of his adult life making the news – literally.
Over his 33-year career at CBS, he helped produce everything from weekend morning shows to The Evening News with Dan Rather to the crown jewel of the network’s news division, 60 Minutes. His dedication to his craft is reflected in the quality of the episodes he produced, earning him 23 Emmys.
“News Emmys must be easier to win than entertainment Emmys,” Michael says with a chuckle. “As a kid, I always wanted to be an entertainer. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any talent. But at some point, it occurred to me that the news business had people on TV, so I went to Northwestern to study journalism and left with a master’s degree.”
A Storied Career in Journalism
Michael began his journalism career in 1967 at WOR Radio in New York City before being drafted in 1969. During his two years in the U.S. Army, he taught journalism at the Defense Information School at Fort Benjamin in Indiana before returning to WOR. In 1973, he joined CBS News Radio as a news writer and eventually became a news editor for the network’s morning TV news shows.
“To me, CBS was the mecca of TV news,” Michael says, noting that TV news was still a relatively new format compared to print and radio news. “It wasn’t like now, where you have hundreds of TV channels and you have the internet and so forth. This was when everyone was really only watching the news on the big three networks, and the CBS news division had such a great reputation. So I was thrilled to get that gig.”
He quickly moved up the ranks to broadcast producer and later spent six years leading CBS’s Miami bureau. From 1996 to 1998, he served as a senior broadcast producer for The Evening News with Dan Rather, and from 1998 to 2007, he held the same role for 60 Minutes. One of his Emmys came from a special about Princess Diana’s death in 1997.
“My job at these shows was to approve the stories, help nurture them and put it all together into an episode,” Michael says. “I loved working on all those shows. And working with great people like Dan Rather, Mike Wallace, Diane Sawyer, Morley Safer – it was an exciting career.”
The news business was also where he met his wife, Polly, a Yale grad who also worked at WOR Radio. Polly later became a successful mystery novelist, and together they’ve shared 55 years of marriage, raising two children along the way.
Michael retired early in 2007 and moved with Polly to Austin. “We wanted to be someplace warm, and Florida had too many hurricanes,” he explains. In Austin, he taught journalism at the University of Texas for several years.
A New Chapter at Atria at the Arboretum
When Michael and Polly decided to move to senior living, they visited several retirement communities before choosing Atria at the Arboretum. Their first visit convinced them they’d found their next home, and they moved in January of 2023.
“We liked the location because it’s near a lot of shopping, and we liked that the apartments were spacious and really nice,” Michael says. “But what really sold us was the social aspect of the community. There were residents in the halls, there were residents hanging out and doing things together, and it really made some of the other places we looked at feel sterile by comparison.”
Embracing Community Life
Michael and Polly have fully embraced social life at Atria. Both are members of the book club, which recently featured one of Polly’s novels, and they join the “Coffee in the News” discussion group every Wednesday morning to discuss current events. They’re also always up for a trivia game.
“We’ve met a lot of really cool, smart, interesting people in the two years we’ve been here,” Michael says. “We have friends we eat dinner with every night, friends we go to the movies with regularly. It’s a fun, energetic group. And they seem to enjoy my jokes, so that’s always a plus.”
Michael occasionally participates in the “campfire group,” an evening activity where residents gather around an artificial campfire and read stories aloud.
“The woman who normally reads happened to be sick one week, so they asked me to read instead,” Michael says. “And of course I’m way too much of a ham to be able to resist that. I read some stories from a book of Texas tall tales, and I think I’ll be reading some Christmas stories for our holiday campfire meeting.”
Keeping Up with Cowboy and Family Visits
Joining the Whitneys at Atria is their 11-year-old Wheaten Terrier, Cowboy, who they’ve had for a decade.
“We got the idea that we really wanted a dog a while back, and my main criteria was that it had to be cute – and it can’t shed,” Michael says, smiling. “I didn’t want to be brushing fur off my clothes all the time.”
Walking Cowboy three times a day keeps Michael active. Even at 11, Cowboy still has plenty of energy. During their walks on the grounds, he often tries to chase squirrels, rabbits and deer.
“He wouldn’t know what to do if he ever caught anything,” Michael says, “but I’m glad he still rejoices in the sport of it.”
Another thing the Whitneys appreciate about Atria is that the community has a guest residence available for rent to family members.
“Our daughter and her family live in Seattle, while our son and his family live in Midland, Michigan,” Michael says. “So having a place in the community where they can stay for a few days is really great.”
Most recently, their son, Jay, and his wife came down for a visit to celebrate the Whitneys’ wedding anniversary.
“They stayed in an apartment at the other end of the building with a balcony overlooking the grounds,” Michael says. “I’d be out there in the morning walking Cowboy, and I’d look up and see Jay drinking coffee on the balcony and waving to me. I was just telling him the other day I miss seeing him out there. I think it’s great that Atria makes it so welcoming for our kids to visit.”
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