Broadcaster Tom Snyder dies of leukemia

SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- Broadcast journalist Tom Snyder, who anchored the first noon newscast and then overnight talk shows, died in San Francisco at age 71.

Snyder, who died Sunday of complications from leukemia, made television history in 1965 in Philadelphia when he co-anchored the first noon news with Marciarose Shestack for KYW-TV, the CBS station reported.

Snyder gained national attention as the host of the talk show "Tomorrow with Tom Snyder," which aired after "The Tonight Show" on NBC. Some of his more memorable shows were the final televised interview with John Lennon and a prison interview with Charles Manson, head of the Manson family convicted in the killings of actress Sharon Tate and the La Biancas.

After "Tomorrow" was canceled, Snyder worked at WABC-TV in New York and KABC-TV in Los Angeles before taking his talk show style to ABC Radio.

Tom returned to television on CNBC in the early '90s. Eventually David Letterman, a Snyder fan for years, hired Snyder in 1995 as host of "The Late, Late Show," which followed Letterman's "Late Night."

Snyder is survived by a daughter, Anne Mari Snyder, and two grandchildren.