Lin Bolen

Lin Bolen who was the executive in charge of NBC’s daytime programming in the early 1970s and was then the highest-ranking woman in television, died on Jan. 18 2018. Ms. Bolen was just 31 in 1972 when she was named director of daytime programs at NBC, putting her in charge of the network’s collection of soap operas and game shows. In that job, which she held until forming her own production company in 1976, she energized the network’s game shows and expanded half-hour soaps to an hour. By 1975, NBC’s daytime ratings surpassed both CBS and ABC for the first time in a dozen years. Ms. Bolen was born on March 21, 1941, in Benton, Ill. Her father was a union organizer for the United Mine Workers. She went to a finishing school in St. Louis, then studied advertising at City College of New York but did not graduate. Ms. Bolen’s production company, Lin Bolen Productions, made several TV movies, the most successful of which was “Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A.” (also known as “The Christmas Coal Mine Miracle”), a 1977 film about a real-life mining disaster. In 1983 Ms. Bolen married the director Paul Wendkos. He died in 2009. She is survived by a stepson, Jordan Wendkos; a brother, Tom; and a sister, Marilyn Wibbenmeyer.