After 11 years at WGBH, Mr. Ferrante was hired by CBS News in 1982 to create and executive produce “Night Watch,” which aired from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. ET. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do,” he told The Globe before “Night Watch” began. It depends on where the is coming from,” he added.
It took him less than a year to direct the program before CBS News moved him to ‘CBS Morning News’ (now ‘CBS Morning’). reduced to 2 hours. It has since existed in other formats such as ‘Up to the Minute’ and ‘CBS Overnight News’.
Bill Curtis, who was co-hosting the CBS Morning News with Diane Sawyer at the time, said in an interview that Ferrante “brings us together and remembers saying we had a mission. It’s not about getting ratings first, it’s about doing a good job representing CBS News,” and then the ratings will come.
Ratings rose but then declined, forcing Ferrante to leave the show and take a job as a senior producer in the news division’s special events division. John Katz replaced him.
“No one had a successful mission there,” Curtis said. “Not mine, not his, not John Katz’s.”
Ferrante left CBS News in 1985 in the midst of layoffs and soon became director of communications for the Democratic National Committee. But he was dismissed ahead of his 1988 Democratic National Convention amid journalists’ complaints about security arrangements, credentials, and work space.
A year later, when NPR hired him for “Morning Edition,” he returned to producing news and continued with the rest of his career.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Ferrante has a stepdaughter, Whitney Otto. his son-in-law, Tyler Post; and eight grandchildren. His previous marriage to Anne Basti ended in divorce.