As word of Arnold Palmer’s death broke on social media last night, top NBC Universal execs put together a makeshift programming plan to honor one of the sport’s most revered stars. The company waited until it received confirmation from the Palmer family before reporting the news on-air. At 9:12pm ET, Al Michaels announced the death during the Bears-Cowboys “SNF" game. Four minutes later, Rich Lerner broke the news on Golf Channel, which turned its entire program schedule over to live programming (“Golf Central” and “Morning Drive”) featuring remembrances of the legendary golfer. Golf Channel, a network Palmer helped launch in ’95, has been commercial free since making the announcement last night and will remain that way until 8:00pm tonight, when it will re-air the four-part documentary series, “Arnie,” in its entirety. “We’ll be live without any breaks until it feels right for us to not do it anymore,” said Golf Channel President Mike McCarley. Golf Channel’s programming has featured interviews with some of the sport’s most well-known names, including many like Fred Couples and Annika Sorenstam, who became emotional. “A lot of people who we contacted last night were too sad to talk,” McCarley said. “He meant so much to so many people -- people from all walks of life. From every story coming from a big star that people know, there are 10 more stories from fans that he had some meaningful interaction with because he spent a few extra minutes or seconds with someone.” A memorial of flowers, candles and golf memorabilia started forming overnight at Palmer’s reserved parking space outside of Golf Channel’s Orlando office building. A Golf Channel spokesperson said the channel is fully staffed, as the net had been preparing for the Ryder Cup later this week. The spokesperson said the atmosphere inside Golf Channel offices is a sad one, though several employees have spoken of a desire to preserve Palmer’s legacy.
