Chuck Scarborough
Encyclopedia
Charles Bishop "Chuck" Scarborough III (born November 4, 1943) is an American
television journalist and author. Since 1974 Scarborough has been the lead male news anchor at WNBC-TV, the New York City
-based flagship station
of the NBC Television Network
, and has also appeared on NBC News
. He currently co-anchors with Sue Simmons
at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m. on WNBC, and also hosts a solo 7:00 p.m. newscast, New York Nightly News on NBC New York Nonstop,
, and a graduate of the the University of Southern Mississippi, he served in the United States Air Force
and currently has a commercial pilot
certificate. His career in television began in Mississippi
as a reporter at WLOX-TV in Biloxi
and later WDAM-TV
in Laurel
, before moving to WAGA-TV
in Atlanta
.
Scarborough's first anchoring job came in 1972, at WNAC-TV (now WHDH-TV
) in Boston. In his final commentary on WNAC-TV, he identified the issue of race as the most important challenge facing Boston. A scant few months later, Boston erupted into racial unrest as the result of a federal court order to end its policy of de facto racial segregation in the public schools.
Scarborough joined WNBC-TV in March 1974 as sole anchor of its then-new 5:00 PM newscast. Eventually, he became the station's lead anchor at 6:00 and 11:00, and is currently tied for the longest tenure among English-language anchor persons in New York television history (shared with Bill Beutel, who worked 37 years over two stints at WABC-TV
). Scarborough's uninterrupted run behind the desk is second in New York television to WXTV
's Rafael Pineda
, who started with his station in 1972. For much of his first 20 years with NBC he occasionally appeared on NBC News
and often anchored prime time news updates.
Scarborough has won 31 Emmy Awards, and was one of the first inductees into the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame
in 2005. He was inducted alongside Sue Simmons
, his co-anchoring partner since 1980. Scarborough and Simmons have been together longer than any other anchor team in New York City television history. At WNBC, Scarborough has worked alongside Marv Albert
, Len Berman
, Jack Cafferty
, Dr. Frank Field
, John Hambrick
, Pat Harper
, Pia Lindstrom
, Michele Marsh
, Al Roker
, and Tom Snyder
, among others.
Scarborough was the host of the syndicated
programs Images - A Year in Review and Memories...Then and Now in the late 1980s-early 1990s, and also co-anchored the NBC network documentary series Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow with Maria Shriver
and Mary Alice Williams
.
He is married to Ellen Ward Scarborough, and was previously married to Anne Ford.
He has two children: son Chad and daugher Elizabeth, who has followed in her father's footsteps as a television journalist.
movie The Paper
, a flash of the nightly news shows Scarborough giving out a headline which is the focal point of the news report, the paper is reporting on. Also on How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
, Chuck Scarborough was briefly shown on a billboard, likely promoting the WNBC news team. He appeared in The Adjustment Bureau
, reporting a story for WNBC on the film's protagonist, David Norris (Matt Damon
), and in two episodes of the NBC sitcom Veronica's Closet
.
Scarborough and Simmons are mentioned in the Fountains of Wayne
song "Traffic & Weather" from their 2007 album of the same title.
Aftershock was made into a made for television movie, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York in 1999, airing on the CBS
television network
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television journalist and author. Since 1974 Scarborough has been the lead male news anchor at WNBC-TV, the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
-based flagship station
Flagship station
In broadcasting, a flagship is the broadcast which originates a television network, or a particular radio show or TV show, primarily in the United States and Canada. This includes both direct network feeds and broadcast syndication, but generally not backhauls...
of the NBC Television Network
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, and has also appeared on NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
. He currently co-anchors with Sue Simmons
Sue Simmons
Susan "Sue" Simmons has been the lead female news anchor at WNBC television in New York City since 1980.-Background:Simmons grew up in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem; her father was John Simmons, a renowned jazz bassist whose compatriots included Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, John...
at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m. on WNBC, and also hosts a solo 7:00 p.m. newscast, New York Nightly News on NBC New York Nonstop,
Life and career
A native of PittsburghPittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, and a graduate of the the University of Southern Mississippi, he served in the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
and currently has a commercial pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
certificate. His career in television began in Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
as a reporter at WLOX-TV in Biloxi
Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, in the United States. The 2010 census recorded the population as 44,054. Along with Gulfport, Biloxi is a county seat of Harrison County....
and later WDAM-TV
WDAM-TV
WDAM-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Pine Belt area of Southeastern Mississippi that is licensed to Laurel. It broadcast a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 7 from a transmitter at its studios on US 11 in Moselle near the Jones and Forrest County line. The station...
in Laurel
Laurel, Mississippi
Laurel is a city located in Jones County in Mississippi, a state of the United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 18,393 although a significant population increase has been reported following Hurricane Katrina. Located in southeast Mississippi, southeast of...
, before moving to WAGA-TV
WAGA-TV
WAGA-TV, virtual channel 5.1 is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Television Network and based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States...
in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
.
Scarborough's first anchoring job came in 1972, at WNAC-TV (now WHDH-TV
WHDH-TV
WHDH, digital channel 42 , is an NBC-affiliated television station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest NBC station not owned by the network. Owned by Sunbeam Television, WHDH is a sister station to CW affiliate WLVI...
) in Boston. In his final commentary on WNAC-TV, he identified the issue of race as the most important challenge facing Boston. A scant few months later, Boston erupted into racial unrest as the result of a federal court order to end its policy of de facto racial segregation in the public schools.
Scarborough joined WNBC-TV in March 1974 as sole anchor of its then-new 5:00 PM newscast. Eventually, he became the station's lead anchor at 6:00 and 11:00, and is currently tied for the longest tenure among English-language anchor persons in New York television history (shared with Bill Beutel, who worked 37 years over two stints at WABC-TV
WABC-TV
WABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship station of the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company located in New York City. The station's studios and offices are located on the Upper West Side section of Manhattan, adjacent to ABC's corporate headquarters, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State...
). Scarborough's uninterrupted run behind the desk is second in New York television to WXTV
WXTV
WXTV-DT channel 41 is a Univisión owned-and-operated television station, licensed to Paterson, New Jersey and serving the New York metropolitan area. WXTV's studios are located in Teaneck, New Jersey, and its transmitter in on the Empire State Building in Manhattan...
's Rafael Pineda
Rafael Pineda
Rafael Pineda is a Cuban-American television news reporter and anchor for the Spanish language station WXTV, the Univision affiliate in New York City.Born in 1938 in Cuba, he later immigrated to the United States as an adult...
, who started with his station in 1972. For much of his first 20 years with NBC he occasionally appeared on NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
and often anchored prime time news updates.
Scarborough has won 31 Emmy Awards, and was one of the first inductees into the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame
A hall of fame, wall of fame, walk of fame, walk of stars or avenue of stars is a type of attraction established for any field of endeavor to honor individuals of noteworthy achievement in that field...
in 2005. He was inducted alongside Sue Simmons
Sue Simmons
Susan "Sue" Simmons has been the lead female news anchor at WNBC television in New York City since 1980.-Background:Simmons grew up in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem; her father was John Simmons, a renowned jazz bassist whose compatriots included Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, John...
, his co-anchoring partner since 1980. Scarborough and Simmons have been together longer than any other anchor team in New York City television history. At WNBC, Scarborough has worked alongside Marv Albert
Marv Albert
Marv Albert is an American television and radio sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he is commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball." From 1967–2004, he was also known as "the voice of the New York Knicks."Including Super Bowl XLII, Marv has called...
, Len Berman
Len Berman
Len Berman is the former weekday evening sports anchor on WNBC-TV. Berman was with WNBC/NBC from 1982-2009. He was previously with WCBS-TV from 1979–1982, and before that at WBZ-TV in Boston from 1973–1978.-Early life:...
, Jack Cafferty
Jack Cafferty
Jack Cafferty is a CNN commentator and occasional host of specials. In the summer of 2005, Cafferty joined The Situation Room.-Career:...
, Dr. Frank Field
Frank Field (meteorologist)
Franklyn Field , best known as Dr. Frank Field, is a television personality and meteorologist who was on TV in New York City for five decades, reporting not only on the weather but also on science and health topics. He was instrumental in publicizing the Heimlich Maneuver to aid food choking victims...
, John Hambrick
John Hambrick
John Hambrick is an American broadcast journalist, reporter, actor, and voice over announcer.-Broadcast journalist:Hambrick began his television career in 1963, at a station in Abilene, Texas. By 1967 he was working at WCPO-TV in Cincinnati when he was recruited by its sister station in...
, Pat Harper
Pat Harper
Patricia "Pat" Harper was an American television news anchor and reporter, and a fixture for nearly two decades on two New York City television stations...
, Pia Lindstrom
Pia Lindström
Friedel Pia Lindström in Stockholm, Sweden, is the first child of actress Ingrid Bergman and Dr. Petter Aron Lindström, a Swedish American Neurosurgeon....
, Michele Marsh
Michele Marsh
Michele Marsh is a former New York Television anchorwoman from Connecticut.Michele started as a reporter/anchor at WABI-TV, Channel 5 in Bangor, Maine after graduating from Northwestern University. She reported in the field and anchored the 11 p.m. Monday-Friday newscasts, and the 6 p.m. Saturday...
, Al Roker
Al Roker
Albert Lincoln "Al" Roker, Jr. is an American television meteorologist as well as an actor and book author. He is best known as being the weather anchor on NBC's Today. On Monday, July 20, 2009, he began co-hosting his new morning show, Wake Up with Al, on The Weather Channel, which airs weekdays...
, and Tom Snyder
Tom Snyder
Thomas James "Tom" Snyder was an American television personality, news anchor and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows The Tomorrow Show, on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and The Late Late Show, on the CBS Television Network in the 1990s...
, among others.
Scarborough was the host of the syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programs Images - A Year in Review and Memories...Then and Now in the late 1980s-early 1990s, and also co-anchored the NBC network documentary series Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow with Maria Shriver
Maria Shriver
Maria Owings Shriver is an American journalist and author of six best-selling books. She has received a Peabody Award, and was co-anchor for NBC's Emmy-winning coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics. As executive producer of The Alzheimer's Project, Shriver earned two Emmy Awards and an Academy of...
and Mary Alice Williams
Mary Alice Williams
Mary Alice Williams is a former co-anchor of NBC's Weekend Today and a former anchor and news division Vice President on CNN....
.
He is married to Ellen Ward Scarborough, and was previously married to Anne Ford.
He has two children: son Chad and daugher Elizabeth, who has followed in her father's footsteps as a television journalist.
Pop culture
In the 19941994 in film
1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...
movie The Paper
The Paper
The Paper is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Ron Howard and starring Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall, and Glenn Close. The film depicts 24 hours in a newspaper editor's professional and personal life.-Plot:...
, a flash of the nightly news shows Scarborough giving out a headline which is the focal point of the news report, the paper is reporting on. Also on How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (film)
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is a 2008 British comedy film based upon British writer Toby Young's 2001 memoir of the same name. The film follows a similar storyline, about his five year struggle to make it in the United States after employment at Sharps Magazine...
, Chuck Scarborough was briefly shown on a billboard, likely promoting the WNBC news team. He appeared in The Adjustment Bureau
The Adjustment Bureau
The Adjustment Bureau is a 2011 American fantasy romantic thriller film loosely based on the Philip K. Dick short story, "Adjustment Team". The film was written and directed by George Nolfi and stars Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. The cast also includes Anthony Mackie, John Slattery, Michael Kelly,...
, reporting a story for WNBC on the film's protagonist, David Norris (Matt Damon
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
), and in two episodes of the NBC sitcom Veronica's Closet
Veronica's Closet
Veronica's Closet is a sitcom which aired on NBC from September 25, 1997, to June 27, 2000.The show starred Kirstie Alley as Veronica “Ronnie” Chase, the head of her own lingerie company.- Season one :...
.
Scarborough and Simmons are mentioned in the Fountains of Wayne
Fountains of Wayne
Fountains of Wayne is an American power pop band that formed in New York City in 1996. The band consists of members Chris Collingwood, Adam Schlesinger, Jody Porter and Brian Young.-Early years:...
song "Traffic & Weather" from their 2007 album of the same title.
Novels
Scarborough has written three novels:- Stryker (1978), ISBN 0-02-606920-2.
- The Myrmidon Project (1980), ISBN 0-698-11054-4.
- Aftershock (1991), ISBN 0-517-58014-4.
Aftershock was made into a made for television movie, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York in 1999, airing on the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
.
External links
- Chuck Scarborough's bio at nbcnewyork.com
- "Answers From Chuck Scarborough", The New York Times, February 24, 2010