Tom Bergeron
Encyclopedia
Tom Bergeron is an American
television personality and game show host, best known as the host of the ABC
reality series Dancing with the Stars (2005–present) and host of America's Funniest Home Videos
(2001–present). He was also host of Hollywood Squares
(1998–2004) and a fill-in host for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
. He is a Daytime Emmy winner.
at local radio station WHAV, in his home town of Haverhill, Massachusetts. He became a popular radio DJ in the Seacoast area
of New Hampshire
in the early 1980s on Portsmouth's
WHEB
, where he played comedy records along with music and offbeat interviews. His popularity led to additional TV and radio auditions.
One of his first jobs on television was as host of a local game show, Granite State Challenge
, on New Hampshire Public Television (produced at NHPTV flagship station WENH-TV). He moved to the Boston market in February 1982, joining WBZ-TV
as a general on-air personality. His early roles at the station included being a contributor on Evening Magazine
(1982–87), and hosting brief informational and show preview segments known as 4 Today, every 30 minutes during WBZ's daytime lineup (1983–87). In 1984, he landed the hosting spot on Lottery Live, the nightly drawings of the Massachusetts State Lottery games. By January 1987, while still working in these roles, Bergeron added People Are Talking to his duties. He replaced outgoing host Buzz Luttrell on the early afternoon talk show, where he gained even more popularity. While Ron Cantera took over as host of 4 Today (until its cancellation in 1988), Bergeron remained lottery host until drawings moved to WNEV-TV in September 1987.
By the early 1990s, Bergeron was seen as a solid figure in Boston television, and WBZ continued to capitalize on his talents by featuring him on WBZ Radio
. It was there he had an early-morning radio show called The Tom Bergeron Show. When People Are Talking ended a successful 13-year run in June 1993, Bergeron remained on WBZ-TV as commentator and lifestyle reporter for the station's expanded hour-long noon newscast.
cable network to co-host a morning talk show for them, called Breakfast Time, which was his first network television exposure. Hosting with Laurie Hibberd
, the show became quite successful on the upstart cable network, prompting the Fox Broadcasting Company
to pick it up two years later. At the time, the cable system in his hometown of Haverhill didn't carry FX, leading to a long-running and ultimately failed public campaign to get them to pick up the channel or at the very least to locally syndicate
the program. In September 1996 it became Fox After Breakfast, since it aired later in the morning than the other network's morning programs. This show ran for one year on Fox; eventually it became The Vicki Lawrence Show after a number of cast changes. Bergeron later was signed to a contract with ABC News
as guest host to Good Morning America
. After Charles Gibson
left the show, Bergeron was seriously considered as a permanent replacement, but that job went to Kevin Newman
.
Beginning in 1998, he became the host of Hollywood Squares
. He was nominated for 5 Emmys and in 2000, he won his first and only Emmy. After Hollywood Squares ended its six-year-run in 2004, he continued hosting America's Funniest Home Videos
, which he started hosting in 2001. In later years, Bergeron appeared twice on Star Trek: Enterprise
as an alien trader named D'Marr and as a Coridan Ambassador. He also appeared in an episode of The Nanny
in 1998. In 2005, he began hosting the ABC
reality series Dancing With the Stars, for ABC
, where he had two former co-hostesses (Lisa Canning
and Samantha Harris) before Brooke Burke
, a winner in season 7, took over the job. The show, modeled on the BBC
's Strictly Come Dancing
, proved to be a hit, and has now aired in over 90 countries in its various formats. His sharp sense of humor and good banter with the judges and cast members of Dancing With the Stars have helped to make him a big star again.
In 2009, Bergeron released his first book I'm Hosting as Fast as I Can: Zen and the Art of Staying Sane in Hollywood. This details his career and other oddball stuff along with some zen and some life lessons that people could use in life. In November 2009, Bergeron celebrated AFHV's 20th anniversary with its first host Bob Saget
.
and resides in Connecticut
. He married his wife Lois in 1982. They have two daughters, Samantha and Jessica. He lives in Los Angeles
and Greenwich, Connecticut
. According to his book, Bergeron is agnostic.
In 2005, Bergeron was a co-host on the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon
, and in 2006 he was elected national vice president of the association.
In 2010, he appeared in Castle
. In 2011, he made a cameo in an episode of Tosh.0
as host of Dancing with the Internet Stars, a parody of Dancing with the Stars
.
In March 2011, Bergeron was one of the guest presenters to help promote KSBW
's second digital channel, "Central Coast ABC". with the launch date of that channel set for April 2011.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television personality and game show host, best known as the host of the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
reality series Dancing with the Stars (2005–present) and host of America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos is an American reality television program on ABC in which viewers are able to send in humorous homemade videotapes. The most common videos usually feature slapstick physical comedy arising from incidents, accidents and mishaps...
(2001–present). He was also host of Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares is an American panel game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The "board" for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants...
(1998–2004) and a fill-in host for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (US game show)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is an American television quiz show which offers a maximum prize of $1,000,000 for correctly answering 14 consecutive multiple-choice questions of random difficulty. Until 2010, the format required contestants to correctly answer 15 consecutive questions of increasing...
. He is a Daytime Emmy winner.
Early career
Bergeron's first job in broadcasting was as a disc jockeyDisc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
at local radio station WHAV, in his home town of Haverhill, Massachusetts. He became a popular radio DJ in the Seacoast area
Seacoast Region (New Hampshire)
The Seacoast Region is the southeast area of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The region stretches 18 miles along the Atlantic Ocean from New Hampshire's border with Salisbury, Massachusetts to the Piscataqua River and New Hampshire's border with Kittery, Maine. The shoreline is generally very...
of New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
in the early 1980s on Portsmouth's
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...
WHEB
WHEB
WHEB is a radio station licensed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA, the station serves the Portsmouth, New Hampshire area. The station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications....
, where he played comedy records along with music and offbeat interviews. His popularity led to additional TV and radio auditions.
One of his first jobs on television was as host of a local game show, Granite State Challenge
Granite State Challenge
Granite State Challenge is an American television quizbowl game show that airs on New Hampshire Public Television and began in 1983.-Description:...
, on New Hampshire Public Television (produced at NHPTV flagship station WENH-TV). He moved to the Boston market in February 1982, joining WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station, located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WBZ-TV's studios and office facilities, shared with sister station WSBK-TV , are located in the Allston-Brighton section of Boston, and its transmitter is located in Needham,...
as a general on-air personality. His early roles at the station included being a contributor on Evening Magazine
Evening Magazine
Evening Magazine is the name of various news and entertainment style local television shows in different markets.-The original concept:...
(1982–87), and hosting brief informational and show preview segments known as 4 Today, every 30 minutes during WBZ's daytime lineup (1983–87). In 1984, he landed the hosting spot on Lottery Live, the nightly drawings of the Massachusetts State Lottery games. By January 1987, while still working in these roles, Bergeron added People Are Talking to his duties. He replaced outgoing host Buzz Luttrell on the early afternoon talk show, where he gained even more popularity. While Ron Cantera took over as host of 4 Today (until its cancellation in 1988), Bergeron remained lottery host until drawings moved to WNEV-TV in September 1987.
By the early 1990s, Bergeron was seen as a solid figure in Boston television, and WBZ continued to capitalize on his talents by featuring him on WBZ Radio
WBZ (AM)
WBZ is the call sign for an AM radio station in Boston, Massachusetts owned by CBS Radio, itself owned by the CBS Corporation. Originally based in and broadcast from Springfield, Massachusetts, WBZ was the first commercial radio station in the United States...
. It was there he had an early-morning radio show called The Tom Bergeron Show. When People Are Talking ended a successful 13-year run in June 1993, Bergeron remained on WBZ-TV as commentator and lifestyle reporter for the station's expanded hour-long noon newscast.
Television
In June 1994, Bergeron left WBZ when he was hired by the new FXFX Networks
FX is the name of a number of related pay television channels owned by News Corporation's Fox Entertainment Group...
cable network to co-host a morning talk show for them, called Breakfast Time, which was his first network television exposure. Hosting with Laurie Hibberd
Laurie Hibberd
Laurie Hibberd is a Canadian television personality and entertainment news reporter. She is married to Michael Gelman; they have two children. As of 2007 she was working on two Canadian-based talk shows, The Mom Show and Doctor in the House...
, the show became quite successful on the upstart cable network, prompting the Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
to pick it up two years later. At the time, the cable system in his hometown of Haverhill didn't carry FX, leading to a long-running and ultimately failed public campaign to get them to pick up the channel or at the very least to locally syndicate
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...
the program. In September 1996 it became Fox After Breakfast, since it aired later in the morning than the other network's morning programs. This show ran for one year on Fox; eventually it became The Vicki Lawrence Show after a number of cast changes. Bergeron later was signed to a contract with ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
as guest host to Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
. After Charles Gibson
Charles Gibson
Charles deWolf "Charlie" Gibson is a former American broadcast television anchor and journalist. He was a host of Good Morning America from 1987 to 1998 and 1999 to 2006 and anchor of World News with Charles Gibson from 2006 to 2009....
left the show, Bergeron was seriously considered as a permanent replacement, but that job went to Kevin Newman
Kevin Newman (Canadian journalist)
Kevin Newman is a Canadian journalist and news anchor. From 2001 to 2010, he was the anchor and executive editor of Global National, and hosted Global's weekly newsmagazine series Global Currents. In August 2011 he became the co-host of CTV's Question Period..- Life and career :Newman was born in...
.
Beginning in 1998, he became the host of Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares is an American panel game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The "board" for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants...
. He was nominated for 5 Emmys and in 2000, he won his first and only Emmy. After Hollywood Squares ended its six-year-run in 2004, he continued hosting America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos is an American reality television program on ABC in which viewers are able to send in humorous homemade videotapes. The most common videos usually feature slapstick physical comedy arising from incidents, accidents and mishaps...
, which he started hosting in 2001. In later years, Bergeron appeared twice on Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series. It follows the adventures of humanity's first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise, ten years before the United Federation of Planets shown in previous Star Trek series was formed.Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001...
as an alien trader named D'Marr and as a Coridan Ambassador. He also appeared in an episode of The Nanny
The Nanny (TV series)
The Nanny is an American television sitcom co-produced by Sternin & Fraser Ink, Inc., and Fran Drescher in association with TriStar Television for the CBS network...
in 1998. In 2005, he began hosting the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
reality series Dancing With the Stars, for ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, where he had two former co-hostesses (Lisa Canning
Lisa Canning
Lisa Canning is an American television and radio hostess and correspondent.She is married to Harold Austin and lives in Los Angeles, California.-Career:...
and Samantha Harris) before Brooke Burke
Brooke Burke
Brooke Burke Charvet , better known by her maiden name, Brooke Burke, is an actress, dancer, model and television personality...
, a winner in season 7, took over the job. The show, modeled on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...
, proved to be a hit, and has now aired in over 90 countries in its various formats. His sharp sense of humor and good banter with the judges and cast members of Dancing With the Stars have helped to make him a big star again.
In 2009, Bergeron released his first book I'm Hosting as Fast as I Can: Zen and the Art of Staying Sane in Hollywood. This details his career and other oddball stuff along with some zen and some life lessons that people could use in life. In November 2009, Bergeron celebrated AFHV's 20th anniversary with its first host Bob Saget
Bob Saget
Robert Lane "Bob" Saget is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Although he is best known for his roles as Danny Tanner in Full House, host of America's Funniest Home Videos and Future Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother, Saget is also known outside of television for his blue...
.
Personal life
Bergeron was born in Haverhill, MassachusettsHaverhill, Massachusetts
Haverhill is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 60,879 at the 2010 census.Located on the Merrimack River, it began as a farming community that would evolve into an important industrial center, beginning with sawmills and gristmills run by water power. In the...
and resides in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. He married his wife Lois in 1982. They have two daughters, Samantha and Jessica. He lives in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
and Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
. According to his book, Bergeron is agnostic.
In 2005, Bergeron was a co-host on the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon
Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon
The MDA Labor Day Telethon is an annual telethon in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association . The first MDA telethon was during the Thanksgiving Day weekend of 1952 and titled Party for MDA. It has been held annually since 1966...
, and in 2006 he was elected national vice president of the association.
In 2010, he appeared in Castle
Castle (TV series)
Castle is an American comedy-drama television series, which premiered on ABC on March 9, 2009. The series is produced by Beacon Pictures and ABC Studios. On January 10, 2011, Castle was renewed for a fourth season...
. In 2011, he made a cameo in an episode of Tosh.0
Tosh.0
Tosh.0 is an American television series hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh, who provides sarcastic commentary on online video clips, society, celebrities, and other parts of popular culture.-History:...
as host of Dancing with the Internet Stars, a parody of Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...
.
In March 2011, Bergeron was one of the guest presenters to help promote KSBW
KSBW
KSBW is a television station in the United States and is the primary NBC affiliate for the Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz, California market. The station is owned by Hearst Television. KSBW has its studios on John Street in downtown Salinas, which is mentioned occasionally during commercial breaks...
's second digital channel, "Central Coast ABC". with the launch date of that channel set for April 2011.