Kelly Lange

Last updated
Kelly Lange
Kelly Lange (53042554714).jpg
Lange in 2023
Born
Dorothy Scafard

(1937-12-14) December 14, 1937 (age 85)
New York City, US
Alma mater Merrimack College
OccupationNewscaster
Years active1971–2001
EmployerKNBC-TV/KCBS-TV
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1987;div. 1990)​
Awards Emmy

Kelly Lange (born Dorothy Scafard; December 14, 1937) is an American journalist, most notable for being the first woman to be a nightly news anchor in Los Angeles. Lange, a Shakespeare major in college, is a longtime news anchor in Los Angeles, a veteran radio and TV news reporter, NBC talk show host, former Tournament of Roses parade co-host, and a best-selling mystery author.

Contents

Early career

Lange was born Dorothy Scafard in New York City [1] and graduated from Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts. [2] [3]

She moved to California in the mid-1960s to pursue a certification to be a school teacher. [3]

One day in 1967, Lange, a model at the time, got into a line at a Buena Park, California shopping mall, [3] because it appeared "they were giving something away." The something they were giving away turned out to be applications for two positions as "Ladybirds" on KABC radio. The lucky duo would become the first female traffic/weather reporters in this area to patrol in helicopters. Lange was one of two chosen. She got the 6 a.m.-to-9 a.m. segment and she was called "Dawn O'Day." Another applicant, a film studio secretary named Lori Ross, got the afternoon shift as "Eve O'Day." "The two women in their tight-fitting, silver-lamé jumpsuits paved the way for today's less-exploited women deejays and announcers," thus began Lange's career as a news reporter, spotting news and reporting traffic for KABC. [4] In June 1967, Lange appeared as a contestant on What's My Line? with John Charles Daly as host along with panelists Bennett Cerf, Barbara Feldon, Arlene Francis and Martin Gabel. Her work with KABC Radio was the subject for the panel to guess. [5] [6]

Career

Lange started in March 1971 as a weather forecaster for KNBC's weeknight newscasts (known at the time as KNBC Newservice), and later appeared on Sunday, a weekly features program on the station which she co-hosted with Tom Snyder, Paul Moyer and Ralph Story. In December 1976 Lange was promoted to news anchor, and co-anchored KNBC's various weeknight news programs through December 1998 alongside Moyer, Jess Marlow, John Schubeck, Jack Perkins, John Beard, Keith Morrison, and Chuck Henry. NBC News refers to Lange as the first woman to anchor a nightly newscast at an NBC-owned station. TV Guide said Lange was the first local newscaster to be paid $1 million per year. Lange also co-hosted NBC's network coverage of the Tournament of Roses Parade alongside Michael Landon; was the regular guest host of Tomorrow , with former KNBC colleague Tom Snyder; and a regular guest host of the Today show. She hosted the Grand Floral Parade of the Portland Rose Festival and won several Emmy Awards as well as serving as host of the primetime network broadcast ceremony. [7] During the 1990-91 television season, Lange and screenwriter/TV producer Gail Parent co-hosted the Kelly and Gail talk show which aired on KNBC-TV. [8] Lange began writing fiction and mysteries while still a news anchor, partially to relieve insomnia from working on the 11 pm newscast. In 1999, Lange returned to television and joined KCBS-TV to co-anchor the female-oriented newscast Women 2 Women alongside Catherine Anaya, Pamela Wright and former KABC-TV newscaster Ann Martin. [9] [10]

She left broadcasting in 2001 and has since been a full-time mystery novelist. The popular mystery fiction books include The Reporter, Dead File, and Graveyard Shift, featuring fictional TV news anchor Maxi Poole, plus Trophy Wife and Gossip. [11]

In 2010, Lange was presented with the Golden Mike's Lifetime Achievement Award by the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California.

Personal life

She was married to film director William Friedkin (1987–1990). She has one daughter, Kelly Snyder, and three grandchildren.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KTTV</span> Fox West Coast flagship station in Los Angeles

KTTV is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet KCOP-TV. Both stations share studios at the Fox Television Center in West Los Angeles, while KTTV's transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KCAL-TV</span> Independent TV station in Los Angeles

KCAL-TV is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV. Both stations share studios at the Radford Studio Center on Radford Avenue in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, while KCAL-TV's transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Snyder</span> American television and radio personality (1936–2007)

Thomas James Snyder was an American television personality, news anchor, and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows Tomorrow, on NBC in the 1970s and 1980s, and The Late Late Show, on CBS in the 1990s. Snyder was also the pioneer anchor of the prime time NBC News Update, in the 1970s and early 1980s, which was a one-minute capsule of news updates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KNBC</span> NBC West Coast flagship station in Los Angeles

KNBC is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Corona-licensed Telemundo outlet KVEA. Both stations share studios at the Brokaw News Center in the northwest corner of the Universal Studios Hollywood lot off of Lankershim Boulevard in Universal City, while KNBC's transmitter is located on Mount Wilson.

KCBS-TV is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outlet KCAL-TV. Both stations share studios at the Radford Studio Center on Radford Avenue in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, while KCBS-TV's transmitter is located on the western side of Mount Wilson near Occidental Peak.

Charles Robert Henry is a retired American journalist, who worked in the Greater Los Angeles media market for 48 years. He worked for nearly 29 years at KNBC, where he was a co-anchor of the 5, 6, and 11 p.m. newscasts, and he worked for 19 years at KABC-TV, where he served as reporter, anchor, director, and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KABC-TV</span> ABC West Coast flagship station in Los Angeles

KABC-TV is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Grand Central Business Centre of Glendale, and its transmitter is located on Mount Wilson.

John Beard is an American retired news anchor and actor.

Paul Moyer is an American journalist. He co-anchored the 5 PM and 11 PM weekday editions of KNBC-TV's Channel 4 News with Colleen Williams for a decade after earlier co-anchoring with Kelly Lange. Moyer has worked primarily in the two major television markets—New York and Los Angeles—in addition to briefly working on network newscasts. Moyer was Los Angeles' longest-running news anchor following the death of KTLA anchor Hal Fishman on August 7, 2007. He is married and has four children, Elise, Paul, Dylan and Kyle.

Colleen Ann Williams is an American journalist. She is a news anchor of KNBC Channel 4 in Los Angeles, currently serving on the 5 and 11 p.m. weekday broadcasts. She also reports on occasion for NBC News and MSNBC. Williams is one of the most-recognized anchors in the Los Angeles area, the second-largest media market in the United States. Williams once could be recognized for her trademark hairstyle which until the late 1990s included a prominent silver streak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kent Shocknek</span> American television journalist

Kent Shocknek is an American television and film personality who branched into acting toward the end of a successful career as a TV newscaster. Shocknek is perhaps best known for announcing the Challenger explosion in 1986. Because of the length of his journalism career, duration of his broadcasts, and breaking news events, by the time of his departure from news, he is credited with having logged more hours as an anchor than anyone else in Los Angeles. The city has designated two separate days "Kent Shocknek Day" in his honor. Before anchoring prime-time newscasts on CBS-TV owned stations, Shocknek was Southern California's first and longest-running television news morning news anchor. Because of his recognizability, he has been sought out to appear in more than 100 feature films and television dramas –often as a newscaster or commentator –giving rise to a popular second career that continues currently. On radio, Shocknek has narrated daily commentaries in L.A., and has hosted a nationally syndicated entertainment program. Viewers and magazine readers also recognize him as an authority on automotive issues.

Myron Jess Marlow was an American journalist. He was best known for his work on television in Los Angeles, California, where he spent the bulk of his career.

Harold Greene is a journalist and news anchor at KCAL 9 News and CBS 2 News in Los Angeles. Before joining the CBS duopoly, Greene had a television news career, mostly in Southern California.

Today in L.A. is a local morning news and entertainment television program airing on KNBC, an NBC owned-and-operated television station in Los Angeles, California that is owned by the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The program is broadcast each weekday morning from 4:00 to 7 a.m. Pacific Time, immediately preceding NBC's Today. Weekend editions of the program also air on Saturday and Sunday from 7 to 8 a.m..

Christine Lund, also known as Christine Lundstedt is a former popular Los Angeles news anchor for KABC-TV from the early 1970s to the late 1990s and consistently garnered high ratings.

Ann Martin is a former journalist and a news anchor for the CBS owned-and-operated KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV television stations in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Schubeck</span> American news anchor (1936–1997)

John Schubeck was an American television reporter and anchor, and one of the few to anchor newscasts on all three network owned-and-operated stations in one major market.

Tritia Toyota is a former Los Angeles television news anchor and a current adjunct assistant professor in anthropology, Asian American studies and the media at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Kathy Vara is an American television news anchor in Los Angeles.

Angela Black is an American television news anchor and reporter, known primarily for her work for KABC-TV in Los Angeles, California and for being one of the earliest prominent African-American newscasters in Los Angeles television history.

References

  1. ↑ "Entry: Dorothy Scafard", 1940 United States Census
  2. ↑ "About: Kelly Lange", kelly-lange.com website (archived 2002)
  3. 1 2 3 Weinstein, Steve, "Wonder What She Does After the Late News? : Books: Mystery fan Kelly Lange's been going home to her computer. Her first novel, 'Trophy Wife,' set in L.A.'s garment industry, has just been published by Simon & Schuster.", Los Angeles Times , June 17, 1995
  4. ↑ Harvey, Steve (November 13, 2009). "These Traffic Reporters do their work on the fly". Los Angeles Times.
  5. ↑ Ross Visits with longtime friend Kelly Lange 1.7.22. Ross Porter Sports Videos. Retrieved July 12, 2022– via YouTube.
  6. ↑ "What's My Line - Kelly Lange & Melina Mercouri". IMDB. June 11, 1967. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  7. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (April 19, 1999). "Lange to receive ATAS award". Variety . Retrieved 2007-11-17.
  8. ↑ KELLY & GAIL Talk Show: Best of Moments!. Gail Parent. Retrieved March 26, 2023– via YouTube.
  9. ↑ Mikulan, Steven (1999-12-22). "BAD NEWS". LA Weekly . Retrieved 2023-04-08.
  10. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (1999-09-09). "Lange joins KCBS femme newscast". Variety. Retrieved 2023-04-08.
  11. ↑ "Kelly Lange Makes News as a Mystery Writer". Long Beach Press-Telegram. July 3, 2005. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.