Monica Jones Kaufman Pearson

Last updated
Monica Jones Kaufman Pearson
Monica Jones Pearson.jpg
Monica Pearson and her husband, John Pearson, at 2016 Peabody Awards
Born
Monica Jones

(1947-10-20) October 20, 1947 (age 76)
Louisville, Kentucky
OccupationJournalist
Years active1975–2012 [1]
Known forAnchor for Channel 2 Action News at five for WSB-TV [2]
Spouse
John E. Pearson Sr.
​
(m. 2005)​
[3]

Monica Jones Kaufman Pearson (born October 20, 1947) is an American journalist and news anchor. Pearson's career first started in Louisville, Kentucky, as an anchor and reporter for WHAS-TV, while also working as a reporter for the Louisville Times . When Pearson moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1975, she became the first female and African-American to anchor the evening news at WSB-TV.

Contents

Early life and education

Monica Jones Kaufman Pearson was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 20, 1947, and attended Catholic school. Her mother, Hattie Wallace Jones Edmondson, worked at the Louisville Post Office and was one of their first African-American women employees. [2] While in high school, Pearson worked at the local black-owned radio stations where she read prayers and performed voiceovers for religious programming. [2] She graduated from Presentation Academy in 1965. Pearson earned her B.A. in English at the University of Louisville. Pearson also attended a summer program for minorities at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. [2] In 2014, Pearson graduated from University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a master's degree in Mass Communication. [3]

Career

Pearson's career started in Louisville while working for Brown Forman Distiller in public relations and Louisville Times as a reporter before joining WHAS-TV as an anchor and reporter. [2] After moving to Atlanta in 1975, Pearson worked at WSB-TV for 37 years [1] and was the first female and first African-American to anchor the daily evening news for the station. She retired from broadcasting on July 25, 2012, with Jovita Moore taking her place. [2] Since 2012, Pearson has been working with KISS 104.1 FM where she hosts her own weekly music and talk show on Sundays. [3] For twenty years, Pearson hosted "Closeups" and conducted over 170 celebrity interviews for WSB-TV—many of which may still be seen on YouTube. [4] She currently co-hosts A Seat at the Table on Georgia Public Broadcasting. [3] Pearson currently hosts Monica Pearson One on One, a monthly interview program on Gray Television's WPCH-TV. [5] She currently hosts The Monica Pearson Show on AJC, a video and podcast interview program, for local newspaper The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. [6] She has also appeared in WANF's imaging campaign for Atlanta News First, the relaunched Gray Television newscasts for WANF and WPCH-TV. [7]

Awards and accomplishments

During her time as a news anchor, Pearson received over 33 Southern regional and local Emmy awards. [1] After retiring in 2012, she was honored for her years of service to improving the lives of Georgia's citizens on- and off-air by the U.S. House of Representatives. [1] In 2015, Pearson became the first African-American to become the chairperson of the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta. [1] In August 2016, Pearson was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame, University of Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, the Atlanta Press Club Hall of Fame, Georgia Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. [3] Monica is a Tower Award recipient, awarded from her alma mater Presentation Academy, and has emceed the awards program for many years.

Personal life

Pearson is a cancer survivor: 1998 for breast cancer and again in 2015 for liver cancer. She made her diagnoses public in hopes that others would see the importance of yearly check-ups. [8] Pearson has one daughter, Claire Patrice Deveaux, and one step-son, John E. Pearson, II. [3] She lives with her in Ansley Park in Atlanta. [9]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 AHPBA 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 History Makers 2006.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 AAE 2021.
  4. ↑ Ho 2010.
  5. ↑ "Monica Pearson". www.atlantanewsfirst.com. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  6. ↑ "Veteran broadcaster Monica Pearson joins AJC with new video program". www.ajc.com. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
  7. ↑ "Atlanta News First uses retired rival anchor to promote its launch". NewscastStudio. 3 October 2022. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  8. ↑ Cancer 2015.
  9. ↑ Homes 2012.

Works cited

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skip Caray</span> American sportscaster (1939–2008)

Harry Christopher "Skip" Caray Jr. was an American sportscaster, best known for his long career as a radio and television play-by-play announcer for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball. He was the son of baseball announcer Harry Caray, and the father of St. Louis Cardinals play-by-play announcer and former fellow Braves broadcaster Chip Caray; another son, Josh Caray, is the play-by-play announcer for the minor league Rocket City Trash Pandas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clark Howard</span> Radio host, consumer advocate, author (born 1955)

Clark Brian Howard is an American author and radio/podcast host, focused primarily on personal finance, consumer protection, and related topics. He has hosted The Clark Howard Show, which began in 1989 and has lasted over 30 years as of 2011.

<i>The Atlanta Journal-Constitution</i> Daily newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the result of the merger between The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution. The two staffs were combined in 1982. Separate publication of the morning Constitution and the afternoon Journal ended in 2001 in favor of a single morning paper under the Journal-Constitution name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WSB-TV</span> ABC affiliate in Atlanta

WSB-TV is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Cox Media Group, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to radio stations WSB, WSBB-FM (95.5), WSRV, WSB-FM (98.5) and WALR-FM (104.1). The stations share studios at the WSB Television and Radio Group building on West Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta; WSB-TV's transmitter is located on the border of the city's Poncey-Highland and Old Fourth Ward neighborhoods.

WANF is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship property of locally based Gray Television and is co-owned with CW affiliate WPCH-TV and low-power, Class A Telemundo affiliate WKTB-CD. WANF and WPCH-TV share studios on 14th Street Northwest in Atlanta's Home Park neighborhood, while WANF's transmitter is located in the city's Woodland Hills section.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WXIA-TV</span> NBC affiliate in Atlanta

WXIA-TV is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL. The two stations share studios at One Monroe Place on the north end of midtown Atlanta; WXIA-TV's transmitter is located in the city's east section, near Kirkwood. Atlanta is the largest television market where the NBC station is not owned and operated by the network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WKTB-CD</span> Telemundo affiliate in Norcross–Atlanta, Georgia

WKTB-CD is a low-power, Class A television station licensed to Norcross, Georgia, United States, serving the Atlanta area as an affiliate of the Spanish-language network Telemundo. It is owned by locally based Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate and company flagship WANF, and The CW affiliate WPCH-TV. WKTB-CD's studios are located on Green River Parkway in Duluth, and its transmitter is located on Goshen Springs Road just outside Norcross. Master control and most internal operations are based at the shared studios of WANF and WPCH-TV on 14th Street Northwest in Atlanta's Home Park neighborhood.

Carol Costello is an American television anchor and former host of CNN Newsroom. In 2017, she left CNN to join sister network HLN, based in Los Angeles. In October 2018, HLN announced that Costello would be let go, with the final broadcast of her show taking place on October 26.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Roberts (newscaster)</span> American television broadcaster (born 1960)

Robin Roberts is an American television broadcaster who co-anchors ABC's Good Morning America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WPCH-TV</span> CW affiliate in Atlanta

WPCH-TV, branded on-air as Peachtree TV, is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by locally based Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate and company flagship WANF, and low-power, Class A Telemundo affiliate WKTB-CD. WPCH-TV and WANF share studios on 14th Street Northwest in Atlanta's Home Park neighborhood; WPCH-TV's transmitter is located in the Woodland Hills section of northeastern Atlanta.

Xernona Clayton Brady is an American civil rights leader and broadcasting executive. During the Civil Rights Movement, she worked for the National Urban League and Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where she became involved in the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Later, Clayton went into television, where she became the first African American from the southern United States to host a daily prime time talk show. She became corporate vice president for Turner Broadcasting.

Mort Crim is an author and former broadcast journalist. Crim joined Channel 4 in Detroit in 1978. Crim stayed with the station 19 years before retiring from anchoring TV newscasts in 1997. Previously, he served as an anchor at WHAS-TV in Louisville, KYW-TV in Philadelphia and WBBM-TV in Chicago. Crim was considered to be a top candidate by former ABC News president Roone Arledge to be a co-anchor for ABC's World News Tonight newscast in 1978. In 1984, he hosted a technology program on PBS, New Tech Times. Crim is also a founder of a Detroit area integrated marketing agency, Mort Crim Communications, Inc. Crim served as a spokesman for Majic Window Company in Wixom, Michigan, and for several years was featured in television commercials for that company.

Shon Gables is currently an evening news anchor with WANF in Atlanta.

The Salute 2 America Parade was an annual U.S. Independence Day parade held in Atlanta, Georgia each Fourth of July. The numeral in the name came from it being originally organized and broadcast by WSB-TV channel 2. For most of its run, the telecast of the parade lasted two hours but in the later years was cut back to 90 minutes. It was preceded by a pre-show of either 30 minutes or an hour. The event was the largest televised Independence Day parade in the country.

Sandra Bookman is an American television news reporter and anchor. She is currently a reporter and anchor at WABC-TV in New York City. She now co-anchors the noon weekday editions of Eyewitness News

Barbara Ann "Bobbie" Battista was an American journalist and a prominent newscaster on CNN. During her 20-year career with the cable news company, Battista anchored numerous programs on CNN, CNN Headline News, and CNN International.

JaQuitta Williams is a television journalist, who worked in Atlanta, Georgia for WSB-TV. Williams was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. Her cancer diagnosis was the trigger for her to become a spokesperson for healthy living. In 2009 Williams took an 18-month leave of absence from WSB-TV to fight her cancer diagnosis.

Reynelda Muse is a former American television news anchor. In 1969 she became the first woman and first African American television news anchor in Colorado, co-anchoring a newscast at KOA-TV in Denver. In 1980 she was part of the first group of anchors on CNN. She is the winner of many awards, including an Emmy Award, and has been inducted into numerous halls of fame. The Reynelda Muse Television Journalism Scholarship, annually awarded to an African American student majoring in television journalism, was established in her honor by the Colorado Association of Black Journalists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Godfrey</span> American television journalist (1931–2019)

Milton Edwin "Ed" Godfrey Jr. was an American television journalist, an innovative, award-winning, multi-market television news producer and news director who also served as a director-at-large and president of the Radio Television News Director Association. Godfrey's achievements included pioneering Evening in 1975, the nation's first broadcast early evening news magazine show. He also lead the broadcast news industry's successful effort to abolish the Fairness Doctrine that hampered the broadcast media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jovita Moore</span> African-American television news anchor

Jovita Moore was an American television news anchor who worked for WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1998 until her death.

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.