Maureen O'Boyle
Encyclopedia
Maureen O'Boyle is a female American news anchor. Currently, she is a lead anchor for WBTV
WBTV
WBTV, channel 3 , is the CBS affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is one of two flagship stations of Raycom Media. WBTV's studios are located off Morehead Street just west of Uptown Charlotte, and its transmitter is located in north-central Gaston County, North Carolina...

 News 3 in her hometown, Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...

. Before anchoring the daily news in Charlotte, O'Boyle worked on national TV programs for 20th Television
20th Television
20th Television is an American television production and syndication company that was formed in 1992 by 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, a division of the Fox Entertainment Group, part of News Corporation....

 and Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

. She was the anchorwoman for the TV shows A Current Affair and Extra
Extra (TV series)
Extra is an American entertainment television news program covering events and celebrities which debuted on September 5, 1994 in syndication. It is produced at Victory Studios in Glendale, California by Telepictures Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television Distribution...

. Today, O'Boyle also covers various events such as New Year's Eve celebrations and holiday parades in Charlotte. O'Boyle is also greatly involved in the Charlotte Community, using her public eye position to support charity organizations and events.

Early life

O'Boyle was born at Carolina's Medical Center (then, Charlotte Memorial Hospital) in Charlotte, N.C. She is one of ten children, however the eldest child Johnny died when he was a toddler. Growing up, her father's work caused the family to move frequently. Her family ended up back in Charlotte in the early 1970s where her father, Jerry O'Boyle, started his own calendar company called “Timeplanner Calendars Inc." O'Boyle graduated from West Charlotte High School in 1981 and went on to study journalism at East Carolina University
East Carolina University
East Carolina University is a public, coeducational, engaged doctoral/research university located in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. Named East Carolina University by statute and commonly known as ECU or East Carolina, the university is the largest institution of higher learning in...

. O'Boyle's six brothers eventually took over the family business, grew it to a multimillion-dollar company, and sold it in Summer 2007. The O'Boyle family business and O'Boyle's television career kept the family tightly knit and well known in the Charlotte, NC area.

Early career

O'Boyle studied Journalism and Speech at East Carolina University however she never graduated. While attending East Carolina University, she volunteered to work behind the scenes at nearby Washington N.C. station WITN 7
WITN-TV
WITN-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Eastern North Carolina's Inner Banks licensed to Washington. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter in Grifton along NC 118. The station can also be seen on Charter and Time Warner Cable channel 7 as...

 and eventually reported the weather. She was only 18 years old. O'Boyle received her offer as anchor in Macon, GA. With her parent's permission, she left East Carolina and forged her way into the competitive world of news reporting. Later O'Boyle worked on camera, wrote, produced, and anchored the evening news for KREM 2 in Spokane, Washington. From Spokane, she left for New York City and entered the national television spotlight. A move to Los Angeles would soon follow.

Professional career

At 24, O'Boyle got a job for the hit newsmagazine A Current Affair. When Maury Povich
Maury Povich
Maurice Richard "Maury" Povich is an American TV talk show host who currently hosts his self-titled talk show Maury.-Personal background:...

 left in 1990 to start his talk show in 1991, she stepped in as host. O'Boyle saw viewership rise by 15 percent, and she rated a higher Q score than any other newswoman on TV. O'Boyle hosted A Current Affair until 1994, when she was replaced by Penny Daniels
Penny Daniels
Penny Daniels is a communications consultant and trainer and a former American television news anchor who once hosted the TV show A Current Affair.- Early life and education :...

. In 1997, she became anchor and host of Los Angeles-based TV series Extra
Extra (TV series)
Extra is an American entertainment television news program covering events and celebrities which debuted on September 5, 1994 in syndication. It is produced at Victory Studios in Glendale, California by Telepictures Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television Distribution...

. O'Boyle left Extra in 2000. In 1996, she hosted the talk show In Person, which ran for 2 seasons. In 1993, she played herself as A Current Affair anchor in the movie So I Married an Axe Murderer
So I Married an Axe Murderer
So I Married an Axe Murderer is a 1993 American comedy-horror film starring Mike Myers and Nancy Travis. Myers plays Charlie McKenzie, a man afraid of commitment until he meets Harriet , who works at a butcher shop and may be a serial killer...

. In 2002, she also appeared in the movie Undisputed.

Personal life

In 1992, O'Boyle talked with People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...

magazine about the horrific event 6 years prior. On April 3, 1986 in Macon, GA, a man broke into her garden-level apartment and raped and terrorized her. He was arrested and sentenced to 50 years in prison. O'Boyle said to People, "I've always thought that being in a job where I am in the public eye that my story is important to share". The story is traumatic, but O'Boyle thought it was something she felt comfortable talking about. In the interview, O'Boyle says she talks to her parents and siblings a lot about what happened and feels very open about the subject. In 1997, O'Boyle became pregnant with her daughter Keegan O'Boyle. O'Boyle was kept from returning to any further television career and had to remain away from national television for many years. During much of the 1990s and 2000s, O'Boyle lived in an 80 year old ramshackle log cabin on the Eagle's Nest on the Hurley Mountain, west of Hurley, New York, which is in the Mid-Hudson Valley of upstate NY, where she significantly failed to ingratiate herself with the local citizens; necessitating a move from the area. O'Boyle's parents, Jerry and Joan O'Boyle, and siblings live with their families in Charlotte. In summer 2004, O'Boyle continued her television career by landing a job as a lead anchor for WBTV News 3, one of Charlotte's major news stations with a huge contraction of her career. O'Boyle has since helped raise funds for various organizations such as the American Red Cross, Assistance League of Charlotte, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, American Heart Association, Dress for Success, and Community Blood Center of the Carolinas. Maureen and her Co-anchor from WBTV played for charity on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in November 2010.

Sources

  • THREE FEARFUL HOURS, People Magazine, March 23, 1992
  • Martin, Edward, “Anchor away: Maureen O'Boyle left Charlotte to find national fame. Now she's glad to be doing...” Monday, August 1, 2005 http://www.allbusiness.com/north-america/united-states-north-carolina/493225-1.html
  • http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/maureen-oboyle/214358
  • www.wbtv.com
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK