Paul Moyer
Encyclopedia
Paul Moyer is a veteran television news broadcaster in Southern California
. He co-anchored the 5 PM and 11 PM weekday editions of KNBC-TV's Channel 4 News with Colleen Williams
. 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.
On April 1, 2009, KNBC's Colleen Williams
announced, during the evening newscast, that Moyer had decided to retire after 25 years at the station. Moyer's salary was estimated at more than $3 million a year at his time of retirement.
, California
. He attended Torrance High School
and the University of Arizona
(class of 1964), and tried out for the Pittsburgh Pirates
, before beginning a broadcasting career. He served positions at KTIV
in Sioux City, Iowa
, WMBD-TV
and WMBD radio
in Peoria, Illinois
, KTVI
in St. Louis
, KDKA-TV
and KDKA
radio in Pittsburgh, and then WCBS-TV
in New York City
before returning to Los Angeles and joining KNBC in March 1972 as reporter and weekend anchor. The KNBC Newservice, as it was known, then featured Jess Marlow
, Tom Snyder
, and Tom Brokaw
as the main nightly anchors and was the first serious competition in the local news ratings against KNXT
's The Big News with Jerry Dunphy
. Moyer soon moved to the 11 p.m. newscast in July 1973 and to the 6 p.m. newscast in December 1974 with the respective departures of Brokaw and Snyder (the latter instance followed the addition of John Schubeck
to the late news).
Moyer would anchor at KNBC and host its Sunday program, in both cases working alongside longtime KNBC anchorwoman Kelly Lange
. However, after the station relieved him of his anchor duties, he moved over to rival KABC-TV
in 1979 initially as a "special correspondent" for Eyewitness News. Soon, however, when the weekday operation expanded to three hours in the early evening in the fall of 1980, Moyer was named co-anchor of the 5 p.m. hour with Ann Martin
. He soon replaced Dunphy (who had moved to KABC in 1975) on the 11 p.m. news after the latter was shot during a robbery attempt near the studio in 1983; the appointment would become permanent a year later.
network in the mid-1980s, appearing as a correspondent on Eye on Hollywood and substituting on World News This Morning and Good Morning America
. But in 1992, after a highly publicized bidding war, Moyer returned to KNBC in July 1992 to co-anchor with longtime San Francisco anchorwoman-journalist Wendy Tokuda. However, when ratings failed to surpass KABC's, Moyer was once again paired with Lange; both received a seven-figure salary. According to a June 2007 article in Los Angeles Magazine, Moyer's salary was rumored to be closer to $8 million.
Moyer appeared as himself on the TV show The West Wing
while doing an election-night stint for MSNBC
. His nephew, Micah Ohlman, had anchored the weekend newscasts at rival KABC and is now anchoring at KTLA
. He was at one time designated the honorary mayor of West Los Angeles.
Moyer is known as an avid car collector, particularly interested in Ferrari
cars, Ford GTs, and other sports cars. He won the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race
in 1988.
On April 30, 1992, he toured Los Angeles in a helicopter to observe damage from the Los Angeles riots.
In April 2009, Moyer announced that he would be retiring from KNBC where he had been a fixture for over 30 years.
on KROQ-FM
made fun of Moyer on a regular basis for his presentation style and alleged behind-the-scenes temper. An audio tape from the early 1990s features Moyer verbally berating Ann Martin
when they anchored together just seconds before the newscast began. The audio tape references Moyer bad-mouthing rival anchor Harold Greene
while accusing Martin of drinking before the newscast. Moyer suggests the two should take up their issues with Roger Bell, KABC-TV's News Director.
In May 2006, Moyer led an investigation on the rapidly increasing Chemtrail/Weather modification problem in Southern California. His four-minute report Toxic Sky, produced for KNBC in Los Angeles, went viral on the Internet almost as soon as it was posted to their official website NBC4.TV (now nbclosangeles.com).
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
. He co-anchored the 5 PM and 11 PM weekday editions of KNBC-TV's Channel 4 News with Colleen Williams
Colleen Williams
Colleen Williams 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...
. Moyer has worked primarily in the two major television markets—New York
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...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
—in addition to briefly working on network newscasts. Moyer was Los Angeles' longest-running news anchor following the death of KTLA
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
anchor Hal Fishman
Hal Fishman
Hal Fishman was the longest-running news anchor in the history of American television, having served on-air for Los Angeles television stations continuously between 1960 and his death in 2007...
on August 7, 2007. He is married and has four children, Elise, Paul, Dylan and Kyle.
On April 1, 2009, KNBC's Colleen Williams
Colleen Williams
Colleen Williams 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...
announced, during the evening newscast, that Moyer had decided to retire after 25 years at the station. Moyer's salary was estimated at more than $3 million a year at his time of retirement.
Early career
Moyer was born in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He attended Torrance High School
Torrance High School
Torrance High School is a high school located in Torrance, California. Founded in 1917, it is one of the oldest high schools in continuous use in California and is the oldest of the four high schools in the Torrance Unified School District. Four of its buildings are listed on the U.S...
and the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
(class of 1964), and tried out for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
, before beginning a broadcasting career. He served positions at KTIV
KTIV
KTIV is an NBC television station in Sioux City, Iowa, broadcasting on digital channel 41.KTIV also carries The CW Television Network, which replaced The WB network in September 2006, on its 4.2 digital subchannel.-History:...
in Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City, Iowa
Sioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 82,684 in the 2010 census, a decline from 85,013 in the 2000 census, which makes it currently the fourth largest city in the state....
, WMBD-TV
WMBD-TV
WMBD-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Central Illinois licensed to Peoria. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 from a transmitter on Pinecrest Drive in Groveland Township's East Peoria section. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 7 and in...
and WMBD radio
WMBD (AM)
WMBD is the oldest radio station in Peoria, Illinois. It broadcasts on 1470 kHz with 5000 watts day and night, with a 2-tower pattern during the day and a 4-tower pattern at night.The station started broadcasting in 1927...
in Peoria, Illinois
Peoria, Illinois
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
, KTVI
KTVI
KTVI, virtual channel 2, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the St. Louis, Missouri, designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, under a local marketing agreement with Tribune-owned CW affiliate KPLR...
in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV, channel 2, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. KDKA-TV broadcasts from a transmitter located in the Perry North neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and its studios are located in downtown Pittsburgh at Gateway Center....
and KDKA
KDKA (AM)
KDKA is a radio station licensed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Created by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation on November 2, 1920, it is one of the world's first modern radio stations , a distinction that has also been challenged by other stations, although it has claimed to be the first in...
radio in Pittsburgh, and then WCBS-TV
WCBS-TV
WCBS-TV, channel 2, is the flagship station of the CBS television network, located in New York City. The station's studios are located within the CBS Broadcast Center and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building, both in Midtown Manhattan....
in 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...
before returning to Los Angeles and joining KNBC in March 1972 as reporter and weekend anchor. The KNBC Newservice, as it was known, then featured Jess Marlow
Jess Marlow
Myron Jess Marlow born November 29, 1929 is a retired Los Angeles television newsman. He hails from Salem, IL and was an anchor at KNTV-TV, KNBC-TV and KCBS-TV for over 40 years, beginning in the late 1950s...
, 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...
, and Tom Brokaw
Tom Brokaw
Thomas John "Tom" Brokaw is an American television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He is the author of The Greatest Generation and other books and the recipient of numerous awards and honors...
as the main nightly anchors and was the first serious competition in the local news ratings against KNXT
KCBS-TV
KCBS-TV, channel 2, is an owned-and-operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Los Angeles, California. KCBS-TV shares its offices and studio facilities with sister station KCAL-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter...
's The Big News with Jerry Dunphy
Jerry Dunphy
Jerry Dunphy was an American television news anchor in the Los Angeles/Southern California media market. He was best known for his catchy intro "From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California, a good evening."...
. Moyer soon moved to the 11 p.m. newscast in July 1973 and to the 6 p.m. newscast in December 1974 with the respective departures of Brokaw and Snyder (the latter instance followed the addition of John Schubeck
John Schubeck
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....
to the late news).
Moyer would anchor at KNBC and host its Sunday program, in both cases working alongside longtime KNBC anchorwoman Kelly Lange
Kelly Lange
Kelly Lange is an American journalist, most notable for being the first woman to be a nightly news anchor in Los Angeles...
. However, after the station relieved him of his anchor duties, he moved over to rival KABC-TV
KABC-TV
KABC-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Los Angeles, California. KABC-TV's studios are located in Glendale, California...
in 1979 initially as a "special correspondent" for Eyewitness News. Soon, however, when the weekday operation expanded to three hours in the early evening in the fall of 1980, Moyer was named co-anchor of the 5 p.m. hour with Ann Martin
Ann Martin (journalist)
Ann Martin is a former award-winning journalist and a news anchor for CBS owned-and-operated KCBS-TV and KCAL television stations in Los Angeles, California. On April 1, 2008, she was informed that her contract will not be renewed. Media reports speculated that her contract expired June 1, 2008...
. He soon replaced Dunphy (who had moved to KABC in 1975) on the 11 p.m. news after the latter was shot during a robbery attempt near the studio in 1983; the appointment would become permanent a year later.
Career
Moyer was a visible face on the ABCAmerican 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...
network in the mid-1980s, appearing as a correspondent on Eye on Hollywood and substituting on World News This Morning and 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...
. But in 1992, after a highly publicized bidding war, Moyer returned to KNBC in July 1992 to co-anchor with longtime San Francisco anchorwoman-journalist Wendy Tokuda. However, when ratings failed to surpass KABC's, Moyer was once again paired with Lange; both received a seven-figure salary. According to a June 2007 article in Los Angeles Magazine, Moyer's salary was rumored to be closer to $8 million.
Moyer appeared as himself on the TV show The West Wing
The West Wing (TV series)
The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...
while doing an election-night stint for MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
. His nephew, Micah Ohlman, had anchored the weekend newscasts at rival KABC and is now anchoring at KTLA
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
. He was at one time designated the honorary mayor of West Los Angeles.
Moyer is known as an avid car collector, particularly interested in Ferrari
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
cars, Ford GTs, and other sports cars. He won the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race
Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race
The Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race is an annual 10-lap auto race held each April since 1977 as part of the United States Grand Prix West, and later the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach weekend at Long Beach, California...
in 1988.
On April 30, 1992, he toured Los Angeles in a helicopter to observe damage from the Los Angeles riots.
In April 2009, Moyer announced that he would be retiring from KNBC where he had been a fixture for over 30 years.
Cultural references
The morning duo Kevin and BeanKevin and Bean
Kevin and Bean is the morning show on KROQ-FM, an alternative rock-format radio station in Los Angeles, California. It is hosted by Kevin Ryder and Gene "Bean" Baxter. The show has been on the air since 1990 and intersperses music and news with comedy bits, celebrity interviews, listener call-ins,...
on KROQ-FM
KROQ-FM
KROQ-FM — branded 106.7 KROQ — is a commercial modern rock radio station licensed to Pasadena, California serving the Greater Los Angeles. The call sign is pronounced "kay rock." It is the flagship station of Loveline hosted by Dr...
made fun of Moyer on a regular basis for his presentation style and alleged behind-the-scenes temper. An audio tape from the early 1990s features Moyer verbally berating Ann Martin
Ann Martin (journalist)
Ann Martin is a former award-winning journalist and a news anchor for CBS owned-and-operated KCBS-TV and KCAL television stations in Los Angeles, California. On April 1, 2008, she was informed that her contract will not be renewed. Media reports speculated that her contract expired June 1, 2008...
when they anchored together just seconds before the newscast began. The audio tape references Moyer bad-mouthing rival anchor Harold Greene
Harold Greene
Harold Greene is a former award-winning journalist, best known for working at KCAL 9 News and CBS 2 News in Los Angeles. Before joining the CBS duopoly, Greene enjoyed a long television news career, mostly in Southern California....
while accusing Martin of drinking before the newscast. Moyer suggests the two should take up their issues with Roger Bell, KABC-TV's News Director.
In May 2006, Moyer led an investigation on the rapidly increasing Chemtrail/Weather modification problem in Southern California. His four-minute report Toxic Sky, produced for KNBC in Los Angeles, went viral on the Internet almost as soon as it was posted to their official website NBC4.TV (now nbclosangeles.com).
Filmography
- One Six RightOne Six RightOne Six Right: The Romance of Flying is an independent film about the general aviation industry as seen through a local airport. Within a short period of time, it has achieved a passionate following and presence among pilots and aviation enthusiasts worldwide who see the film as being able to...
(2005) – self - Boomtown (2002) – self
- Heat (1995) – self