Roger Grimsby
Encyclopedia
Roger Grimsby was an American
journalist, television news anchor
and actor
. Grimsby is known as one of the pioneers of local television broadcast news.
, by a Lutheran
minister. After graduating from Denfeld High School
in 1946, he attended St. Olaf College
in Northfield, Minnesota
, before studying history at Columbia University
in New York
. Grimsby was a U.S. Army veteran who was stationed in Germany
before serving in the Korean War
. It was during his stint in the Army that the Armed Forces Radio Service
(AFRS) sparked his interest in news broadcasting.
for WEBC
Radio. Shortly thereafter, he decided to switch to the growing medium of television, working as a correspondent and news director at various television stations around Minnesota
and Wisconsin
, including WEAU-TV
Eau Claire
, WISC-TV
Madison
, and WXIX-TV (now WVTV
) Milwaukee. He then spent two years (1959–1961) at KMOX (now KMOV
) in St. Louis
, before becoming the anchor and news director at ABC-owned KGO-TV
in San Francisco, in 1961. He then moved to New York City
's WABC-TV
in 1968, where he was co-anchor on Eyewitness News
alongside Tom Dunn
from 1968 through 1970, and then Bill Beutel from 1970 to 1986. He won six Emmy Awards at WABC-TV before he left that station in 1986 to join WNBC-TV
. After two years at WNBC, he relocated to San Diego where he was anchor for KUSI news, before going into semi-retirement in 1990.
Grimsby's departure from WABC was a rather acrimonious one. After his departure in 1986 (in an incident recounted by several of his colleagues, including Tom Snyder
who reported the incident on The Late Late Show
soon after Grimsby's death), ABC decided to retaliate against Grimsby by buying a building across the street from WABC's studio in upper Manhattan where three bars he used to frequent regularly were housed, and closed the bars shortly thereafter.
Grimsby was known for beginning his broadcasts with the phrase "Good evening, I'm Roger Grimsby; here now the news," and ending them with the phrase "Hoping your news is good news, I'm Roger Grimsby." Chevy Chase
later parodied the opening line on Saturday Night Live
s Weekend Update
segment with his catchphrase, "Good evening, I'm Chevy Chase and you're not."
Grimsby could be rather funny, himself. His humor was off-the-cuff, often with the typical journalist's sarcastic tone. One famous remark, widely circulated on an industry outtake reel, came after a studio wide-shot caught colleague Mara Wolynski using an extended middle finger as she finished an argument with someone off-screen before her story was introduced on the 5 o'clock edition. At the end of the 6 o'clock edition, Grimsby, with a straight face
, looked into the camera and quipped, "Well . . . as Mara Wolynski would say -- 'We're number one.'" The incident is saved on this youtube video which has been circulated amongst TV stations around the country for years.
His on-air feuds with fellow "Eyewitness News" team members, including Howard Cosell
, Geraldo Rivera
and gossip columnist
Rona Barrett
(whom he openly called "Rona Rooter") were legendary. He once segued into a Barrett report after a story about garbage by saying "Speaking of Garbage." However, the fact he remained an anchorman for 18 years in the nation's largest television market was a testimony to his journalistic skill and unique delivery.
He often appeared in films, usually playing himself as an anchorman, in such movies as Bananas, The Exterminator
, Ghostbusters
, Turk 182
, and Nothing but Trouble.
, at the age of 66.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist, television news anchor
News presenter
A news presenter is a person who presents news during a news program in the format of a television show, on the radio or the Internet.News presenters can work in a radio studio, television studio and from remote broadcasts in the field especially weather...
and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. Grimsby is known as one of the pioneers of local television broadcast news.
Early life
Roger Grimsby was an orphan who was born and raised in Duluth, MinnesotaDuluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
, by a Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
minister. After graduating from Denfeld High School
Denfeld High School
Denfeld High School is one of two high schools in Duluth, Minnesota, along with East as of 2011. Denfeld and Central merged together during the 2010-2011 school year and are called Denfeld in the newly renovated building. Serving over 1000 students from grades nine to twelve, Denfeld High School...
in 1946, he attended St. Olaf College
St. Olaf College
St. Olaf College is a coeducational, residential, four-year, private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American immigrant pastors and farmers, led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after Olaf II of Norway,...
in Northfield, Minnesota
Northfield, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 17,147 people, 4,909 households, and 3,210 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,452.2 people per square mile . There were 5,119 housing units at an average density of 732.1 per square mile...
, before studying history at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 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...
. Grimsby was a U.S. Army veteran who was stationed in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
before serving in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. It was during his stint in the Army that the Armed Forces Radio Service
American Forces Network
The American Forces Network is the brand name used by the United States Armed Forces American Forces Radio and Television Service for its entertainment and command internal information networks worldwide...
(AFRS) sparked his interest in news broadcasting.
Career
Grimsby returned to his native Duluth, Minnesota, where he began his anchoring career in 1954, serving as an announcerAnnouncer
An announcer is a presenter who makes "announcements" in an audio medium or a physical location.-Television and other media:Some announcers work in television production , radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in...
for WEBC
WEBC
WEBC is a radio station located in Duluth, Minnesota, airing programming from ESPN Radio is owned by Townsquare Media.The studios and offices are with its three other sister stations at 14 E. Central Entrance, on the west side of Duluth....
Radio. Shortly thereafter, he decided to switch to the growing medium of television, working as a correspondent and news director at various television stations around Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
and Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, including WEAU-TV
WEAU-TV
WEAU-TV is the NBC affiliate for much of western Wisconsin, including Eau Claire and La Crosse. WEAU is licensed to Eau Claire and its transmitter is located in Fairchild, Wisconsin. WEAU is currently broadcasting from a tower near the station's studio in Eau Claire due to a collapse of its main...
Eau Claire
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Eau Claire is a city located in the west-central part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 65,883 as of the 2010 census, making it the largest municipality in the northwestern portion of the state, and the 9th largest in the state overall. It is the county seat of Eau Claire County,...
, WISC-TV
WISC-TV
WISC-TV is the CBS affiliate television station for Madison, Wisconsin. The station is the flagship of Madison-based Morgan Murphy Media, and has been affiliated with CBS since its launch on June 24, 1956...
Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
, and WXIX-TV (now WVTV
WVTV
WVTV is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA and serves as Southeast Wisconsin's The CW Television Network affiliate. The station broadcasts from the Milwaukee Public Television tower on Milwaukee's northeast side with WMVS/WMVT, along with WCGV , WVTV's sister station...
) Milwaukee. He then spent two years (1959–1961) at KMOX (now KMOV
KMOV
KMOV, virtual channel 4, is the CBS-affiliated television station in St. Louis, Missouri. KMOV is owned by the Dallas-based Belo Corporation, with its studio and office facilities in St...
) 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...
, before becoming the anchor and news director at ABC-owned KGO-TV
KGO-TV
KGO-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, based in San Francisco, California...
in San Francisco, in 1961. He then moved to 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...
's WABC-TV
WABC-TV
WABC-TV, channel 7, is the flagship station of the Disney-owned American Broadcasting Company located in New York City. The station's studios and offices are located on the Upper West Side section of Manhattan, adjacent to ABC's corporate headquarters, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State...
in 1968, where he was co-anchor on Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News is a style of news broadcasting used by local television stations in different markets across the United States. It refers to a particular style of television newscast with an emphasis on visual elements and action video...
alongside Tom Dunn
Tom Dunn
Tom Dunn was an anchor and reporter at several New York and Florida television stations.Dunn was born in Warwick, New York, and was a child actor at radio station WAAT in Newark, New Jersey. He started in television at WCTV in Tallahassee, Florida in 1959 after leaving the army. He served as...
from 1968 through 1970, and then Bill Beutel from 1970 to 1986. He won six Emmy Awards at WABC-TV before he left that station in 1986 to join WNBC-TV
WNBC
WNBC, virtual channel 4 , is the flagship station of the NBC television network, located in New York City. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan...
. After two years at WNBC, he relocated to San Diego where he was anchor for KUSI news, before going into semi-retirement in 1990.
Grimsby's departure from WABC was a rather acrimonious one. After his departure in 1986 (in an incident recounted by several of his colleagues, including 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...
who reported the incident on The Late Late Show
The Late Late Show (CBS TV series)
The Late Late Show is an American late-night television talk and variety show on CBS hosted by Craig Ferguson since 2005. It immediately follows Late Show with David Letterman and is produced by Letterman's Worldwide Pants Incorporated...
soon after Grimsby's death), ABC decided to retaliate against Grimsby by buying a building across the street from WABC's studio in upper Manhattan where three bars he used to frequent regularly were housed, and closed the bars shortly thereafter.
Other career notes
For some time while anchoring at WABC, Grimsby also moonlighted as a reporter for the ABC Radio Network. During this time, Grimsby would serve as a newsreader for the network's five-minute national news updates in the 3:00 PM hour every afternoon, choosing which stories he would report and writing the reports himself. Grimsby, in a 1982 interview with then-colleague John Slattery, called it "one of the best kept secrets in broadcasting." (Outtakes from Slattery's report later aired as part of Tom Snyder's tribute to Grimsby following his death.)Grimsby was known for beginning his broadcasts with the phrase "Good evening, I'm Roger Grimsby; here now the news," and ending them with the phrase "Hoping your news is good news, I'm Roger Grimsby." Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...
later parodied the opening line on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
s Weekend Update
Weekend Update
Weekend Update is a Saturday Night Live sketch that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typically presented in the middle of the show immediately after the first musical performance...
segment with his catchphrase, "Good evening, I'm Chevy Chase and you're not."
Grimsby could be rather funny, himself. His humor was off-the-cuff, often with the typical journalist's sarcastic tone. One famous remark, widely circulated on an industry outtake reel, came after a studio wide-shot caught colleague Mara Wolynski using an extended middle finger as she finished an argument with someone off-screen before her story was introduced on the 5 o'clock edition. At the end of the 6 o'clock edition, Grimsby, with a straight face
Straight face test
The straight face test is a test of whether or not something is legitimate or serious based on whether or not a given statement can be made sincerely, without any compulsion to laugh. The phrase goes back to about 1987....
, looked into the camera and quipped, "Well . . . as Mara Wolynski would say -- 'We're number one.'" The incident is saved on this youtube video which has been circulated amongst TV stations around the country for years.
His on-air feuds with fellow "Eyewitness News" team members, including Howard Cosell
Howard Cosell
Howard William Cosell was an American sports journalist who was widely known for his blustery, cocksure personality. Cosell said of himself, "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. I have been called all of these...
, Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera is an American attorney, journalist, author, reporter, and former talk show host...
and gossip columnist
Gossip columnist
A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal lives or conduct of celebrities from show business ,...
Rona Barrett
Rona Barrett
Rona Barrett is an American gossip columnist and businesswoman. She currently runs the Rona Barrett Foundation, a non-profit organization in Santa Ynez, California, dedicated to the aid and support of senior citizens in need.-Career and personal life:As a teenager, Barrett overcame a degenerative...
(whom he openly called "Rona Rooter") were legendary. He once segued into a Barrett report after a story about garbage by saying "Speaking of Garbage." However, the fact he remained an anchorman for 18 years in the nation's largest television market was a testimony to his journalistic skill and unique delivery.
He often appeared in films, usually playing himself as an anchorman, in such movies as Bananas, The Exterminator
The Exterminator
The Exterminator is a 1980 action film written, produced and directed by James Glickenhaus and starring Robert Ginty as Vietnam veteran vigilante John Eastland, also known as "The Exterminator", who takes out the street punks and those involved in organized crime when the law fails to do justice.-...
, Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a...
, Turk 182
Turk 182
Turk 182! is a 1985 film starring Timothy Hutton, Robert Urich, Kim Cattrall, Robert Culp and Peter Boyle. It is also one of the first movies to receive a PG-13 rating.-Film synopsis:...
, and Nothing but Trouble.
Death
Roger Grimsby died on June 23, 1995, in New York City of lung cancerLung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
, at the age of 66.
External links
- UHF Nocturne - print ads for KGO featuring Roger Grimsby
- Broadcast legends - Roger Grimsby Biography
- Carter, Bill, "Obituary: Roger Grimsby, 66, Anchor And Initiator of 'Happy Talk'", The New York Times, June 24, 1995