WPRI-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts that is licensed to Providence. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. The station is flagship of owner LIN TV Corporation and operates Fox affiliate WNAC-TV along with a MyNetworkTV-affiliated second digital subchannel (both owned by Super Towers Inc.) through a local marketing agreement (LMA).

The two share studios on Catamore Boulevard in East Providence. Although WPRI is the flagship of LIN TV, master control and some internal responsibilities are based at hub facilities at NBC affiliate WWLP in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Syndicated programming on this channel includes: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Judge Judy, and Judge Joe Brown.

Digital programming[link]

History[link]

The station debuted on March 27, 1955 known as WPRO-TV (for PROvidence). It was Rhode Island's third television station and was owned-and-operated by retailer Cherry & Webb along with WPRO radio (630 AM and 92.3 FM). WPRO-TV was originally supposed to go on-the-air in 1953 but ran into several delays. It originally planned to build a transmitter in Rehoboth but legal disputes with town officials forced Cherry & Webb to find a site in Johnston, Rhode Island.

The station then planned to sign-on in 1954 but Hurricane Carol destroyed the Johnston transmitter. The legal disputes in Rehoboth were finally settled in late-1954 and WPRO got the go-ahead to begin construction there. The channel was due to join CBS because of WPRO radio's long affiliation with CBS radio. Even when it became apparent that WPRO-TV would miss its target air date, CBS opted to continue its secondary affiliation with NBC station WJAR-TV rather than move its programming to ABC affiliate WNET-TV.

When WPRO-TV finally got on-the-air, ABC gave it right of first refusal for its more popular shows. Within less than a year, WNET had gone dark. This station continued to share ABC with WJAR until WTEV-TV (now WLNE-TV) signed-on in 1963. Originally, WPRO-TV's studios were on the top floor of 24 Mason Street in Downtown Providence, but in the early-1970s, the station moved to its current home in East Providence at 25 Catamore Boulevard.

While it was located on Mason Street, WPRO AM-FM-TV's news facilities were completely integrated. On-air personalities from radio and TV created newscasts together. In fact, some reporters recorded conservative-sounding FM news broadcasts prior to pulling a switch to deliver live, punchy "colorful color radio PRO" on-air news for the WPRO AM radio station on the hour, with headlines on the half hour. And some radio news reporters headed into the field with photographers to cover stories simultaneously for radio and TV.

Legendary Providence radio personality Salty Brine had a daily children's show on WPRO-TV. News personalities included Mort Blender and Walter Cryan while the beloved Hank Bouchard did a multitude of on-air duties. That included announcing, hosting programs, and giving the weather report. Cherry & Webb sold WPRO-AM-FM-TV to Albany, New York-based Capital Cities Television Corporation, predecessor of Capital Cities Communications, in 1959. WPRO-TV was then sold to Poole Broadcasting (owners of WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan) on June 16, 1967.

That sale was necessary because CapCities had bought KTRK-TV in Houston, Texas which left it one VHF station over the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ownership limit of the time. Poole Broadcasting then changed WPRO-TV's call letters to the present WPRI-TV. It wanted to trade on the well-known WPRO calls and also realized that "PRI" could stand for Providence, Rhode Island. Capital Cities retained ownership of the WPRO radio stations until 1993 with the last seven being ABC-owned stations airing ABC Radio. Poole retained ownership until 1977 when it sold its three television stations (WPRI, WJRT, and WTEN in Albany, New York) to Knight-Ridder Broadcasting. WPRI swapped affiliations with WTEV and became an ABC affiliate after this sale as a result of a corporate affiliation deal between ABC and Knight-Ridder.

In 1989, Knight-Ridder left the broadcasting business selling WPRI and WTKR in Norfolk, Virginia to Narragansett Television LP, a locally based firm. Narragansett Television sold WPRI to CBS in 1995 making it a network owned-and-operated station (and one of the last such acquisitions prior to the Westinghouse Electric Corporation's purchase of the network). At midnight on September 10, 1995, WPRI reversed the 1977 swap with WLNE and officially rejoined CBS. It aired a vigorous promotion called "Survive the Switch" so television viewers in Providence would be prepared for this changeover.

In August 1995, Westinghouse bought CBS for approximately $6 billion. The merger was finalized that November 24. Westinghouse already owned WBZ-TV in Boston. WPRI's city-grade signal, like most of the other major Rhode Island stations, decently covers most of the Boston area. Meanwhile, WBZ-TV's city-grade signal decently covers nearly all of Rhode Island. At the time, the FCC normally did not allow common ownership of multiple stations with overlapping coverage areas and would not even consider granting a waiver if the overlap was between city-grade signals.

As a result, CBS opted to keep WBZ-TV and sell WPRI to Clear Channel Communications on July 1, 1996 after less than ten months of ownership. The FCC eliminated the requirement of a waiver for common ownership of television stations in adjacent markets with Grade B signal overlap (just months after CBS announced the sale of WPRI to Clear Channel) beginning to permit common ownership of stations whose city-grade signals overlap when duopolies began to be permitted in 2000. In 2000, Clear Channel was forced to sell WPRI as a condition of being allowed to buy additional radio stations in the Providence market. Sunrise Television acquired WPRI in early-2001 for $50 million. Sunrise merged with the LIN TV Corporation in May 2002.

In November 2006, WPRI renewed its broadcasting license with the FCC. On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could have resulted in the sale of the company. In October 2008, WPRI and sister station WALA-TV in Mobile, Alabama relaunched wesites through News Corporation's Fox Interactive Media as a result of a new partnership between LIN TV and NewsCorp. The other LIN TV-owned stations (irrespective of network affiliations) followed suit within two months ending the company's long partnership with WorldNow. The new sites are in a format which is similar to those of the Fox O&O-style web addresses used by many Fox affiliates (and which the LIN TV-owned or controlled Fox affiliates such as WNAC-TV had used) except the flashy myFox look. The myFox sites themselves were eventually redesigned to a look similar to those of the LIN TV sites.

Although the analog television shutdown originally scheduled for February 17, 2009, was postponed to June 12, 2009, WPRI-TV has received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) consent to transition on February 17.^[1] This allows WNAC-TV, which will also discontinue regular analog service on February 17, to begin operation of its new digital facility on channel 12. On October 22, 2010, WPRI started carrying The COOLTV music video programming on its 12.2 subchannel.

LMA with WNAC[link]

Shortly after Clear Channel took over the station, WPRI entered in a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Fox affiliate WNAC (then owned by Argyle Television). WPRI took over the station's operations on September 28, 1997 when WNAC moved its operations into this station's facilities. WNAC is the same station as WNET-TV that went off-the-air in 1956 largely due to the presence of WPRI. In late-1997, Argyle merged with Hearst Broadcasting, owner of ABC affiliate WCVB-TV in Boston. Hearst was forced to trade WNAC together with WDTN in Dayton, Ohio to Sunrise Television in return for WPTZ in Plattsburgh, New York, WNNE in Hartford, Vermont, and KSBW in Salinas, California because of the FCC rule forbidding common ownership of two stations with overlapping city-grade signals (same rule that forced CBS to sell WPRI two years earlier).

When Sunrise bought WPRI from Clear Channel in early-2001, WNAC was sold to LIN TV due to FCC regulations forbidding common ownership of two of the four highest-rated stations in the same market. In this case, WNAC cannot be co-owned directly with WPRI. However, LIN TV was forced to put WNAC back on the market almost as soon as it closed on the station's purchase due to the ownership structures of Sunrise and LIN TV. Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst (now HM Capital Partners), a private-equity firm co-founded by Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks, was (and still is) majority owner of LIN TV. At the same time, HMTF also controlled a large block of Sunrise stock.

The FCC ruled that HMTF controlled enough Sunrise stock that the company could not own any stations in markets where LIN TV owned a station as well. Finally in April 2002, LIN TV sold WNAC to Super Towers Inc. (d/b/a WNAC, LLC), a company owned by Timothy Sheehan, brother-in-law of former LIN TV Vice President Paul Karpowicz. This sale allowed the merger between Sunrise and LIN TV to be completed the following month. LIN TV continues to operate WNAC today under the same LMA that it inherited from Sunrise.

Station Nightclub fire[link]

WPRI and WNAC were heavily involved in the coverage and aftermath of The Station nightclub fire in 2003. Photographer Brian Butler was inside the nightclub taping a story when the pyrotechnics behind the band Great White lit soundproof foam within the nightclub on fire. The tape became crucial evidence in the case and WPRI reporter Jeff Derderian, who owned the nightclub with his brother, became a defendant accused of manslaughter. In February 2008, WPRI agreed to pay $30 million to settle a lawsuit against the station, parent company LIN TV, and Butler. Several families and survivors of the nightclub fire claimed that Butler stood in a doorway and continued to record footage rather than help people escape. The lawsuit alleged that Butler's actions caused more people to die. However, videotape evidence shown at deposition proved those charges to be false. Ironically, WPRI was there videotaping a story on nightclub safety a week after the E2 nightclub incident in Chicago.

News operation[link]

Traditionally, WPRI has been runner-up in the ratings to longtime dominant WJAR. For the February and May 2010 Nielsen ratings period, that station was number one in all time slots. Its newscast weeknights at 6 reached a reported 71,000 households which was an advantage of nearly 20,000 over WPRI. For the key audience measure of adult 18-49 and adult 25-54 viewers, WJAR out-delivered the competition in virtually all of the local news time slots. More recently, however, WPRI has mounted a spirited challenge to that channel's dominance.

Specifically, its broadcast weeknights at 11 has gained enormous popularity. As of the November 2010 sweeps period, this newscast on WPRI is the most watched in Rhode Island while WJAR continues its dominance in all other time periods.^[2] For most of its history, WLNE has been and continues to be ranked at a distant third place. This is despite numerous significant format and personnel changes designed to make a run at WPRI and WJAR.

In 1996, WPRI began producing the market's first nightly prime time newscast at 10 on WNAC called Eyewitness News First on Fox Providence. This was joined in April 1997 by a WJAR-produced show seen weeknights on WLWC entitled TV 28 News at 10. However, that was dropped in September when the WJAR LMA with WLWC ended. In 2004, an hour-long extension of WPRI's weekday morning show was added to WNAC at 7 branded as Eyewitness News This Morning on FOX Providence. It was eventually cancelled, but was brought back early in 2009 to precede The Rhode Show.

On October 1, 2007, WJAR began airing 10 at 10 on its NBC Weather Plus second digital subchannel. This was a live ten minute update consisting of the top stories of the day along with a current weather forecast. When WJAR-DT2 switched to the Retro Television Network (RTV), the show expanded to a half-hour format and renamed 10 at 10 on RTV. A third prime time newscast at 10 aired on WLNE's Cox-exclusive NewsChannel 5 from October 22, 2008 until March 2011. However, it was only occasionally shown, primarily when Fox Sports programming pre-empted the prime time broadcast on WNAC. WLNE's contract with Cox channel 5 ended on February 1, 2012 and is now operated by WJAR as Ocean State Networks (OSN).

WPRI and WNAC received an on-air overhaul introducing a new news set and updated graphics on March 17, 2008. It operated a Bell 206L3 Long Ranger helicopter known as "News Chopper 12" until December 2008. This was shared with sister stations WTNH and WCTX in New Haven, Connecticut but known separately as "Chopper 8". The helicopter is currently being stored in Indianapolis as a backup for sister station WISH-TV. Footage previously shot from the chopper is still used for B-Roll as stories warrant or at the end of a newscast.^{[citation needed]} Although not owned by the same company, WPRI maintains a content sharing partnership with The Providence Journal (a Belo-owned newspaper).

On February 18, 2009, WNAC launched an hour-long lifestyle and entertainment magazine-type program called The Rhode Show that aired weekday mornings at 8AM. A new secondary set for the show was built with a fully functional kitchen. The show was previously hosted by the weekday morning news anchor teams (Vince DeMentri & Elizabeth Hopkins from February 2009 - March 2010, Patrick Little & Elizabeth Hopkins from March 2010 - November 2010, and Patrick Little & Danielle North from November 2010 - December 2011). A third host for a period of one year was found annually through open audition in a contest titled The Rhode Show Search for a Star. In 2008, Boston-area radio deejay Shawn Tempesta won the contest out of over 140 people. In 2009, Cranston comedian Ben Hague beat out over 100 other hopefuls. Bridgewater State University graduate Michaela Johnson of East Providence won the honor in 2010. During the week, The Rhode Show was streamed live on WNAC's website. The main channel re-aired the show weekday afternoons at 1PM with WNAC-DT2 (MyRITV) doing the same at 4PM.

In December 2011, it was announced that on January 9, 2012, The Rhode Show would move to WPRI and would now begin at 9AM. Michaela Johnson and former WPRO-FM (92 PRO-FM) personality Will Gilbert became permanent hosts of the show and Mary Larsen was selected as the third host in the 2011 Search for a Star contest. MyRITV now re-airs the show at 2PM on weekdays. In addition, Eyewitness News This Morning on FOX Providence was extended to fill the hour previously occupied by The Rhode Show. The newscast now airs from 7-9.^[3]

WPRI operates a 24-hour local weather channel, known as the "Eyewitness News Pinpoint Weather Station", exclusively on Cox digital channel 125. When the weather channel was first established, it also aired on second digital subchannels of WPRI and WNAC. In 2007, new FCC regulations for educational programing forced the two stations to make the weather channel cable-only. Overnight on weekends when the main channels of WPRI and WNAC sign-off, there is a simulcast of the weather channel.

Along with its own weather radar at its transmitter site in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, the station also features live NOAA National Weather Service radar data from the Local Forecast Office on Miles Standish Boulevard in Taunton. Together, this is known in weather segments as "Live Pinpoint Doppler 12". It shares resources with WBZ-TV for coverage of Southeastern Massachusetts. In return, WPRI does the same for its coverage of the same area. During the week, Eyewitness News This Morning (on WPRI and WNAC), The Rhode Show, and Eyewitnesses News Live at Noon are all streamed live on WPRI's website.

Eyewitness News has won the Massachusetts/Rhode Island Associated Press News Station of the Year award nine years in a row since 2004, its most recent coming in May 2012.^[4]

WPRI and WNAC are the last stations in the market to upgrade their newscasts to high definition, though they were first to experiment with the format through promotional materials and debates during the election season in 2010. Set reconfiguration started on July 22, 2011. Newscasts in the interim aired from The Rhode Show studio. WJAR was the first in Rhode Island to have made the upgrade, on May 16, 2011, followed by WLNE on September 13, 2011. They debuted the new set and modified graphics on September 20, 2011 during their 5pm newscast.

Newscast titles[link]

• WPRO-TV News (1955–1967)
• TV-12 News (1967–1973)
• On the Scene News (1973–1977)
• NewsCenter 12 (1977–1985)
• Channel 12 News (1985–1989)
• Channel 12 Eyewitness News (1989–1996, WPRI used this newscast after the switch from ABC to CBS.)
• 12 News (1996–2002)
• Eyewitness News (2002–present)

Station slogans[link]

• Providence's Channel 12 (1973–1975)
• Your Number One News (1975–1981)
• The Station For You (1981–1984)
• Stay In Touch With Channel 12 (1984–1987)
• Making A Difference (1987–1989)
• Putting You Through Our Community (1989–1996)
• The News is Here On CBS 12 (1996–2001)
• Coverage You Can Count On (2001–present)

News team[link]

Anchors

• Patrick Little - weekday mornings and noon
• Danielle North - weekday mornings and noon
• Mike Montecalvo - weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 11
• Susan Roberts - weeknights at 5, 6, and 11
• Kathryn Sotnik - weekend mornings and weekday reporter
• Nneka Nwosu - weekend evenings and weekday videojournalist

Live Pinpoint Doppler 12 Meteorologists

• Tony Petrarca (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief seen weeknights
• Michelle Muscatello - weekday mornings and noon
• Pete Mangione (Certified Broadcast Meteorologist) - Thursday at noon and weekend mornings
• T.J. Del Santo - weekend evenings and "Green Team" segment producer

Sports

• Eric Murphy - Director seen weeknights at 6, 10:45 (on WNAC), and 11
  • Sunday Sports Wrap host
• Sara Hogan - weekend evenings, reporter, and photographer
• J.P. Smollins - reporter and photographer

Reporters

• Tim White - investigative and Newsmakers host
• Sean Daly - investigative and general assignment
• Susan Hogan - "Call 12 for Action" reporter
• Walt Buteau - investigative and "Street Stories" segment producer
• Nicole Estephan - weekday mornings
• Marilyn Schairer
• Stephen Schuler
• Steve Neilsen
• Ted Nesi - digital political reporter and Newsmakers panelist
• Susan Campbell

Contributors

• Courtney Caligiuri - website producer
• Melissa Sardelli - website producer, nightly webcast anchor
• Lt. Gen. Reginald Centracchio (Ret.) - political/military analyst
• Bob Hannah - weekday morning and evening traffic
• Joe Fleming - political analyst

The Rhode Show

• Will Gilbert - host
• Michaela Johnson - host
  • 2010 Search for a Star winner
• Mary Larsen - host (2012)
  • 2011 Search for a Star winner

References[link]

External links[link]

• WPRI-TV
• WPRI-TV mobile
• WNAC-TV "Fox Providence"
• WNAC-DT2 "MyRITV"
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WPRI-TV

Aaron Hernandez

Hernandez playing for the Patriots in 2011
No. 81     New England Patriots
Tight end
Personal information
Date of birth: (1989-11-06) November 6, 1989 (age 22)
Place of birth: Bristol, Connecticut
Height: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Weight: 245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
High school: Bristol Central High School
College: Florida
NFL Draft: 2010 / Round: 4 / Pick: 113
Debuted in 2010 for the New England Patriots
Career history
New England Patriots (2010–present)
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
SEC Championship (2008) BCS National Championship (2009) John Mackey Award (2009) First-team All-American (2009) First-team All-SEC (2009) Pro Bowl (2011) AFC champion (2011)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2011
Receptions 124 Receiving yards 1,473 TD receptions 12 Stats at NFL.com

Aaron Michael Hernandez (born November 6, 1989) is an American football tight end for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Florida, was a member of a BCS National Championship team, earned All-American honors, and was recognized as the outstanding college tight end in the nation. He was drafted by the Patriots in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft, and was selected for the Pro Bowl following his second NFL season.

Early years[link]

Hernandez, who is of Puerto Rican descent,^[1] was born in Bristol, Connecticut.^[2] He attended Bristol Central High School in Bristol, and played for the Bristol Central Rams high school football team as a wide receiver.^[3] As a senior, he was the Connecticut Gatorade Football Player of the Year after making 67 receptions for 1,807 yards and 24 touchdowns on offense, and 72 tackles, 12 sacks, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and four blocked kicks on defense.^[3] The 1,807 receiving yards and 24 touchdowns were a state record and his 31 touchdowns tied the state record. He also set the state record for receiving yards in a single game with 376, which was the seventh best total in national high school history, and set a national high school record for yards receiving per game with 180.7.

Hernandez was considered the top tight end recruit in 2007 by Scout.com.^[4]

College career[link]

Hernandez enrolled at the University of Florida, where he played for coach Urban Meyer's Florida Gators football team from 2007 to 2009.^[5] As a true freshman in 2007, Hernandez appeared in 13 games for the Gators, starting three. He finished the season with nine receptions for 151 yards and two touchdowns. As a sophomore in 2008, he started 11 of 13 games in place of the injured Cornelius Ingram, and finished the season with 34 receptions for 381 yards and five touchdowns. In the 2009 BCS National Championship Game against the Oklahoma Sooners, Hernandez led the Gators in receiving yards with 57 on five receptions, as the Gators defeated the Sooners 24–14 to win their second national championship in three seasons.^[6] As a junior in 2009, Hernandez won the John Mackey Award, given annually to the nation's best tight end, after leading the Gators in receptions with 68 for 850 yards and five touchdowns. He was also a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection and was recognized as a first-team All-American by the Associated Press, College Football News and the The Sporting News.^[5]

Hernandez finished his college career with 111 receptions for 1,382 yards and 12 touchdowns.

After his junior year, he decided to forgo his senior season and enter the 2010 NFL Draft.^[7]

Professional career[link]

Pre-draft[link]

New England Patriots[link]

Hernandez was drafted by the New England Patriots in the fourth round (113th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft. The previous day, the Patriots drafted another tight end, Rob Gronkowski. Shortly after he was drafted, The Boston Globe reported Hernandez had admitted to marijuana use and had failed multiple drug tests while in college, causing his draft stock to drop.^[9] Later that day, the Patriots released a statement from Hernandez, who said he had failed only one drug test while in college and was candid about it to interested teams at the NFL Scouting Combine.^[10]

Hernandez signed a four-year contract on June 8, 2010.^[11] The contract included a signing bonus of $200,000—less than half the bonus received by Patriots fourth-round pick placekicker Stephen Gostkowski in 2006.^[12] To compensate for the small signing bonus, the deal also includes a series of roster and workout bonuses that add up to an additional $700,000, which means that "Hernandez can wind up getting the money a third-rounder would over four years, but he's gotta walk the straight and narrow to do so."^[13]

2010 season[link]

Hernandez started the 2010 season as the youngest player on any active roster in the NFL. In Week 2, against the New York Jets, he caught 6 passes for 101 yards, making him the youngest player since 1960 to have 100 yards receiving in a single game. In the Patriots' Week 3 victory over the Buffalo Bills, Hernandez led all Patriots receivers with 6 catches for 65 yards, and had one rush for 13 yards. In the Patriots' Week 9 loss against the Cleveland Browns, Hernandez caught his first career touchdown on a 1-yard pass from quarterback Tom Brady, and added another touchdown later in the game. In Week 15, Hernandez caught two touchdown passes from Brady in a win over the Green Bay Packers, earning Hernandez Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week honors. He finished the 2010 season with 45 receptions for 563 yards and six touchdowns in 14 games played (7 starts).

2011 season[link]

Through Week 15, Hernandez played in 12 of the Patriots' 14 games, starting 10; for the second season in a row, Hernandez missed two regular-season games with a knee injury. He set career bests in receptions and yards in Week 15, against the Denver Broncos, with 9 catches for 129 yards and one touchdown.

Hernandez and teammate Rob Gronkowski are the first pair of tight ends in NFL history to score at least five touchdowns each in consecutive seasons for the same team; both rank in the top 20 among all receivers in number of catches.

Gronkowski-Hernandez tandem[link]

At the start of the 2011 season, Hernandez was one of only two tight-ends on the roster; the other was his fellow 2010 draftee Rob Gronkowski.

Although Hernandez's stats were eclipsed by Gronkowski's, Hernandez still ranked in the top 5 in receptions, yards, and touchdowns among tight ends; according to NBC Sports, Hernandez and Gronkowski are the first pair of tight ends in NFL history to catch 5 touchdown passes in consecutive seasons with the same team. In 2011 they also set NFL records for yardage, receptions, and touchdowns by tight ends on one team, combining for 169 receptions, 2,237 yards, and 24 touchdowns. The previous records for receptions and yards by tight ends on a single team was set in 1984 by the San Diego Chargers, who had four tight ends combine for 163 receptions and 1,927 yards;^[14] the 24 touchdowns eclipsed the record of 18 touchdowns caught by Gronkowski, Hernandez, and Alge Crumpler in 2010.

See also[link]

	American football portal
	Puerto Rico portal
	Biography portal
	College football portal

• 2008 Florida Gators football team
• 2009 College Football All-America Team
• Florida Gators
• List of Florida Gators football players
• List of New England Patriots players
• List of Puerto Ricans

References[link]

External links[link]

• Aaron Hernandez on Twitter
• New England Patriots bio
• Florida Gators bio
• NFL combine profile
• ESPN bio

This article may be unbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (December 2011)

Chris Matthews
Matthews at the 2011 Time 100 Gala.
Born	Christopher John Matthews (1945-12-17) December 17, 1945 (age 66) Somerton, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Ethnicity	Irish
Education	College of the Holy Cross
Occupation	News anchor and political commentator
Notable credit(s)	Hardball with Chris Matthews The Chris Matthews Show
Religion	Roman Catholic
Spouse	Kathleen Matthews
Relatives	Montgomery County, PA County Commissioner Jim Matthews (brother)

Christopher John "Chris" Matthews (born December 17, 1945) is an American news anchor and political commentator known for his nightly hour-long talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which is televised on the American cable television channel MSNBC. On weekends he hosts the syndicated NBC News–produced panel discussion program The Chris Matthews Show. Matthews makes frequent appearances on many other NBC and MSNBC programs. On March 22, 2009, Matthews renewed the contract for Hardball with Chris Matthews through 2012.^[1]

Early life and education[link]

Matthews was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Irish American parents and is a Roman Catholic.^[2] He attended La Salle College High School. He is a 1967 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and did graduate work in economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[3][4]

Matthews served in the United States Peace Corps in Swaziland from 1968 to 1970^[5] as a trade development adviser.

Career[link]

Political career and views[link]

When Matthews first arrived in Washington, D.C., he worked as a police officer with the United States Capitol Police.^[6] Subsequently, he served on the staffs of four Democratic members of Congress, including Senators Frank Moss and Edmund Muskie. In 1974, he mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in which he received about 24% of the vote in the primary.^[7] Matthews was a presidential speechwriter during the Carter administration and later worked for six years as a top aide to longtime Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O'Neill, playing a direct role in many key political battles with the Reagan administration.

Matthews in October 2007

Despite having worked for Democrats, Matthews has said, "I'm more conservative than people think I am.... I voted for George W. in 2000."^[8] Salon.com has called him the "most conservative voice" on MSNBC's primetime lineup.^[9] Matthews has been accused by media watchdogs^[10] of having panels of guests that skew to the right and of supporting Republicans in his own questions and comments.^[11][12] Conversely, he is also often criticized by conservatives for his opposition to the Iraq War among other stances he took against the Bush administration.

On the April 14, 2008, edition of The Colbert Report, Matthews alluded to a possible run for the United States Senate from Pennsylvania. When directly questioned by Stephen Colbert about his intentions, he stated that there is a difference between celebrities and those who work for the people, and it's a greater thing to work for the people. He also said that his boyhood dream was to be a senator. Four days later, on April 18, 2008, Matthews told Bill Maher that he has "made a commitment to covering politics in a liberal way, starting in 1987, and [he is] honoring that commitment, not getting involved in it."^[13] The seat in question was the one held by Sen. Arlen Specter, whose term in the Senate ended in January 2011. On November 28, 2008, Fivethirtyeight.com and The Politico reported that Matthews had been in contact with senior staffers of Barack Obama's campaign about a possible run.^[14][15] On January 7, 2009, The New York Times reported that Matthews told his staffers that he would not run for the Senate.^[16] On May 25, 2009 Chris Matthews appeared on Charlie Rose where he stated that he was intending to run for Specter's Senate seat in 2010, stating, "I could see myself winning the Democratic primary and I could see myself going on to face Arlen in the general [election]," but that he felt he had to decide between being a journalist and being a politician once Specter became a national figure by supporting the stimulus.

While discussing proposed healthcare reform on the December 17, 2009, edition of Hardball, Matthews stated, "The Republicans will know they have lost.... Let them keep score and it's easy. It's complicated when liberals get to keep score. We're always arguing. Well, I'm a liberal, too."^[17][18]

Author and talk show host[link]

Matthews during a special edition of Hardball

Matthews worked in print media for 15 years, spending 13 years as Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the San Francisco Examiner (1987–2000) and two years as a nationally syndicated columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Matthews covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first all-races election in South Africa, and the Good Friday Peace Talks in Northern Ireland. In 1997 and 1998, his research in the National Archives produced a series of exclusives on the Nixon presidential tapes. Matthews has covered American presidential election campaigns since 1988.

In 1997, Matthews began his own talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which originally aired on CNBC but is currently on MSNBC. Hardball features pundits and elected officials as guests.

In 2002, The Chris Matthews Show began airing in syndication. The show is formatted as a political roundtable consisting of four journalists and Matthews, who serves as the moderator. He is estimated to earn more than $5 million a year. He also wrote a book called Hardball.^[19]

Personal life[link]

Matthews has been married since 1980 to Kathleen Matthews, who anchored News 7 on WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C., before accepting a position as an executive vice president with J.W. Marriott. The couple have three children: Michael, Thomas, and Caroline. His brother Jim Matthews, a Republican, is a county commissioner in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

In 2002, Matthews was hospitalized with malaria, which he evidently contracted on one of his visits that year to Africa.^{[citation needed]} He has also had other health problems, including diabetes (which he acknowledged having on the Hardball broadcast of December 7, 2009) and pneumonia.^[20]

Criticisms and controversy[link]

Matthews and his wife Kathleen at the 2010 Time 100 Gala.

Liberal blogger Glenn Greenwald has called Matthews "the most vivid example of all that is wrong with political coverage," saying "[H]e’s endlessly obsessed with personality-based politics and likes to promote the strong, masculine tough guy who you can have a beer with, versus the nerdy loser. And he has a cast of characters who go on his show, like Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, who gush over the maleness of the Republican candidates and warn Democrats about how that has real appeal to American voters. Most political reporters judge candidates on the basis of the likeability factor—Matthews is just more explicit about it."^[21]

Others have criticized Matthews for talking too much on air, not letting his guests talk, and often talking over and interrupting them. One who also worked in the Carter Administration has written: "Generally in those days Chris was a relatively quiet person around the White House, and in meetings or briefings would frequently say very little, or nothing at all. I guess he's making up for lost time—or 'lost talk'—now. Nevertheless, I'm a big fan of his show, always fascinating without fail—at least if you're a political junkie."^[22]

The progressive media watchdog group Media Matters for America named Matthews its 2005 "Misinformer of the Year," citing statements he made in support of President George W. Bush.^[23]

On January 9, 2008, the morning after Hillary Clinton's surprise victory in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, Matthews appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe program and said of Clinton,

The comments were criticized by such media figures as Bill O'Reilly, Joy Behar, and Gloria Steinem.^[24][26][27] They also resulted in protests outside NBC's Washington, D.C., studios as well as a joint letter of complaint to NBC from the National Organization for Women, Feminist Majority, and the National Women's Political Caucus. Matthews apologized for the comments on the January 17, 2008, edition of Hardball.^[27]

After Matthews and Keith Olbermann made controversial on-air comments during the 2008 Republican National Convention, NBC News correspondent David Gregory replaced them, but Matthews and Olbermann continued working as analysts.^[28] On November 4–5, he teamed with Rachel Maddow, Eugene Robinson, David Gregory, and Keith Olbermann to cover the presidential election.

On February 12, 2008, during MSNBC's coverage of the Potomac primary, Matthews had this to say about then presidential candidate Barack Obama:

This led some on the political right to assert that both he and MSNBC were biased toward Obama.^[30]

On November 6, 2008, he was a guest on the MSNBC television program Morning Joe, wherein he stated, "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work." Host Joe Scarborough asked if that was his job as a journalist. "Yeah, that’s my job. My job is to help this country," Matthews replied.^[31]

On December 1, 2009, preceding Obama's speech announcing a troop increase in Afghanistan, Matthews criticized the president for choosing the United States Military Academy as his venue, referring to it as "the enemy camp."^[32] Soon after, Matthews apologized for his remarks, saying, "[To] the cadets, their parents, former cadets, and everyone who cares about this country and those who defend it: I used the wrong words and worse than that I said something that is just not right and for that I deeply apologize."^[33]

In January 2010, in Matthews's comments after President Obama's first State of the Union Address, he said, "You know, I forgot he was black tonight for an hour."^{[34][35][36][37][38]} The next day, on the Rachel Maddow show, Matthews clarified his remarks, saying, "I think he’s taken us beyond black and white in our politics, wonderfully so, in just a year."^[39]

Bibliography[link]

• Matthews, Christopher (2011). Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-3508-9. 
• Matthews, Christopher (2007). Life’s a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation, and Success (1st ed. ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6528-8. 
• Matthews, Christopher (2002). American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-4086-3. 
• Matthews, Christopher (2001). Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think (1st ed. ed.). New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-684-86236-0. 
• Matthews, Christopher (1999). Hardball: How Politics Is Played, Told By One Who Knows the Game (1st Touchstone ed. ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84559-8. 
• Matthews, Christopher (1996). Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Postwar America. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81030-1. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chris Matthews

• Hardball with Chris Matthews
• The Chris Matthews Show
• Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Booknotes interview with Matthews on Kennedy and Nixon: The Rivalry That Shaped Postwar America, June 9, 1996.
• Chris Matthews on Charlie Rose
• Chris Matthews at the Internet Movie Database
• Chris Matthews collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Chris Matthews in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Chris Matthews at the Notable Names Database