Tom Shales
| Tom Shales | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas William Shales November 3, 1944 Elgin, Illinois |
| Occupation | Critic |
Thomas William "Tom" Shales[1] (born November 3, 1944) is an American critic of television programming and operations. He is best known as TV critic for The Washington Post; in 1988, Shales received the Pulitzer Prize. He also writes a column for the television news trade publication NewsPro, published by Crain Communications.
The Forbes Media Guide Five Hundred, 1994 states:
- Forget the middle ground, Shales either loves it or hates it – and his reviews of TV shows and personalities are often unabashed paroxysms of that love or hate....Like the medium he covers, Shales turns out fast-paced and amusing fare that often lacks depth. [2]
Life and career[edit]
Shales was born in Elgin, Illinois, the son of Hulda Louise (née Reko) and Clyde LeRoy Shales.[1] Shales's first professional job was with radio station WRMN, in Elgin at the age of 18. He served on the station's disc jockey, local news reporter, writer and announcer, on both the AM and FM bands. He later worked with Voice of America as a producer of broadcasts to the Far East.[3]
Shales graduated from American University in Washington, D.C., where he was Editor-In-Chief of the student newspaper, The Eagle, for the 1966–1967 academic year,[4] as well as the paper's movie critic.[3]
Shales worked as Entertainment Editor at the Washington Examiner from 1968 to 1971.[5] He joined the Washington Post as a writer in the Style section in 1972, was named chief television critic in July 1977, and was appointed TV Editor in June 1979. The Washington Post Writers Group syndicated his column since 1979.[3] Shales wrote for the Washington Post for several decades, but left the paper effective December 31, 2010.[6]
During 1998–1999, Shales was a frequent film critic for Morning Edition on National Public Radio.[7] He was twice a guest co-host on the television show Roger Ebert & the Movies after the death of Gene Siskel.[8] Shales was a member of the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors from 1991 to 1996.[9]
Honors[edit]
Shales received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1988 for his work at Washington Post.[3]
Selected works[edit]
- On the Air!. New York: Summit Books. 1982.
- Legends: Remembering America's Greatest Stars. New York: Random House. 1989.
- James Andrew Miller (2002). Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. New York: Little, Brown and Co.
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Tom Shales Biography (1948–)". filmreference.com. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ^ Terry Eastland, ed. Forbes Media Guide Five Hundred, 1994: A Critical Review of the Media (1994) pp 114-15.
- ^ a b c d "Washington Post – News Service & Syndicate". postwritersgroup.com. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ^ American University Library – History of The Eagle
- ^ Biography for Tom Shales on Internet Movie Database
- ^ Bryan Alexander (October 22, 2010). "Tom Shales Confirms He Will Leave Washington Post after 39 Years". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ Tom Shales – Rotten Tomatoes, Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ "Tom Shales". IMDb. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
- ^ "The Peabody Awards". peabodyawards.com. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
External links[edit]
- Tom Shales' blog (broken link)
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This article about a United States journalist born in the 1940s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- 1944 births
- American television critics
- Living people
- People from Elgin, Illinois
- Pulitzer Prize for Criticism winners
- The Washington Post people
- American University alumni
- American male journalists
- 20th-century American writers
- 21st-century American writers
- Journalists from Illinois
- American journalist, 1940s birth stubs
- 20th-century American journalists
