Larry Kane
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For the crime suspect see Zodiac Killer
Larry Kane (born October 21, 1942) is an American journalist best known as the only American reporter whom The Beatles let travel with them on their 1964 North American tour. Kane authored a book about his experiences on the tour, "Ticket to Ride".
The Brooklyn, New York-born Kane, who was born Lawrence Kanowitz to Jewish-American parents, began his career in broadcast journalism in Miami, Florida, first at WQAM and later at WAME and WFUN. While working at WAME, Kane became the first U.S. news correspondent to break the story of the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961. In 1966 he came to Philadelphia as an anchor for WFIL Radio and a general assignment reporter for its sister television station, which in 1970 would change its call letters to WPVI after Capital Cities purchased WFIL-TV.
In 1970 he was a part of the launch of the Action News format on WPVI-TV, the ABC affiliate in Philadelphia, where he coined the phrase "Big Story" - something WPVI's Action News still uses to this day. He was also was an anchor on New York's WABC-TV's Eyewitness News for one year from 1977 to 1978.
He soon decided to quit, largely in part due to the daily commute between New York City and Philadelphia and several altercations with Roger Grimsby. It was rumored that Grimsby had a drinking problem and a legendary story about an altercation with Kane is still told to this day. Kane had several off air altercations with Grimsby, including one incident in 1978 where a drunk Grimsby is alleged to have challenged Kane to try to take a bottle of bourbon from him. He returned to Pennsylvania, joining WCAU, then the CBS affiliate, where he was the primary anchor at 6PM and 11PM. In 1993 he moved to KYW-TV, which became the new CBS affiliate station in Philadelphia in 1995. In doing so, he became one of the very few broadcasters to have anchored major Philadelphia newscasts on all three major network affiliates, as he was the sole anchor at 11 P.M. He also hosted a short-time weekly program produced by KYW-TV called The Bulletin with Larry Kane (not to be confused with the defunct Philadelphia Evening Bulletin newspaper) that pre-empted NBC network shows when it aired. Kane was known as the "dean of Philadelphia TV anchors."
Kane anchored the 6 P.M. and 11 P.M. newscasts at KYW, retiring on December 23, 2002 to pursue his writing career and other interests in the field of communications.
Kane was most noted for his coverage of local Philadelphia politics, something he particularly excelled at in his anchorman role and in hosting several public affairs programs at the stations where he worked in Philadelphia. He is most noted for his coverage of Frank Rizzo, as mayor and as a subsequent mayoral candidate. Kane noted that after he anchored coverage of the funeral of Frank Rizzo, in a lavatory he broke down and cried. Kane was also involved in a botched news story that sought to link Philadelphia mayor William J. Green with improprieties. The story was later retracted and Green sued WCAU-TV and Kane. He recovered, however, and played a pivotal role in anchoring coverage of the Philadelphia MOVE shootout, and row-house bombing by Philadelphia city officials, in 1985.
Since his recent retirement, he has been serving as a broadcast and strategic consultant to private corporations and public media companies, as well as writing a book on his experiences on traveling with The Beatles. He is currently doing consulting work for Comcast and occasionally records special reports and commentary for KYW News Radio 1060, Philadelphia's all-news AM radio station that serves as a sister station of KYW-TV.
On January 6, 2006, during a phone-in interview with WIP 610-AM's Angelo Cataldi, Kane criticized the Philadelphia Phillies for not cutting outfielder Jason Michaels, who was arrested for hitting a Philadelphia Police officer, and avoiding jail time by entering a first-time offender's program. He also announced that he will be hosting a new weekly program, Voice of Reason, starting on January 16, 2006, which will air on Comcast's CN8 channel.
[edit] Works
- Lennon Revealed (October, 2005) New York: Running Print Book Publishers. ISBN 0-7624-2364-1
- Ticket to Ride (June, 2003) New York : Penguin Books. ISBN 0-7624-1592-4
- Larry Kane's Philadelphia (2000) Philadelphia : Temple University Press. ISBN 1-56639-806-1
