User:MichaelLinder
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Michael Linder is a journalist, producer and air talent equally in television, radio and the Internet. Among his many television series and specials, Linder created and executive produced “America's Most Wanted”, television’s first reality series and one of its longest-running. AMW is now in its 18th season.
Currently a reporter with KNX-AM Newsradio in Los Angeles, Linder specializes in investigative reports on topics ranging from the perils of MySpace to an exposé of the potentially dangerous dumping of sludge in Kern County by the Los Angeles Department of Sanitation.
Linder was an eyewitness to the execution of Tookie Williams, covered the Michael Jackson trial on location in Santa Maria for six months, the La Conchita landslide, launch of SpaceShipOne, embedded coverage of National Forest Service Hotshot crews during California’s wildfire season, and has served as a pool reporter for presidential visits to Los Angeles. He has been a guest on several MSNBC shows including “Contact with Ron Reagan” and “Rita Cosby: Live and Direct.”
In 2002 Linder was a reporter for KTLA in Los Angeles, covering the recall of Governor Gray Davis and producing the statewide telecast of the gubernatorial debate between the Davis and challenger Bill Simon. He has produced dozens of network and local specials and limited series including “Sneaks,” a movie review show, one of several synergy projects produced in association with the Los Angeles Times and KTLA.
In the 1990s, Linder created and served as executive producer for “The Jesse Jackson Show” and led a show crew and host Jackson to an interview with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad as troops massed for Gulf War I. There, they secured the release of 227 hostages held by Hussein in Kuwait and Iraq, including the staff of the U.S. embassy in Kuwait City.
He has served as executive producer of KCOP-TV’s evening newscast, launched several radio stations, and was on the start-up teams of “Entertainment Tonight” and the legendary Los Angeles television magazine “Eye on LA.” He has produced projects on-location across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Linder also created the concept for the Emmy-winning PBS series “Future Quest.”
At the dawn of the Internet, Linder launched the web site “Berserkistan” which covered the war in Bosnia, live on location in partnership with photojournalist Jim Bartlett. “Berserkistan” won every major Web award of its day with interactive journalism and embedded coverage of military units before the concept was conceived by the Pentagon. “Berserkistan” became an information lifeline for Bosnian refugees worldwide, NGOs, the White House and War Crimes Tribunal.
Linder is a longtime resident of Venice, California.
