Chris Booker
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To see the baseball player see Chris Booker (baseball)
| Chris Booker | |
| Born | May 20, 1971 Hagerstown, Maryland, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Radio talk show host, TV personality |
Chris Booker (born Christopher Bugher on May 20, 1971) is an American radio and TV personality.
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[edit] Career
Chris Booker was the host of the WIOQ "Q102" Philadelphia morning radio show. He is best known for his work at WXRK (92.3 K-Rock). He also works as a part-time correspondent for the TV Guide Channel and as host of "Sushi TV" on that network and contributes regular reports on music news for MTV2. Booker is a past contributor to Entertainment Tonight, and appeared on MTV's former series "120 Minutes" and "The Return of the Rock".
Born in Maryland in May 1971 but raised in West Virginia, Booker got his big start in radio in 1989 while attending college in Wheeling, West Virginia. In 1992, he began his self-described "gypsy years radio tour", where he held the positions of On Air Personality and Music Director at a number of different stations in Myrtle Beach and Florence, Kansas City and Pittsburgh.
In 1996, he landed the evening slot at K-Rock in New York, where he met the nation's top radio talk show host, Howard Stern, who made the young DJ a regular on his program. He made numerous appearances on Howard Stern's show under the name "Booger". Booker left K-Rock in 2003 for the morning drive show on the "Blink" version of WNEW. When that format failed and the show was taken off the air, Booker eventually found his way back to K-Rock in 2005, where his show aired in the afternoon until the format was changed to "Free FM" talk.
On January 3, 2006, Booker's "new" radio show (carrying over many of the same elements and players as his afternoon drive rock show) titled "The Booker Show" debuted from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. The show aired on Monday-Thursday, and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays at WFNY-FM (92.3 Free-FM).
On April 24, 2006, "The Booker Show" aired for the last time on WFNY. Top 40 station WIOQ "Q102" in Philly had called numerous times offering Booker the morning slot and a raise which Booker finally accepted.[citation needed].
On May 23, 2008, Booker was fired as the morning show host on "Q102" in Philly.
[edit] The Q102 Booker Show
Booker's first show on Q102 Philly aired on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at 6:00 am. On his first show, Booker had a conversation/interview with Howard Stern (who was also live on the air on Sirius at the time). .
On Thursday, May 10, 2007 the Booker Show celebrated its first year in Philadelphia.
In July Chris Booker officially announced that Angi Taylor, who had been a co-host for previous Q102 morning shows, would return to Q102 and become a new co-host on The Booker Show.
On May 23, 2008, Booker was fired as the morning show host on Q102 in Philadelphia. Booker responded that he was "surprised. Very, very surprised. It's very successful show. I've been fired before for low ratings, but never for being No. 1." The station decided to move to a show that's more music-intensive.
[edit] Personal life
Booker has dated Lynda Lopez, the younger sister of Jennifer Lopez. They met in early 2002 at WNEW-FM in New York, where they worked as co-hosts for the morning show. In early 2005 the couple separated.
Booker then dated Caron Bernstein, a former model and singer/songwriter, born in South Africa and from New York. While vacationing in Cape Town, South Africa for the 2006 winter holidays, Booker proposed to Bernstein. However, during the week of March 18th, 2007, Booker announced their relationship had ended for personal reasons. On the November 30, 2007 show, Booker revealed that it was due to cheating and he caught Bernstein very red handed.
He is currently dating Alycia Lane, an ex-KYW CBS3 news anchor who was arrested on December 16, 2007, for allegedly assaulting a New York Police Officer. Booker was riding in a taxicab with Lane, and confronted a slow-moving unmarked police vehicle, which led to a confrontation, Lane's arrest, and her being charged with a felony count of assault in the second degree. The following day CBS3 announced Lane was taking an early vacation and her return date had not been determined. Alycia was terminated by CBS3 on Monday January 7th..
