| Chris Booker | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 20, 1971 U.S. |
| Occupation | Radio talk show host, TV personality |
Chris Booker (born May 20, 1971)[1] is an American radio and TV personality.
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Chris Booker is a TV/radio personality. He has worked as a correspondent for TV Guide Channel covering red carpet events such as "Live at the Grammys with Joan and Melissa Rivers," and "Live at the Kids Choice Awards." He also served as host of such shows as "TV Talk," "Sushi TV," and "What's ON DVD." From 2000 to 2003, Booker was a full time VJ for MTV and MTV2, hosting such shows as "The Return of the Rock," "First Listen with Britney Spears," and was the final host for the now defunct series "120 Minutes." From 2003 to 2004, Booker served as the New York correspondent for "Entertainment Tonight." Chris was also a steady on WPIX 11 N.Y. as their entertainment reporter. Booker's other TV credits include hosting for "Howard TV" and "Survivor Live" for CBS. He currently makes appearances on VH1 shows such as "The Great Debate," "I Love the 80's," "I Love the 90's," "I Love the New Millennium," "My First Time," "I Love Toys," "One Hit Wonders of the 80's," "Top 40 Songs of 2007, and 2008" and "Top 100 Best Hard Rock Songs."
Born and raised in West Virginia, Booker graduated from Magnolia High School in New Martinsville, WV in 1989.
Booker got his big start in radio in 1989 while attending West Liberty University 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 as both Chris Booker and Booker Madison in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Florence, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh.[2]
In 1996, he landed the evening slot at 92.3 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."[3] 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 then worked at Sirius Satellite Radio as morning host for "Octane Radio." Booker was then hired at New York Top forty (WHTZ) "Z100" as a fill-in host. 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. His producer and on-air collaborator at the time was Al Dukes.
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..
On May 23, 2008, Booker was fired as the morning show host on "Q102" in Philly (but was still considered an employee of "Q102", due to contractual reasons).
On January 6, 2009, Howard Stern mentioned on his Sirius-XM show that Booker had been hired by back at K-Rock to do afternoons. Opie and Anthony had also announced the return of Booker at the end of their January 7, 2009 terrestrial broadcast.
Official statement from K-Rock:
Chris Booker is back on 92.3 K-ROCK and will take over afternoon drive (2pm-7pm) starting Wednesday, January 7, it was announced today by 92.3 K-ROCK's PD, Mark Chernoff. "We wanted BOOKER back where he belongs…on New York Radio...and what better place to live than his previous home...92.3 K-ROCK. Our listeners and our advertisers are going to love having him back. We look forward to a great run with BOOKER". Booker was most recently the morning show host on WIOQ "Q102" Philadelphia. He has also been seen on the TV Guide Channel, MTV, VH1, Entertainment Tonight, and WPIX. In 1996 Booker landed the evening slot at K-ROCK until he left in 2003 for morning drive on WNEW. Booker found his way back to K-ROCK in 2005, where his show aired in afternoons until the format went to "FREE FM" talk. He was back on 92.3 K-ROCK handling the afternoon show.
Chris Booker returned to K-Rock 92.3 FM in NY for the afternoon drive (2pm-7pm) on Jan. 7th 2009. However, he was again removed from K-Rock 92.3 FM when it flipped to 92.3 NOW on March 11, 2009 at 5pm. Booker is said to be under contract with CBS until sometime in 2010.
Booker is currently the afternoon personality on KAMP "97.1 AMP Radio" in Los Angeles from 3pm to 7pm. He's been working in the station since June 1, 2009.
Over his multi-year radio career, Booker has won widespread industry acclaim, including several Billboard Magazine and Radio and Records' awards for "Best Air Personality."[4]
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).
In July 2007, 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 a very successful show. I've been fired before for low ratings, but never while being No. 1." The station decided to move to a show that's more music-intensive. However, on July 23, 2008, Q102 began to broadcast "The Elvis Duran Morning Show." His co-host, Angi Taylor was also fired and so was his producer Blaire. His sidekick Diego Ramos, was later released.[5]