| Larry Kane | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 21, 1942 Brooklyn, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | television news anchor, Journalist, Author |
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 and 1965 North American tours. Kane authored a book about his experiences on the tour, called Ticket To Ride, and Lennon Revealed, a New York Times and Los Angeles Times best-seller in 2005. The Emmy Award-winning newsman was honored by the Mid-Atlantic Emmy organization with their Governor’s Award in 2005, recognizing Lifetime Achievement, and was installed in the Pennsylvania Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame.
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Kane was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish-American parents as Lawrence Kanowitz. He changed his name as an adult, 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.
During the 1960s he was a resident of Haddon Township, New Jersey.[1]
In 1965, he came to Philadelphia as an anchor for WFIL Radio and as main anchor for its sister station WFIL-TV, Philadelphia's ABC affiliate. Kane was hired by the TV station's news director, Mel Kampmann, as the primary anchor for the (then new) Action News format. WFIL-TV would change its call letters to WPVI-TV in 1971 after Capital Cities Communications purchased the station from Triangle Publications. Kane is credited with coining the phrase "The Big Story" at the top of Action News, something WPVI still uses to this day.
Kane was also was an anchor on New York's WABC-TV's Eyewitness News for one year from 1977 to 1978. He 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. During his time in New York, Kane also anchored news updates for ABC News.
He returned to Philadelphia in 1980 and joined WCAU-TV, then a CBS-owned station, as the primary anchor of Channel 10 News at 6 P.M. and 11 P.M. In 1993 he moved to KYW-TV, an NBC affiliate which became the new CBS station in Philadelphia in 1995. 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). Kane anchored the 6 P.M. and 11 P.M. newscasts at KYW until December 23, 2002.
Kane covered local Philadelphia politics through hosting several public affairs programs. Kane was anchor at WCAU while Jay Feldman was GM and journalistic sources thought reliable tipped erroneously that Philadelphia mayor William J. Green was subject of federal investigation for improprieties. The story was later retracted, and Green sued CBS.
Kane continues to do special reports for KYW, an all-news AM radio station in Philadelphia, and hosts Larry Kane: Voice of Reason, a weekly news analysis program on the Comcast Network. In March 2010, Kane made several appearances at the Franklin Institute discussing his experiences touring with The Beatles.[2]