| Len Berman | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 14, 1947 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn, New York Syracuse University |
| Occupation | television journalist |
| Notable credit(s) | WNBC-TV Sports-Anchor News 4 NY (1982–2009) |
| Agent | IMG |
| Official website | |
Len Berman (born June 14, 1947) is the former weekday evening sports anchor on WNBC-TV. Berman was with WNBC/NBC from 1982-2009. He was previously with WCBS-TV from 1979–1982, and before that at WBZ-TV in Boston from 1973–1978.
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Despite having a very neutral viewpoint when reporting the sports in New York, he grew up an avid New York Yankees fan. He is also partial to Big East basketball, having graduated from Syracuse University and serving as an advisor to that school and to St. John's University. When Berman hosted "Sports Update" Sunday nights on WCBS-TV he used the dance tune "The Break" by Katmandu as the theme song.
At the end of WNBC's 11 p.m. newscast on Wednesday April 22, 2009, following taped messages of goodbye and good luck from Matt Lauer, Al Roker, and Brian Williams, Berman announced that it was his last sportscast. He was given a cake with best wishes from his colleagues, including Chuck Scarborough and Sue Simmons.
While Berman's immediate future for television is unknown, sources say he might make periodic appearances on the Today Show.[1] Currently, he is working on his latest project, Len Berman Sports, an online blog which recounts Len's top 5 most interesting sports stories of the day.
One popular monthly feature Berman is responsible for is Spanning the World, which aired on WNBC's newscasts and The Today Show. Spanning is a reel of odd and interesting sports highlights from the past month, with a recorded introduction and closing by Don Pardo. When the segment begins, the world is torn in two and the sound of a rooster crowing is played. When the segment ends, the world goes back to its "pre-torn" State, with the same rooster sound, and announcer Don Pardo says "Tune in next time for 'Spanning the World'", If there Is a next time. I'm Don Pardo." In his last WNBC broadcast, Berman mentioned the segment would continue on The Today Show. Berman would occasionally do a version of the segment for WNBC titled "Spanning the Week" which would review odd and interesting stories from the past week. A common catch phrase from the segment is "And nobody got hurt!" which would be said by Berman after a clip featuring some sort of accident which might have caused injury.
From 1982 to part of the 1984, Berman also hosted The NFL on NBC Pregame Show, then known as NFL (insert year) until he was supplanted by Bob Costas. During the early weeks of the 1988 NFL season, Berman served as the host of what was, by this time, called NFL Live! while regular host Costas was hosting NBC's coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
In 2005, he was one of a handful of rotating co-anchors with Sue Simmons on Live at Five after Jim Rosenfield left for WCBS-TV.
Since August 2008, Len has kept a blog and daily newsletter at LenBermanSports.com, using the form to continue his type of humor and whimsical sports stories.[2]
Len has written four books: Spanning the World and three kids books, And Nobody Got Hurt! (Volume I and II), The Greatest Moments in Sports (New York Times Bestseller), and The 25 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.
Len currently resides in Port Washington, New York and has a vacation home in Palm Beach, Florida.