| Tom Ellis | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1932 |
| Education | University of Texas |
| Spouse(s) | Arlene |
| Nationality | American |
Tom Ellis (born September 22, 1932) is a Boston based journalist, he is well known throughout New England where he has served as anchor for three of Boston's network-affiliated stations. His career in television news spans more than 40 years.
Ellis was a correspondent for WNBC-TV and an anchor for WABC-TV – both in New York City, and for KONO-TV Channel 12 (now KSAT-TV) in San Antonio. Additionally, his broadcast career in radio included anchor/reporter duties for KVET-AM in Austin, Texas, KWED-AM in Sequin, TX, and KONO-AM/FM in San Antonio.
Ellis is the only individual in television history who anchored top-rated newscasts in 3 major markets: San Antonio, TX, Boston, MA, and New York -- and top-rated newscasts on all 3 network affiliates in Boston.
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Ellis grew up in the Big Thicket area of Texas. He is a 1958 graduate of the University of Texas.[1]
When he was 17 Ellis worked as a sideshow barker, earning $150.00 per week.[2] Ellis first worked in television in 1951. Ellis was approached by a producer from New York to host a baseball pregame show for children sponsored by the Curtiss Candy Company. Ellis hosted the Curtis Knot Hole Gang club, a thirty minute program before the Dallas Eagles and the Fort Worth Cats of the Texas league. During the program Ellis would interview local youth baseball players.
Ellis worked as a radio reporter at KWED a 1000 watt radio station in Seguin, Texas. In 1958, while he was working for KWED Ellis was heard by the owner of KONO radio station in San Antonio, Texas. The station executive offered Ellis a news job in his San Antonio station for $100 per week. Ellis took the position after negotiating a salary of $105 a week.
In 1961 he was given the opportunity to go on television. The anchor at Ellis' station's affiliated TV station had abruptly quit. Ellis was asked by the news director to fill in as interim TV anchor until a replacement could be found. Ellis was eventually made the permanent television anchor however he kept his radio job because the TV anchor job only paid $15 a night.[3]
His high-profile career in New England began in July 1968, when he became the new lead anchor at WBZ-TV, a role he would hold alone, and during other periods alongside station veterans such as Jack Chase, through 1975. Ellis established himself as a dependable figure in regional journalism on WBZ and kept the (then) NBC affiliate at top of the Boston news ratings throughout his tenure. His shining moments of glory in the eyes of viewers were his organization of team coverage during the 1972 presidential election and subsequent 1974 presidential replacement, when he won accolades for his performance. Ellis became so renowned that the station began issuing political campaign-style pins and bumper stickers featuring the faces of Ellis and then co-anchor Tony Pepper, encouraging viewership; the public stuck them all over the area.
Ellis originally left Boston in 1975 when he jumped at the offer to anchor for ABC's flagship affiliate WABC-TV in New York City. Tom added journalistic power to WABC's team and enjoyed three high-profile years in this stint. In the midst of his tenure at WABC, Ellis took on a role in the 1976 feature film Marathon Man, which starred Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier. Many of Tom's fans fondly regard his performance of a period TV announcer in the film.
Before Ellis could have possibly been considered for spots of ABC network news, he decided not to renew his contract with WABC in order to pursue other ventures before considering jobs on national television. Just as he was leaving in 1978, the country's #1 (ratings and acclaim-wise) ABC affiliate, Channel 5 WCVB-TV in his old stomping ground of Boston, heard that the former heavyweight in Boston news was available.
WCVB offered Ellis the chance to return to the market with not only a salary to rival WABC's, but to join the red-hot anchoring duo of Chet Curtis and Natalie Jacobson, which had been taking the market by storm in the late 1970s. Ellis, who had seen WCVB's husband-and-wife team rise to prominence, didn't think twice and signed-on with the station for an initial four-year contract. From 1978 to 1982, the three-person lead anchor team was set up so that Tom or Chet would alternate in the male anchor position (between the 6 and 11pm newscasts), with Natalie being the constant.
Ellis' return to Boston with his addition at WCVB only meant better things for a station whose news department and commitment to local programming would soon garner it national attention. Although Curtis and Jacobson were initially responsible, it was Ellis' dominance and professionalism that shot WCVB up to a close second in the evening news ratings, right behind longtime principal leader WBZ. There was seemingly an eclectic repertoire between Tom and the rest of the staff, and even more so when Tom began frequently anchoring beside both Chet and Nat for a period beginning in 1980 - the catalyst for WCVB busting into the first place in 1981 (WBZ, for the record, hasn't been #1 ever since). This victory came on the heels of WCVB being voted by the New York Times as the "best TV station in the country." Ellis continued to attract attention and win awards for his interviews and work during key political campaigns as well.
Ellis had originally told management that he was renewing his contract with WCVB that year. At the last minute, however, he cut an under-the-table deal with Boston's re-launched Channel 7, WNEV-TV (now WHDH), to become a lead-anchor boost for that station's re-organized news department. WCVB staff saw this as a slap in the face after the four excellent years he'd brought them, due to his shady actions. Channel 5 needn't have worried; Nat and Chet, sans Tom Ellis, kept WCVB at the top of the Boston news wars for well over a decade to come.
On September 13, 1982, Ellis officially became the new leading newsman at the new WNEV-TV's NEWSE7EN. The news of Ellis coming aboard at SE7EN, along with his new co-anchor Robin Young (formerly of WBZ-TV's Evening Magazine), hailed them as the "Dream Team" that would finally make Channel 7 the dead last of the Boston network stations no longer. Billboard, radio and TV advertisements over the summer of 1982 tugged at viewers by depicting Tom & Robin as saints, both professionally and with family & the community. The promotional effort was not that much different than political campaigns that Ellis had covered so often in his career. Initial viewer curiosity from the "official" NEWSE7EN launch night rose ratings temporarily, but unfortunately, victory was not in the cards for WNEV. While Ellis was still at the zenith of his game, professional and smooth as ever, co-anchor Young, who had no prior hard news experience, was seemingly out of her league and in sharp contrast with her seasoned co-anchor. Young remained as lead anchor through late 1983 while other "dream team" hires were discharged. WNEV, not willing to give up on its mission, kept Ellis, believing that weak ratings for NEWSE7EN were not due to his performance. Tom's new co-anchor became Diane Willis, a more adept and experienced anchor who put a more solid and balanced image to the station's lead team. Despite other changes, such as new marketing campaigns, additional turnover in certain positions, and a name change to "The New England News," it eventually became obvious that the "dream team" concept had officially backfired.
In 1986, Ellis[4] and Willis were both let go by WNEV.
The late 1980s and early 1990s were a period of transition for Ellis. He returned to New York for a brief period to handle radio news anchoring work, but, rather by accident, stumbled onto a secondary career path when he was asked to appear as a spokesperson in an Anacin aspirin commercial. Tom's widely circulated Anacin ad let him dabble in acting again.
In the spring of 1989 Ellis took acting lessons at Brandeis University, and in New York where he studied voice, dialect, script analysis and advanced scene-study.[5]
On August 11–12, 1989 after four months of lessons, Ellis made his acting debut at New York's Actors Institute "Home Brew,".[5] Ellis would go on to play cameo roles in a number of different daytime soap operas and then break back into feature films. In 1991 alone, Ellis played an FBI Agent in the John Cusack/James Spader film True Colors, and the natural role of a newscaster in 29th Street, starring Danny Aiello.
Around the time of his latest movie exposure, Ellis began another return to hard news full time when he signed on to anchor/host NewsWorthy, a weekly news and analysis show produced in New York and seen nationally on Superstation WPIX.
On Sept. 8, 1992, Ellis returned to Boston TV as host of "Inside Edition Extra" on WHDH-TV (Ch. 7).[6]
By mid-1992 Ellis was back on the New England news scene as he arrived at New England Cable News (NECN), which had only launched a few months earlier.
For nearly the next decade, Ellis was featured on weeknight newscasts, where he instantly regained a following and gave birth to new trademarks, including his common wearing of southwestern cowboy hats on the air, due to his longtime hobby of collecting them. Eventually, Tom would be cited for sparking a trend that would come to define the regional news channel, as it rose in dominance: it's employing of the elder statesmen of Boston TV news, who had since moved on from the network affiliated broadcast stations where they had made their names. Following Ellis to NECN were Margie Reedy (formerly of WXBY and WHDH), R.D. Sahl (who was Reedy's partner at WHDH, who co-anchored with her yet again on NECN and the channel's produced 10pm newscast for WSBK), Maryanne Kane, and Chet Curtis, who joined in 2001 after a well-publicized divorce from Natalie Jacobson and departure from WCVB.
By 2000, Ellis had already repositioned himself to cover weekend evening news only.
In December 2008, Ellis left NECN.
Ellis has received numerous awards for his work, including the prestigious Emmy and Peabody awards. 1