Michele Marsh (reporter)

Michele Marsh (born March 9, 1954) is a former New York local television news anchorwoman.

The daughter of a man in the U.S. military, Marsh was born in a suburb of Detroit.[1] One place that she grew up in was Philadelphia.[2] She graduated from Northwestern University, where she majored in what has been described as radio and television production[2] or theater.[3]

By 1976, Marsh had started as a reporter/anchor at WABI-TV, Channel 5 in Bangor, Maine.[2] She reported in the field and anchored the 11 p.m. Monday-Friday newscasts, and the 6 p.m. Saturday newscast. She did much of the news gathering herself[2] and ran the teleprompter with her toe during broadcasts.[3] Tall, with brown hair, Marsh was one of only three women appearing on-camera in television news in Maine.[2] She then moved to San Antonio, Texas, where she worked at KSAT-TV Channel 12[4] for no more than six months.[3] In October 1978, she served as parade marshal for the Western Days Celebration in Yorktown, Texas.[5]

From there, Marsh made the leap to New York City,[4] where she began working at WCBS-TV in August 1979[4] as a reporter and then as co-anchor of the Saturday 11 p.m. edition of Channel 2 News. Within three months, Marsh was promoted to co-anchor of the 11 o'clock report alongside Rolland Smith in October 1979.[4] Marsh was part of a wave of anchorwomen in New York local news, along with Sue Simmons, Rose Ann Scamardella, Judy Licht, and Pat Harper.[1] Still only 25 years old, Marsh was the youngest of these, and was sometimes called "the baby of the newsroom" at her station.[1] Newsday television critic Marvin Kitman later wrote that "Rarely had a women in broadcasting come so far, so fast, with so little."[3]

In January 1981, Marsh was demoted from her anchor position to make way for the recently rehired Dave Marash, causing her to appear distressed on air.[3][6] But after regaining this position in January 1982,[3] Marsh stayed as co-anchor of the 11 p.m. newscast until 1993 and worked alongside Smith, Mike Schneider, and Ernie Anastos; she was also anchor of both of the station's early evening newscasts for several years with Jim Jensen, Anastos, and John Johnson. Marsh was known for a sultry, steamy voice that affected many male viewers and for a self-possessed manner.[3][7] A colleague wrote that in reality, Marsh was "wholesome, small-townish, and preoccupied with her search for romance."[7] No longer interested in actual reporting of news, Marsh was skilled at handling the vagaries of a live broadcast,[7] and critic Kitman did allow that she was "a very good newsreader".[3]

In June 1995, Marsh returned to anchoring the 11 p.m. newscast with Johnson, replacing Dana Tyler. Her salary by this time was close to $1 million per year.[8]

Marsh was one of several personalities abruptly fired by WCBS in October 1996 due to low ratings.[8][9] Along with John Johnson, she was quickly hired by WNBC-TV Channel 4 to anchor a new midday newscast for the station,[10] but after one year Marsh was moved to calling WNBC's 6 p.m. newscast after Johnson abruptly retired due to family issues. In August 2003, WNBC removed Marsh from her anchor chair, sparking a front-page story in the New York Daily News.[9] The station discussed possible alternate positions, but came to no agreement with her.[9] She left the station and has not appeared on television since.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Klemesrud, Judy (January 22, 1980). "Anchorwomen: Late Break in Local News". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Willette, Jan (December 18–19, 1976). "Michele Marsh gains fans as she goes". Bangor Daily News. p. 3.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Kitman, Marvin (2008). The Man Who Would Not Shut Up: The Rise of Bill O'Reilly. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. pp. 96–97. ISBN 0-312-38586-2.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Michele Marsh to Co-Anchor". The New York Times. October 9, 1979.
  5. ↑ "Yorktown Celebration Underway". The Victoria Advocate. October 20, 1978. p. 2D.
  6. ↑ "Anchor Switch Jerks Tears". New York. February 2, 1981. p. 10.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Schwartz, Tony (May 21, 1984). "The Natural". New York. pp. 76–91.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Mifflin, Lawrie (October 4, 1996). "At WCBS, Ratings Were Bottom Line". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Huff, Richard (August 30, 2003). "Anchor's Away At WNBC News". New York Daily News.
  10. ↑ "2 Ex-WCBS Anchors Are Hired by WNBC". The New York Times. October 10, 1996.