Keith Olbermann

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Keith Olbermann

Keith Olbermann (born January 27, 1959 in New York City) is an American news anchor and radio sportscaster. He currently hosts Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, an hour-long nightly newscast that counts down the top news stories of the day. He can also be heard on The Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio weekdays at 2:00 PM EST.

Early career

Keith earned his Bachelor of Science degree in communications arts from Cornell University in 1979, and during that time served as sports director for WVBR, a student-run commercial radio station in Ithaca, New York.

Olbermann began his professional career at UPI and RKO Radio before joining the nascent CNN in 1981. In 1984, he briefly worked as a sports anchor at WCVB-TV in Boston, before heading to Los Angeles to work at KTLA and KCBS. His work there earned him eleven Golden Mike Awards, and he was named Best Sportscaster by the California Associated Press three times.

Olbermann at ESPN

In 1992, he joined ESPN’s SportsCenter, a position he would hold until 1997. His edition of SportsCenter was often hosted together with Dan Patrick, and the two became known as one of the popular SportsCenter anchor teams. Olbermann quickly became known for his wit, reporting style, and catch phrases, as well as his tight chemistry with co-anchor Patrick. In 1995, Olbermann won a Cable ACE award for Best Sportscaster while co-anchoring the “big show” as he called it (often referencing the Sunday night SportsCenter). Olbermann would later co-author a book with Patrick called The Big Show about their experiences working at SportsCenter.

New Ventures

While at ESPN, Olbermann was instrumental in helping to launch ESPN Radio and ESPN2, most notably opening the first program on the latter network—designed at its outset to be the younger, hipper ESPN—by stating, “Welcome to the end of our careers.”

Leaving ESPN

However, he became increasingly unhappy commuting to ESPN’s studios in Bristol, Connecticut, due to the area’s remote location and lack of an active social scene. Those issues, coupled with whispers that he could be difficult to work or get along with contributed to his departure from ESPN in 1997.

Opinions

Olbermann is a dedicated baseball fan and historian of the sport, with membership in the Society for American Baseball Research. He has argued, for example, that New York Giants baseball player Fred Merkle should not be denied inclusion into the Baseball Hall of Fame simply because of a single baserunning mistake. Olbermann also took documentarian Ken Burns to task about the accuracy of Burns’ television series Baseball, pointing out dozens of factual and anachronistic errors in Burns’ documentary. In high school, Olbermann compiled an extensive list of first and third base coaches in baseball history. This documentation now sits in the Hall of Fame, and is considered the definitive such compendium.

After SportsCenter

In 1997, Olbermann left ESPN to host his own primetime show on MSNBC, named The Big Show. The news variety program covered three or four different topics in a one-hour broadcast. Olbermann also occasionally hosted the weekend edition of NBC Nightly News, and he was the co-pre-game host (along with Hannah Storm) of NBC Sports’ coverage of the 1997 World Series.

When the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke in 1998, he began hosting another news program, White House in Crisis. Olbermann says he became frustrated when the Lewinsky story constantly consumed his regular show. He left MSNBC after 17 months to return to sportscasting, although he has said that even if Lewinsky never happened, he still would have left to return to sports.

In 1998, Olbermann became an anchor and executive producer for The Keith Olbermann Evening News, a nightly sportscast similar to SportsCenter, which aired nightly on cable’s Fox Sports Net. While at Fox, Olbermann was again a host of the World Series and also Fox Broadcasting’s baseball Game of the Week.

Return to reporting

Olbermann left Fox Sports in 2001 for “other opportunities” and kept a relatively low profile. He worked for a time as a regular contributor on CNN and provided twice-daily sports commentary on the ABC Radio Network. The attacks of September 11, 2001 provided the impetus for Olbermann to return to full-fledged news reporting. He won an Edward R. Murrow Award for reporting from the site of the attacks for 40 days on ABC Radio.

Olbermann was rehired by MSNBC in early 2003 as a substitute host on Nachman and as an anchor for MSNBC’s coverage of the war in Iraq. His own show, Countdown, debuted shortly thereafter on March 31, 2003 in the 8:00 p.m. ET time slot previously held by programs hosted by Phil Donahue and, briefly, Lester Holt. On October 13, 2004, Olbermann launched Bloggermann, his Countdown weblog, hosted on MSNBC.com. Olbermann leverages the open format of the blog to expound on facts or ideas alluded to in the broadcast, to offer personal musings and reactions, and to break news at odd hours. As such, he has distinguished himself by making inroads into the blogosphere and bridging the gap between the “mainstream media” and the “new media.” Olbermann and Chris Matthews’ Hardball, also on MSNBC, tied for 1st place on MSNBC (and 21st place in all of cable news) in February 2006 with 400,000 viewers each for the month, according to Nielsen Media Research. CNN and FOX News Channel’s top programs for the month were Larry King Live with 901,000 viewers and The O’Reilly Factor with over 2.2 million viewers.

In June of 2005, Olbermann returned to ESPN Radio every Friday, co-hosting with his friend and former colleague Dan Patrick’s three-hour weekday program.

On November 28, 2005, Olbermann’s co-hosting duties expanded to Weekdays, 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET.

Feud with Bill O’Reilly

Olbermann has sought to increase his ratings by manufacturing a feud with the host of the #1 rated program on the cable news network, Bill O'Reilly. In February 2006, After months of on-air personal attacks by Olbermann, O'Reilly started a petition to MSNBC calling for the show to be cancelled and replaced by Phil Donahue, who had previously occupied MSNBC'S 8:00 PM EST time slot. A one sided feud exists between Olbermann and his direct competitor on the Fox News Channel, Bill O’Reilly. Olbermann has named O’Reilly his “Worst Person in the World” eighty times and counting. O’Reilly has openly petitioned for the ouster of Olbermann from MSNBC and the return of Phil Donahue to Olbermann’s time slot. The feud stems from Olbermann's public happiness and joy during Bill O'Reilly's harrassment suit where he jokingly kept track of money his viewers pledged to buy the tapes from O'Reilly's accuser. Olbermann ran a "Save the Tapes" campaign complete with parades and fanfare in an attempt to embarrass O'Reilly. Since then, Olbermann makes various references to the law suit and its details in most of his comments on O'Reilly.

In March 2006, Bill O’Reilly dropped a caller from his live radio show, seemingly for mentioning Olbermann's name. O'Reilly accused the caller of being part of a larger group of individuals who has been calling O'Reilly with the sole purpose of mentioning Olbermann. The customary seven-second delay for live radio feeds prevents us from knowing precisely what the caller said, other than, "I like to listen to you during the day. I think Keith Olbermann--." O'Reilly responded to "Mike" as follows:

"We have your own phone number and we're going to turn it over to Fox security and you'll be getting a little visit. [...] When you call us, ladies and gentlemen, just so you know, we do have your phone number, and if you say anything untoward, obscene or anything like that, FOX security will contact your local authorities and you will be held accountable. Fair?"

(In fact, it is Westwood One who broadcasts O'Reilly's radio show and not FOX).

On a subsequent Countdown, Keith had "Mike" on as a guest to discuss the incident. Mike denied that he had said anything obscene before O'Reilly cut him off. He did state that he was part of group of individuals from the web site Calling All Wingnuts who had decided to call into the O'Reilly show to voice their disagreement. He mentioned that a woman from that group was upset by a call from the same "Fox News Security" man. (See the MSNBC video clip of Countdown from March 9 and the Rocky Mountain News article.)

Accusations of Bias

Olbermann starts off many editions of his program with news from the White House. He also was the only television host to openly question the validity of the 2004 Presidential elections in contested states where Bush won like Ohio and Florida. Olbermann closes each program by reminding viewers exactly how many days its been since the President's declaration of "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq, during a Presidential speech in 2003 on an aircraft carrier.

Olbermann frequently reports on scandals concerning conservatives like Presidential advisor Karl Rove, Vice Presidential advisor Lewis Libby, and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay but showed open disdain at MSNBC's constant coverage of President Bill Clinton's impeachment for perjury which led to his leaving MSNBC initially in 1998. see [1] However, he usually only reports on these stories when there are, or have recently been, developments. Olbermann's main complaint with the coverage of the Clinton impeachment was the endless coverage, which would usually encompass the entire hour on his old MSNBC program "The Big Show".

Smoking

On Monday, August 8, 2005, the day following Peter Jennings’s death from lung cancer, Olbermann revealed on-air that he had a benign fibrous tumor removed from his palate just ten days earlier. In an explicit and controversial monologue, he attributed his tumor (and the resulting fear and pain) directly to his 27-year habit of smoking pipes and cigars. He vigorously urged his viewers not to wait until they see symptoms to quit. “Do whatever you have to do to stop smoking—now. While it’s easier.”

This marked the beginning of “I Quit,” a recurring segment on Countdown which offers anti-smoking tips and encouragement. On August 16, 2005, Olbermann’s colleague at NBC Mike Taibbi joined him for “I Quit” to discuss kicking the habit.

See: “Flush the Butts” Bloggerman Entry from August 8, 2005.

Trivia

• Has named American comedy team Bob and Ray as his greatest professional influences, and had the opportunity, at age 15, to see them working in the studio (Source: C-SPAN interview with Brian Lamb, 3/06.)
• Possesses six lumbar vertebrae instead of the usual five.
• Wears a size 14 shoe.
• Damaged depth perception in 1980 by rushing to catch a subway car at New York City’s Shea Stadium and slamming his head into the top of the door frame. (See C-SPAN'S Q&A: Keith Olbermann interview from March 12, 2006.)
• Has Coeliac disease (gluten intolerance).
• Was raised Unitarian.
• Is related to boxer Mike Tyson by marriage. (Olbermann’s father’s brother married the niece of Tyson’s adoptive father Cus D’Amato, making Olbermann and Tyson first step-cousins in-law once removed.) He sometimes refers to this fact on Countdown.
• Considers media personality Bill O’Reilly to be his nemesis, taking joy in poking fun at him and referring to him with nicknames such as “The Big Giant Head” (apparently a reference to the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun) and “Ted Baxter” (after Ted Knight’s pompous character on The Mary Tyler Moore Show). O’Reilly usually responds by stating, “No one watches MSNBC.”
• New York Yankees second baseman Chuck Knoblauch accidentally hit Olbermann’s mother in the head during a botched play at Yankee Stadium in 1998. Bill Scheft of ESPN the Magazine commented, “I think I speak for the whole ESPN family and sports fans everywhere when I say, ‘Wrong Olbermann.’” Olbermann, an employee of competing cable network Fox Sports Net at the time, blasted Scheft on his radio show the next day, calling him “swine.”
• Is a well known vintage baseball card collector of T-206 tobacco cards.
• Appeared in a cameo as himself in an episode of NBC’s Surface.
• Appeared in a series of television commercials for the Boston Market restaurant chain in 1997, in which he tells a bunch of Calvin Klein-type models - contemplating empty, burning sensations inside - to "Eat something."

External links

• MSNBC—Countdown with Keith Olbermann Front Page
• Bloggermann, the Countdown blog
• Olbermann.org, an Unofficial Keith Olbermann Fan Site - articles by and about KO, photo gallery, audio/video links, transcript links by date or guest
• Olbermann Watch

Articles and interviews

• " March 9, 2006 Olbermann interview with O'Reilly caller Mike Stark"
• "Many ready to spar with Bill O'Reilly," USA Today, January 8, 2006 Addresses the rivalry between Olbermann and O'Reilly
• "Keith Olbermann: Truth Teller," Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone, December 15, 2005 Pro-Olbermann article
• "Despite scorched bridges, Olbermann rejoins ESPN," Michael Hiestand, USA Today, June 13, 2005
• "Keith Olbermann, Tale of a Partisan Hack," Andrew Bernie, The Cornell Review, December 17, 2004 Conservative article accusing Olbermann of bias
• "On Air and Online, Olbermann Draws Attention to Voting Problems," Mark Glaser, Online Journalism Review, November 30, 2004
• "'Playgirl' picks Olbermann as its newscaster pinup boy," USA Today, September 13, 2004
• "Olbermann's Re-Countdown," Joe Hagan, New York Observer, November 29, 2004
• "Three, Two, One, Olbermann," Washington Post Media Notes, July 28, 2003
• "Keith Olbermann: The PBJ Interview," Bob Sassone, Professor Barnhardt's Journal, April 22, 2003
• "So what do you do, Keith Olbermann?" Jesse Oxfeld, mediabistro.com, April 15, 2003
• "ESPN: Mea Culpa," Salon.com, November 17, 2002
• Olbermann's Convocation Speech at Cornell University. May 23, 1998