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O'Reilly in today's Trib

My interview with Bill O'Reilly appears in today's Tribune. In case you have no idea who Bill is, here is his most recent bio, provided by his publicist. Us Scranton boys have to stick together. Sometimes:

For more than 100 consecutive months, The O’Reilly Factor on The FOX News Channel has been the highest rated of any cable news show. No program even comes close.  According to Nielsen Media Research, The O’Reilly Factor averaged 3,389,000 viewers for the month of October.

It is presided over by Bill O’Reilly, the man who smiles when he calls himself, “Your humble correspondent.” O’Reilly probably is the most controversial, most frequently discussed TV analyst today.

The Factor, as most people call it, remains an unequaled blend of news analysis and hard hitting investigative reporting dropped into what Bill reminds us nightly is “The No Spin Zone.”

In light of his accomplishments and his high profile, it is particularly apt that his latest book is a deeply personal and revealing memoir. O’Reilly explains the title came about when he remembered how one of his first teachers looked at him in class and said, “William, you are a bold fresh piece of humanity.”

And so that’s what he named it. Because “a bold fresh piece of humanity,” is what he truly is. Not surprising at all to Bill’s millions of viewers, listeners, and readers. Or to his often agitated critics.

The memoir comes on the heels of Bill’s four previous non-fiction works, all of which vaulted to # 1 on the New York Times list of best sellers. In addition, The O’Reilly Factor For Kids outsold all other children’s non-fiction during its run, and the paperback version of Culture Warriors hit the top 10 in its first week of release.

Bill was certainly fresh, and already bold, when he started his broadcasting career in Scranton, Pennsylvania before moving on to report and anchor in other places such as Dallas, Boston and New York. His national exposure began with CBS and ABC News, and as host of the first version of Inside Edition. It was in 1996 that O’Reilly landed at FOX News.  Along the way, as Bill gained his considerable following, he has also accumulated more than his share of journalism awards, including 3 Emmys, the latest being the special 2008 Governor’s Award in his old Boston stomping ground.

O'Reilly was born in Manhattan but raised on Long Island. His Bachelor's degree is in History from Marist College, and he has a Master's in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University and another Master's Degree in Public Administration from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

And what does Bill do in his spare time?  Well first, before he can come up with an answer to that, he has to have some spare time.

Here is a portion of my interview that didn't make it into the print edition. I talked to him about starting out in Scranton, where I too started. He said:

My career has always been geared toward finding information that regular people can use. Scranton is a perfect place to do that ... I was there as a consumer reporter. I did pretty much anything there. I learned that you got to make it personal. The story's got to have the ingredients where people are going to get emotionally involved and get to pay attention. The day of 'Just the Facts, Ma'am' just doesn't work anymore. I honed my skill there. But Scranton was a good place to start.

This entry was posted on November 8th, 2009 at 12:12:23 am and is filed under Uncategorized.