Comments (0) Best News Anchor - 2008
Pat Haslam
We could also have called this one "Best News Anchor to Make Up for Previous Broadcasting Embarrassments." From 1990 to 1998, Haslam was Dr. Drive, the wacky morning weather-and-traffic reporter on the late, not-so-great Orange County NewsChannel. After that station's demise, he moved over to do the dreaded overnight traffic reporting on all-news radio station KNX 1070, where he got caught up in controversy in 2001. In between telling listeners how clogged the 405 was, Haslam shilled on-air for the crash-diet formula Body Solutions. In a Los Angeles Times story making the case that this potentially posed a conflict of interest, KNX played it off by saying station policy was that full-time news-anchorfolks could not endorse products, but that Haslam, then a per-diem worker, could. But a few months before the Federal Trade Commission sued Body Solutions maker Mark Nutritionals for hawking snake oil disguised as a diet supplement, Haslam's endorsements quietly went away. Fortunately, Haslam did not, as station management promoted him to news anchor, where he's done a solid job. The only pitches he makes now are for his senior-league baseball team, but don't step into the batter's box expecting to face a belly-itcher: Haslam pitched for the Cal State Fullerton Titans while working on his broadcast-journalism degree.
