OK – it’s not the Oscar for Best Picture, but this is the ground on which I compete. I was thrilled to, again, win the “Best of” readers’ poll from the New Haven Advocate in the “Local TV Personality” category.
Geoff Fox
WTNH-TV, 8 Elm St., New Haven, (203) 784-8888
It’s raining, it’s pouring, Geoff Fox is winning the “Best Of” award for
Local TV Personality again. And why not? He’s been “local” for two
decades. He’s on TV, and he’s so damned personable. Whenever he walks
into a room, people want to chat with him, and not just about the
weather. Maybe about his incessant poker-playing, or his wife’s
obsession with soap-rocker Rick Springfield, or the computer he built
himself, or how he looks like he’s lost weight (He has–15 pounds, with
the goal of dropping 10 more).
Most of the time, Fox is the one starting the conversations, and he’s
out and about constantly–at charity events, school programs or holiday
gatherings. “I’ve probably spoken individually to every schoolchild in
Connecticut,” he grins. And they constantly come up to him to remind him
of those fleeting, yet important, encounters. Amid all this, he still
finds time to report the weather on Channel 8 weekdays at 5, 6, 10 and
11 p.m. , which makes his nice-guy-ness all the more amazing. (He
doesn’t go to bed until 3 or 4 a.m.)
This month marks Fox’s 20th anniversary with Channel 8. Before that he
worked in Buffalo, N.Y. a market where it’s pretty easy to predict the
weather, at least in the winter: SNOW. Geoff Fox is a guy who just keeps
shining and is never partly cloudy.
2nd: Dr. Mel (WTNH-TV)
8 Elm St., New Haven, (203) 784-8888
3rd: Ann Nyberg (WTNH-TV)
8 Elm St., New Haven, (203) 784-8888
Before anyone who was passed over, in any category, gets bent out of shape, let me point out that Quinnipiac University beat out Yale University for “Best Local 4-Year College.”
Blogger’s note: I am now down about 23.5 pounds and hoping to lose another 5 or 6 by July.