A. J. Hammer (born Andrew Goldberg on October 31, 1966)
is a television and radio personality who most recently hosted the HLN channel's former evening entertainment show, ''

Showbiz Tonight ''Showbiz Tonight'' is a defunct American entertainment news program that aired from February 20, 2005, until February 6, 2014, on HLN. ''Showbiz Tonight'' was hosted by A. J. Hammer at CNN New York at the time of its cancellation. The show re ...

''.

Biography

From 2001 to 2005, Hammer hosted

Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cove ...

's '' Hollywood Heat'', a program focusing on crime and justice in the entertainment business. He also hosted several programs on

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Sirius ...

. Hammer also was a correspondent for several programs including: the daily morning program ''Good Day New York'', the entertainment news program ''Extra'' and E! channel's ''News Live''. During most of the 1990s, he was a host of

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

's ''Top 10 Countdown''. Hammer is a 1984 graduate of White Plains High School,

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...

. He graduated with a degree in philosophy from the

University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. The university attracts students from 48 states and 43 countries. The university and it ...

in 1988. He was involved with the

Alpha Epsilon Pi Alpha Epsilon Pi (), commonly known as AEPi, is a college fraternity founded at New York University in 1913 by Charles C. Moskowitz and ten other men. The fraternity has more than 150 active chapters across the United States, Canada, United Kingdo ...

fraternity. Hammer began his broadcasting career at the age of 15, at

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...

radio in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. While in college he worked at

WTIC-FM WTIC-FM (96.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Hartford, Connecticut. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and broadcasts a hot adult contemporary radio format. The station's studios and offices are located on Executive Drive in Farmington. WTIC-F ...

(

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

). He later worked for

WPLJ WPLJ (95.5 FM) is a non-commercial Christian adult contemporary music radio station licensed to New York City. It is owned by the Educational Media Foundation (EMF) and broadcasts EMF's flagship programming service, K-Love. WPLJ's transmitte ...

radio and Z-100 (

WHTZ WHTZ (100.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is a commercial contemporary hit radio, top 40/CHR station city of license, licensed to Newark, New Jersey and broadcasting to the New York metropolitan area. Owned by iHeartMedia, WHTZ is the Flagship (broadcasti ...

) radio, both in

. Hammer appears as a model in the book ''Heartthrob: A Hundred Years of Beautiful Men'' (in which he is described as possessing "almost-too-good-looking-for-words attractiveness") and the October 1999 issue of ''Gym'' magazine. He also appears in ''The Mane Thing'', a book by stylist Kevin Mancuso. Hammer also was the spokesperson for

Milton Bradley Milton Bradley (November 8, 1836 – May 30, 1911) was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased by Hasbro in 1984, and ...

's promotional tour of the

Planet Hollywood Planet Hollywood International Inc. (stylized as planet Hollywood, planet Hollywood observatory and ph) is a themed restaurant chain inspired by the popular portrayal of Hollywood. The company is owned by Earl Enterprises corporation. Earl En ...

board game. Hammer was also a model in the

Debbie Gibson Deborah Ann Gibson (born August 31, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Gibson released her debut album '' Out of the Blue'' in 1987, which spawned several international hits, later being certified triple plati ...

's " What You Want" music video (2001) which involved a bathtub scene. The two were wearing clothes and the tub was filled with cold water 1/4 of the way up (no hot water available) and bubbles to the top.

References

External links

Official website
at CNN.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Hammer, A.J. 1966 births Jewish American journalists American television personalities American male journalists 21st-century American journalists University of Hartford alumni Living people People from White Plains, New York CNN people 21st-century American Jews