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Brian Jay Sussman (born April 3, 1956) is an American conservative
talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...
host and former
meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...
in the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
who was most recently at San Francisco radio station
KSFO KSFO (560 AM) is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a talk radio format. The station's studios and offices are on Battery Street in the SoMa district of San Francisco, along with fiv ...
. After graduating from the
University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...
, Sussman began his professional career as an anchor for KCBJ in
Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...
in 1978. Sussman became a weather and feature reporter for
KOLO-TV KOLO-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Reno, Nevada, United States, affiliated with ABC and The CW Plus. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Incline Village–licensed low-power Telemundo affiliate KXNV-LD (channel 26). The two stat ...
in
Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
in 1980. After stints at
KNTV KNTV (channel 11), branded as NBC Bay Area, is a television station licensed to San Jose, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's NBC network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Sta ...
in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
and
KDKA-TV KDKA-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Jeannette-licensed CW affil ...
in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, Sussman was the chief meteorologist for
KPIX KPIX-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's CBS network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside ...
in San Francisco from 1989 to 2000. Sussman won numerous awards while with KDKA and KPIX. After leaving KPIX, Sussman switched to conservative talk radio. From 2003 to 2010, Sussman hosted an evening talk show on
KSFO KSFO (560 AM) is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a talk radio format. The station's studios and offices are on Battery Street in the SoMa district of San Francisco, along with fiv ...
before moving to the station's morning drive show, where he would host from 2010 to 2019. In addition, Sussman has written two books critical of the scientific consensus on climate change.


Personal background

Sussman was born in 1956 in
East Los Angeles, California East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010 United States Cen ...
. Raised in
Golden, Colorado Golden is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 20,399 at the 2020 United States Censu ...
and
Northbrook, Illinois Northbrook is a suburb of Chicago, located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, United States, on the border of Lake County, Illinois, Lake County. Per the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 35,222. When incorpo ...
, he graduated from Glenbrook High School in 1974. Sussman graduated from the
University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...
in 1978 with a
B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
in radio, television, and film. Sussman grew up in a Jewish family and converted to Christianity while in college. He married Sue Rittenhouse in 1978. They have four children, three of whom were adopted.


Television career

Sussman began his television career in 1977 as an anchor for Columbia, Missouri television station KCBJ. In 1980, Sussman joined
KOLO-TV KOLO-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Reno, Nevada, United States, affiliated with ABC and The CW Plus. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Incline Village–licensed low-power Telemundo affiliate KXNV-LD (channel 26). The two stat ...
of
Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
as a weather and feature reporter. Sussman had an exclusive interview with the Reverend
Billy Graham William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...
when Graham visited Reno for his 270th crusade in 1980. In 1983, Sussman became weather reporter with
KNTV KNTV (channel 11), branded as NBC Bay Area, is a television station licensed to San Jose, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's NBC network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Sta ...
of
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
. While working for KNTV, Sussman attended graduate meteorology courses at
San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...
. Sussman was part of an evening newscast at KNTV that won a local
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for best newscast in 1985. In 1987, Sussman moved to
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
to join
KDKA-TV KDKA-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Jeannette-licensed CW affil ...
, then a Group W station, as a meteorologist. While at KDKA, Sussman volunteered at local schools to teach children meteorological concepts, on behalf of nonprofit organisation For Spacious Skies. Sussman also won the
Radio-Television News Directors Association The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA, pronounced the same as " rotunda"), formerly the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), is a United States-based membership organization of radio, television, and online news dire ...
(RTNDA) award for best local weathercast in 1987. From 1988 to 1993, Sussman was under contract to be substitute weather anchor for ''
CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...
''. Sussman was the evening news
meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...
with Group W's San Francisco TV station
KPIX KPIX-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's CBS network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside ...
from 1989 to 2000, where he won RTNDA best local weathercast awards from 1990 to 1995 and 1997 to 1999. At KPIX, Sussman also hosted a weekly five-minute segment called "Brian's Kids" that profiled foster children. "Brian's Kids" led to the adoption of nearly 400 children, including one by Sussman. Expressing a desire to spend more time with his family, Sussman left KPIX on December 22, 2000, shortly after the retirement of longtime anchor and local personality
Dave McElhatton David William McElhatton (December 8, 1928 – August 23, 2010) was an evening news anchor for several decades in San Francisco, California, in the United States. He was in the first class of inductees to the Bay Area Hall of Fame. He retired ...
; Sussman joined
Heidrick & Struggles Heidrick & Struggles International Incorporated is an international executive search firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The firm also has a consulting practice focused on leadership and shaping corporate culture. History H ...
as a recruiter in January 2001.


Radio and podcasting career

While attending the University of Missouri, Sussman hosted a jazz music show on the university's student radio station
KCOU KCOU (88.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting the College radio format. Licensed to Columbia, Missouri, United States, the station is currently owned by the Missouri Students Association at the University of Missouri. History Originally know ...
. During his senior year at Missouri in 1977–78, Sussman hosted an overnight Sunday talk show on local radio station
KFRU KFRU (1400 AM) is a radio station located in Columbia, Missouri. Its programming format consists primarily of news and talk. The station is licensed to Cumulus Media. The station is also audible on translator K255DJ 98.9 FM in Columbia. History ...
. Sussman began his radio career as a guest host on San Francisco Christian radio station
KFAX KFAX (1100 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to San Francisco, California, and heard around the Bay Area. , the station is owned by Salem Media Group and programs a Christian radio teaching and talk format. The studios and offices are i ...
on
September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
, after the regular host was unable to work due to a delayed flight.http://www.theclimategatebook.com/author-brian-sussman/ After working as a guest host on San Francisco conservative talk station
KSFO KSFO (560 AM) is a commercial radio station in San Francisco, California. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a talk radio format. The station's studios and offices are on Battery Street in the SoMa district of San Francisco, along with fiv ...
in 2002, Sussman began hosting an early evening talk show on KSFO in 2003. In 2006, citing
copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
law, KSFO sent
cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not dis ...
letters to a blogger with the online name "Spocko" who posted audio clips of Sussman and other KSFO hosts online to convince advertisers to withdraw from KSFO. Spocko's blog was taken offline, and KSFO lost advertising from
Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...
and MasterCard. In 2009, Spocko again caused advertisers to withdraw from KSFO after posting audio of Sussman telling a gay caller: "your particular kind can't reproduce."
Beach Blanket Babylon ''Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon'' was the world's longest-running musical revue. The show began its run in 1974, at the Savoy Tivoli and later moved to the larger Club Fugazi in the North Beach district of San Francisco. The show was cr ...
and the
Lifetime Lifetime may refer to: * Life expectancy, the length of time a person is expected to remain alive Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Lifetime (band), a rock band from New Jersey * ''Life Time'' (Rollins Band album), by Rollins Band * ...
television network pulled their ads from the station. Following the retirement of Lee Rodgers, Sussman moved from evenings to morning drive full-time on KSFO on February 19, 2010; Sussman previously hosted the morning show on Mondays. ''
SF Weekly ''SF Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper has won national journalism awards, ...
'' criticized Sussman in April 2011 for promoting
Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories During Barack Obama's campaign for president in 2008, throughout his presidency and afterwards, there was extensive news coverage of Obama's religious preference, birthplace, and of the individuals questioning his religious belief and citi ...
despite the release of Obama's long-form birth certificate, which Sussman called "doctored." In 2018, Sussman won the Don Sherwood Award from the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame for being the Bay Area's most popular radio personality of the year. Beginning in 2018, Sussman launched two
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
s on his website: ''Hidden Headlines'', which discusses news and culture with a promotion of "faith, family and freedom," and ''Another Chance'', where Sussman interviews people who "have personally experienced a divine reboot." Due to a contract dispute
Sussman officially parted ways
with KSFO in January 2020. In addition to his KSFO show, Sussman has been a guest host on ''
The Savage Nation ''The Savage Nation'' (also called ''The Michael Savage Show'') was an American conservative talk radio show hosted by Michael Savage. The program was heard by approximately 11 million listeners a week, which made it the 7th most listened to radi ...
'' and ''
The Mark Levin Show ''The Mark Levin Show'' is a conservative talk radio show hosted by Mark Levin. The program is broadcast nationwide on Westwood One and reaches an estimated seven million weekly listeners, according to an estimate from ''Talkers Magazine''. The ' ...
''.


Writing career

Sussman maintains a blog on his website. He has also written opinion articles for ''
WorldNetDaily ''WND'' (formerly ''WorldNetDaily'') is an American far-right fake news website. It is known for promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories, including the false claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. T ...
'' and '' The American Thinker''. ''Climategate: A Veteran Meteorologist Exposes the Global Warming Scam'', which was published on
Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 b ...
, April 22, 2010. The book's title draws on Climategate, a nickname for the
Climatic Research Unit email controversy The Climatic Research Unit email controversy (also known as "Climategate") began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) by an external attacker, copying thousa ...
in which scientists were accused of manipulating data about climate science. In the book, Sussman argues that
climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
is independent of human activities, contrary to the
scientific consensus Scientific consensus is the generally held judgment, position, and opinion of the majority or the supermajority of scientists in a particular field of study at any particular time. Consensus is achieved through scholarly communication at confe ...
. Additionally, Sussman ties climate science to a
Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
redistribution of wealth Redistribution of income and wealth is the transfer of income and wealth (including physical property) from some individuals to others through a social mechanism such as taxation, welfare, public services, land reform, monetary policies, confisc ...
to
Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...
countries. He also opposes
cap and trade Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for reducing the emissions of pollutants. The concept is also known as cap and trade (CAT) or emissions trading scheme (ETS). Carbon emission t ...
. He has also written ''Eco-Tyranny: How the Left's Green Agenda will Dismantle America'', published by right-wing deprecated publisher WND Books in 2012. Among claims in this book was that the
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...
(BLM) under Obama planned on seizing land from private citizens, based on an internal BLM memo that sought ways to merge federal lands.


Bibliography

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References


External links


Official Website of Brian Sussman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sussman, Brian American talk radio hosts American political commentators Radio personalities from San Francisco Television anchors from San Francisco 1956 births Living people People from San Carlos, California People from Santa Clara County, California People from East Los Angeles, California People from Northbrook, Illinois University of Missouri alumni San Jose State University alumni Television personalities from Pittsburgh Radio personalities from Missouri People from Reno, Nevada