Isiah Carey (born October 17, 1970) is an American television

broadcast journalist Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

and reporter who has worked for television and radio stations throughout the southeast portion of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Early life and education

Carey was born in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...

and attended McKinley Senior High School. After graduating from high school, Carey entered the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

to study mass communications. In 1989, he enrolled at

Southern University Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is the largest historically black college or university (HBCU) in Louisiana, a ...

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...

and before graduation he worked as one of the city's youngest radio news anchor and reporters for

WXOK WXOK (1460 AM, "Heaven 1460 and 95.7") is a Black gospel formatted radio station licensed to Port Allen, Louisiana (where the transmitter is located). The Cumulus Media station broadcasts with a transmitter power of 4,700 watts day and 290 wat ...

radio in Baton Rouge.

Career

By 1990, he was also news director and anchor at

KQXL-FM KQXL-FM (106.5 FM, "Q106.5") is an urban adult contemporary music formatted radio station serving the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, area. The Cumulus Media station operates with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 50 kW and is licensed to New Roa ...

and WYCT-FM. That same year, Isiah got his first break in TV as a reporter and weekend public affairs talk show host at

WVLA-TV WVLA-TV (channel 33) is a television station in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by White Knight Broadcasting, which maintains joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Nexstar Media Group, ...

(NBC) (Baton Rouge). In 1991, he joined

WAFB WAFB (channel 9) is a television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio ...

(Baton Rouge) where he remained for four years as a fill in co-host of a morning news program and general assignment reporter. Carey has worked at

KARK-TV KARK-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KARZ-TV (channel 42); Nexstar also provides certain services to Fox affil ...

, channel 4

Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...

and at television stations in Memphis, Tennessee and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

(

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

). Carey currently works as a reporter for KRIV, channel 26, in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. Throughout his broadcasting career, Isiah has won several awards, including an Emmy for live reporting while working in Little Rock after a plane crash in 1999 and an award from the Society of Professional Journalists in Memphis for investigative reporting in 2000.

Honors and awards

After a report on the city's homeless population, Houston Mayor, Bill White, declared June 23, 2009, "Isiah Carey Day" in Houston. Isiah received an Emmy award in 1999 for live reporting in

. While an investigative reporter at

WHBQ-TV WHBQ-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network and owned by INSP (TV network), Imagicomm Communications. The station's studios are located on South High ...

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, Carey was the winner of two awards by the

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...

in 2000. Carey was also honored in 2008 by the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

for his efforts in getting a Houston man cleared in the shooting of a pitbull that attacked his family. That man, Wady Spikes, was charged and jailed for animal cruelty. But after Isiah did an investigative report showing Spikes was protecting his grandchildren from the dogs a Harris County grand jury decided to clear the Houstonian of the charges.

Outtake

As a general assignment reporter in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, Carey often reported from remote and rural locations throughout the state. Reporting on the death of an adult chaperone at a football game at Augusta High School in 1996, Carey did several "stand-ups" to use in his story. During one of these stand-ups, a grasshopper flew into his mouth. Carey lost his composure and launched into a profanity-filled tirade about his

hay fever Allergic rhinitis, of which the seasonal type is called hay fever, is a type of inflammation in the nose that occurs when the immune system overreacts to allergens in the air. Signs and symptoms include a runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, red, i ...

, in a high-pitched

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

accent that contrasted with the deep voice and affirmative tone he normally uses on camera. Although the bad take was never broadcast by the station, it was uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

in 2008 and became an

internet phenomenon An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

. The video was played on ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, California, as part of ABC's lead ...

'', ''ET'' and was featured on ''

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...

''. It is also listed as one of the top viewed videos in any one day in Germany, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, India, New Zealand, Mexico and France. In February 2009, the video was uploaded on Facebook and continues to receive thousands of hits a day, and two Carey Fanclubs have been established. The outtake was also parodied in the season two, episode 16 of ''

The Cleveland Show ''The Cleveland Show'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, and Mike Henry for the Fox Broadcasting Company. A spin-off of ''Family Guy'', the series centers on Cleveland Brown, his new wife Donna Tubbs, a ...

'', "The Way the Cookie Crumbles". In 2011, Carey was the subject of a "Web Redemption" on ''

Tosh.0 ''Tosh.0'' ( ) is an American television series that aired on Comedy Central from June 4, 2009, to November 24, 2020. The series is hosted and produced by comedian Daniel Tosh, who provides satirical commentary on online viral video clips, inter ...

''. An excerpt of the outtake was used in

Michael Cera Michael Austin Cera (; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor and musician. He started his career as a child actor, voicing the character of Brother Bear on the children's television show ''The Berenstain Bears (2003 TV series), The Berenstain ...

's 2014 album ''

True That ''True That'' is the debut album by Canadian actor and musician Michael Cera. It was self-released on 8 August 2014, via Bandcamp, and recorded and mixed by Cera. Reception The album has garnered positive reviews from music critics, with many co ...

'' in the beginning seconds of the song "Moving In".

Personal life

Arrest

Carey was arrested in October 2018 for driving while intoxicated in

Montgomery County, Texas Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county had a population of 620,443. The county seat is Conroe. The county was created by an act of the Congress of the Republic of Texas on December 14, 1 ...

. The ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

'' reported that his vehicle was swerving on the road, and authorities saw numerous indicators that Carey was intoxicated after performing a traffic stop."Fox 26 News anchor Isiah Carey arrested on DWI charge"
''Houston Chronicle'', October 10, 2018 Carey later apologized for the incident in social media posts.

References

External links

Isiah Carey's 'Insite'IsiahCarey.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carey, Isiah 1970 births Living people McKinley Senior High School alumni People from Baton Rouge, Louisiana American television reporters and correspondents American radio news anchors University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumni Southern University alumni Internet memes introduced in 2008