Kevin O'Connell (born October 3, 1948) is an American broadcast personality.

Early life

O'Connell was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

and attended Buffalo State College. His father is George O'Connell, the City Comptroller who led to effort to save the Shea's Performing Arts Center after it had fallen prey to taxes. His sister is Mary Kate O'Connell, a stage actress and

WBBZ-TV WBBZ-TV (channel 67) is an independent television station licensed to Springville, New York, United States, serving the Buffalo area. It is owned by ITV of Buffalo, a company controlled by former news photographer Philip A. Arno. WBBZ-TV's stud ...

host. His son Kevin Jr. is a chef who has operated restaurants and food trucks in Buffalo and Los Angeles.

Career

O'Connell was chief weather anchor for

WGRZ-TV WGRZ (channel 2) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo, and its transmitter is located on Warner Hill R ...

, the NBC affiliate in

, from the mid-1990s until 2018. O'Connell also sub-hosted on '' The David Letterman Show'' on NBC, hosted the game show '' Go'' on NBC from October 1983 to January 1984, and presented the syndicated

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

series ''

Disco Step-by-Step ''Disco Step-by-Step'' was a local television show in Buffalo, New York which featured disco music, dance instruction, and hustle dancing. The show was created, written, produced and first hosted by Marty Angelo.{{cite news , title=Dancing Queen ...

'' from 1977 to 1980. He was often a substitute weathercaster for '' Weekend Today'' during the 1990s. He also hosted the 1986 and 1987 game show pilots ''Keynotes'' and ''Money in the Blank''. O'Connell was previously a news and weather anchor for Buffalo's WIVB, as well as

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

TV stations

KNBC KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Corona-licens ...

(1982-1985),

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...

(1985-1988) and KABC-TV (1989-1990) before returning to Buffalo in 1990. He was also a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

early in his career, before moving into work in weather; as late as 2012, O'Connell was voice-tracking a shift at WECK in addition to his television duties. Since joining WGRZ in 1993, O'Connell's primary focus has been weather forecasting, and he obtained an

American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is the premier scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the Atmospheric sciences, atmospheric, Oceanography, oceanic, and Hydrology, hydr ...

seal of approval as a result of his work there. O'Connell does not go by the title of meteorologist since he does not hold a bachelor's degree in the science of meteorology (he received his AMS seal before a degree became a requirement for it); he has some meteorology education from Buffalo State College, from which he graduated in 1972. O'Connell was expected to retire near the end of 2016; his ''heir apparent'', meteorologist Patrick Hammer, was hired in June 2015 and was originally to work his way into the position as O'Connell winds down his duties with WGRZ; this was complicated when Hammer was pulled off the air in November 2015 after a repeat

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...

arrest. Hammer was retained for mornings (where he worked in a previous market) while

Heather Waldman Heather may refer to: Plants *The heather family, or Ericaceae, particularly: **Common heather or ling, '' Calluna'' **Various species of the genus '' Cassiope'' **Various species of the genus '' Erica'' Name * Heather (given name) * Heather ...

, a former

Accuweather AccuWeather Inc. is an American media company that provides commercial weather forecasting services worldwide. AccuWeather was founded in 1962 by Joel N. Myers, then a Pennsylvania State University graduate student working on a master's degree i ...

on-air personality, will take over most of O'Connell's shifts.

Political career

O'Connell, a registered Democrat, was briefly courted as a potential candidate for Erie County clerk in 2017 but declined the offer. As of that time, his contract with WGRZ ran through the end of 2018. O'Connell was fired from WGRZ in July 2018 in a dispute over his legal work (weather anchors and meteorologists routinely provide testimony in court, which is forbidden under

Tegna, Inc. Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into tw ...

's policy without express permission) and his endorsement of a local attorney. O'Connell was afforded an on-air sendoff.

Post-meteorology

In September 2018, Kevin O'Connell was named Chief of Community Connections at Catholic Health. In this role, O'Connell is focused on creating new ties between the health system, community service organizations, and residents, helping to ensure that the organization is able to meet the healthcare needs of Western New Yorkers.

References

WGRZ profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnell, Kevin American game show hosts Buffalo State College alumni Radio personalities from Buffalo, New York Living people American television meteorologists 1948 births New York (state) Democrats Scientists from New York (state)