Paul Linnman (born January 25, 1947) is an American former television news reporter and anchor in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, and radio personality in the same city. He is perhaps best known for his 1970

KATU KATU (channel 2) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside La Grande–licensed Univision affiliate KUNP (channel 16). Both stations share studios on N ...

report on the attempt by the

Oregon Highway Division The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Depa ...

to dispose of a dead, beached

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

by exploding it (beaches open to motor vehicles are considered state highways in Oregon). He worked for more than 30 years as a television news reporter,

host A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County People *Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman * Michel Host ...

and anchor, from 1967–1972 and 1978–2004. He had a

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 ...

show on KEX 1190 AM from 2003 to 2014, and subsequently has worked as a

media consultant A media consultant is a marketing agent or public relations executive that is hired by businesses or political candidates to obtain positive press coverage. Media consultants usually draft press releases to highlight positive achievements of a ...

Education

Born in 1947, Linnman grew up in Portland and attended Wilson High School. He graduated from

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...

, studying journalism.

Career

He began his broadcast career in 1967, when he was hired by Portland's

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

affiliate,

. His initial stint working at KATU lasted through 1972 and included various jobs, among them news assignment editor, sports director and investigative reporter. He left the station in January 1973, to join the staff of then-new City Commissioner Mildred Schwab, as an executive assistant. At the time, he had not intended to return to broadcast journalism, he told ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

'' in a 1978 interview. In January 1978, he was hired by

KGW KGW (channel 8) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Jefferson Street in southwestern Portland, and its transmitter is located in the city' ...

, Portland's

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

affiliate station, to replace departing co-host Dick Klinger on KGW's local magazine program ''Evening'', which had been broadcast every weeknight since 1975. The ''Evening'' program was replaced in September 1979 by ''

PM Magazine ''PM/Evening Magazine'' is a television series with a news and entertainment format. It was syndicated to stations throughout the United States. In most areas, ''Evening/PM Magazine'' was broadcast from the late 1970s into the late 1980s. Origi ...

'', a nationally syndicated program with a similar format and local

s with each affiliate station; Linnman also served as one of its regular co-hosts while at KGW. Linnman left KGW in late 1983 to return to KATU, as host of a new daily one-hour afternoon local news and features program, ''Two at Four'', scheduled to debut in January 1984. He remained with KATU for the next 20 years. In September 1987, Linnman returned to news broadcasting, when KATU made him the anchor of its 6:30 p.m. weekday newscast. In 2003, Linnman began hosting a morning

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

on Portland radio station KEX. In August 2004, he left KATU in order to focus exclusively on his KEX radio show, which continued until 2014. Since 2014, he has worked as a

Published works

*''Oregon Golf: The Oregon Coast, Southern Oregon, Portland & Environs, Central Oregon''. Portland, Oregon: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 1999. *'' The Exploding Whale: And Other Remarkable Stories from the Evening News'' (with Doug Brazil). Portland, Oregon: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 2003.

References

External links

* from an ODOT-maintained beach in the above-mentioned

exploding whale There have been several cases of exploding whale carcasses due to a buildup of gas in the decomposition process. This would occur if a whale decides to strand itself ashore. Actual explosives have also been used to assist in disposing of whale ...

incident. * 4K transfer of the original footage, from the

Oregon Historical Society The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the Oregon Country, within the broader context of U.S. history. Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, preser ...

's archive, reedited by

KATU (TV) KATU (channel 2) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside La Grande–licensed Univision affiliate KUNP (channel 16). Both stations share studios on N ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Linnman, Paul Radio personalities from Portland, Oregon Television anchors from Portland, Oregon Portland State University alumni Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School alumni 1947 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people)