Penny Daniels is an American communications consultant and trainer and a former television news anchor who once hosted the TV show ''

A Current Affair ''A Current Affair'' may refer to: * ''A Current Affair'' (Australian TV program), 1971–present Australian current affairs program that airs on Nine Network * ''A Current Affair'' (American TV program), a 1986–1998 American television news ...

''.

Early life and education

Born as Elizabeth Penny Comm, Daniels is a native of

Highland Park, Illinois Highland Park is a suburban city located in the southeastern part of Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipalities located o ...

. She earned a Bachelor's degree from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1977 and a Master's degree in Broadcast Journalism from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in 1980.

Professional career

Daniels began her career in 1980 at the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

affiliate in Green Bay Wisconsin, then moved to

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 ...

to report and anchor newscasts at

WKBW-TV WKBW-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains studios at 7 Broadcast Plaza in downtown Buffalo and ...

, the

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. From there she moved to

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, ...

, where she was a reporter and fill-in anchor at

WJLA-TV WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also sister to ...

, the ABC station from 1985-1988. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Daniels was an anchor at

WSVN WSVN (channel 7) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is the flagship station of locally based Sunbeam Television. WSVN's studios are located on 79th Street Causeway ( SR 934) in North ...

-TV in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, where she was the first woman to solo anchor a nationally-syndicated, tabloid-style magazine program ''Inside Story''. The magazine program only ran from 1989-1990, but, according to local ratings, was hugely popular in Miami where it was beating the famous ''A Current Affair'', which was then-anchored by

Maury Povich Maurice Richard Povich (born January 17, 1939) is an American retired television personality, best known for hosting the tabloid talk show '' Maury'' which aired from 1991 to 2022. Povich began his career as a radio reporter, initially at WWDC ...

and at the time aired on competing station WCIX-TV (now

WFOR-TV WFOR-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent station WBFS-TV (channel 3 ...

). Shortly before leaving WSVN, Daniels was caught on the air telling a producer "You suck!" "I'm sorry I said it," Daniels later said, according to a report in the

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

on March 22, 1993. "I don't usually lose my temper when I'm doing a newscast." In April 1993, Daniels joined

WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington Stre ...

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

as an anchor and reporter. In mid-1993, Daniels and

Joan Lovett Joan M. Lovelace (born November 13, 1960), known professionally as Joan Lovett, is a former American television news anchor. Early life and education A native of St. Louis, Missouri and Rockford, Illinois, Lovett earned a bachelor's degree in ...

began anchoring the station's new noon newscast. In September 1994, Daniels left WBBM to join ''

'' as a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

-based weekday host. She hosted the show until September 1995, when she shifted to being a correspondent for the program's weekday editions and the anchor of the show's weekend edition. The show went off the air in 1996. In 1998, Daniels joined

KHQ-TV KHQ-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Spokane, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship (broadcasting), flagship and namesake of the Cowles Company#KHQ, Incorporated, KHQ Television Group, a subsidiary of the l ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

. In October 2000, Daniels abruptly resigned from KHQ and left the TV news business to work as a communications consultant and trainer in Washington, D.C. In 2003, Daniels and two partners created the communications consulting and coaching firm, 3D Communications, with offices located across the country. Daniels also interviewed infamous criminal Charles Manson in 1989.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

Personal life

Daniels currently lives in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

with her two children. Her former husband,

Rick Leventhal Richard Gary Leventhal (born January 24, 1960) is an American reporter. He was a senior correspondent for Fox News Channel from June 1997 to June 2021. Before joining Fox, he spent 10 years in local news, reporting and anchoring in markets inclu ...

, was an on-air reporter for

-TV in Miami and

WFLD WFLD (channel 32) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed MyNetworkTV ...

-TV in Chicago while Daniels was working in those cities. Leventhal now works for

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

References

External links

3D Communications Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniels, Penny Living people 1954 births Medill School of Journalism alumni American television reporters and correspondents Communications consultants University of Michigan alumni