Richard Sher is a longtime newscaster in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, who spent most of his career at

WJZ-TV WJZ-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is Owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and ma ...

Early life

Richard Sher was born in 1941 to Michael and Lillian Sher at the Women's Hospital in Bolton Hill. He grew up in Northwest Baltimore and attended the St. Paul's School in Baltimore County, where he was "one of the few Jews." Sher received his

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher e ...

in 1963 and his

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

degree in

Communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqui ...

s in 1965 from the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

Broadcasting career

Before arriving at WJZ, Sher was news director for WBAL-FM Radio (WBAL-FM "News 98" became

WIYY WIYY (97.9 FM, "98 Rock") is a commercial radio station in Baltimore, Maryland. It is owned by Hearst Communications and broadcasts a mainstream rock radio format. WIYY shares studios and offices with sister stations WBAL and WBAL-TV on T ...

/ 98 ''Rock'' in 1975), where he established an all news format for the station. He has also worked in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

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, ...

Sher joined WJZ in 1975. From 1988 through February 1995, he co-anchored the weekend

newscast News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or telev ...

s, and he was then the co-anchor of Eyewitness News at Five until January 1998. He also hosted a local talk show, ''People Are Talking'', with Oprah Winfrey in the beginning of her career. Sher played a broadcaster in a

cameo role A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

in the 2006

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

movie '' Man of the Year''. Sher retired from WJZ on November 24, 2008, after 33 years there. His retirement announcement was pre-empted by his friend and former colleague Winfrey, who introduced him to her audience and informed them of Sher's impending retirement.

After WJZ

After retiring from WJZ, Sher's presence on the Baltimore airwaves endured. His Sunday morning public affairs forum ''Square Off'', which he had hosted for many years on WJZ, continued on

WMAR-TV WMAR-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios and offices are located on York Road ( ...

. In 2015, Sher began hosting a

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

at the Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore. The show was named ''People Are Winning'', as "a nod to ''People Are Talking'', the long-running morning show that Sher hosted on WJZ-TV." He volunteers weekly at Maryland's

R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center (also referred to simply as Shock Trauma) is a free-standing trauma hospital in Baltimore, Maryland and is part of the University of Maryland Medical Center. It was the first facility in the world to treat shock. ...

.Michael Olesker, "Happy Birthday, Richard Sher" ''JMore: Baltimore Jewish Living'', November 16, 201
Happy Birthday Richard Sher
/ref>

References

Sources

*[http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/health/local_hospitals/from-tv-to-shock-trauma%2C-richard-sher-takes-on-new-role-as-hospital-volunteer From TV to Shock Trauma, Richard Sher takes on new role as hospital volunteer -- ''ABC 2 NEWS'' WMAR Baltimore, Sunday Sept 18, 2011] {{DEFAULTSORT:Sher, Richard 1941 births Living people University of Maryland, College Park alumni Television anchors from Baltimore Jews from Maryland American game show hosts 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews