Anthony Perkins
(born August 25, 1959) is an American
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, ...
,
radio personality
A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...
, and former
weathercaster, best known for his work on
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 ...
's ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
'' as the primary weather anchor from 1999 to 2005. Perkins joined
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 Entertainm ...
affiliate
WUSA in
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, ...
for six weeks, beginning October 21, 2019, for the station's morning show, ''Get Up DC!'', which became a full-time assignment when he was named full-time anchor of the show in January 2020.
Early life and education
Perkins was born on August 25, 1959 in New York City
to Constance Bellamy (1938-2018) and Tommy Perkins (d. 1992).
His parents had met when his father was working at a shoe store in New York.
Together, the family lived in the
South Bronx
The South Bronx is an area of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...
until moving to Washington, D.C., when he was five years old.
His parents divorced when he was 11, and his mother worked as a telephone operator and night clerk to raise the family.
He attended elementary school in Washington, D.C., junior high in
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
and
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, and graduated from
Mount Vernon High School Mount Vernon High School could refer to:
*Mount Vernon High School (Arkansas) — Mount Vernon, Arkansas
* Mount Vernon High School (Illinois) — Mount Vernon, Illinois
*Mount Vernon High School (Fortville, Indiana)
* Mount Vernon High Sch ...
in
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...
in 1977.
In high school, Perkins had a good academic record and was involved in many extracurricular activities, including becoming the first black editor-in-chief of his school's student newspaper.
He received his
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree from
American University
The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
's
School of Communication in 1981.
There, he worked with the campus radio station and the black student newspaper, and helped found the campus television station.
Perkins comes from a line of family members involved in the radio business, including his father, who had worked at
WOL and
WOOK,
and his uncle, who worked at
WFIL
WFIL (560 AM) is a radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, with a Christian radio format consisting of teaching and talk programs. Owned by Salem Media Group, studios and transmitter facilities are shared with co-owned WNTP ...
as a
radio engineer
Broadcast engineering is the field of electrical engineering, and now to some extent computer engineering and information technology, which deals with radio and television broadcasting. Audio engineering and RF engineering are also essential ...
.
Perkins has a younger brother, Scott, who worked as an art director for
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
.
Career
Before becoming a journalist, Perkins was a professional stand-up comedian from 1983 to 1993, appearing at clubs and colleges across the country, which helped him meet and come to work for
Donnie Simpson
Donnie Simpson (born January 30, 1954) is a longtime American radio DJ as well as a television and movie personality. He hosted ''The Donnie Simpson Morning Show'' on Washington, D.C. radio station WPGC-FM from March 1993 to January 29, 2010. C ...
as an off-air producer.
He had also been working in radio for
Cathy Hughes
Catherine Liggins Hughes (born Catherine Elizabeth Woods; April 22, 1947) is an American entrepreneur, radio and television personality and business executive. She has been listed as the second-richest Black woman in the United States. She found ...
at WOL.
Throughout his career, Perkins has continued to support his alma mater and is an active member of the American University School of Communication's Dean Council.
Television
Perkins began his broadcast career as a desk assistant for the
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
Washington, D.C. bureau in the early 1980s.
From 1986 to 1988, he hosted and produced ''DC20 Breakaway'' for
WDCA
WDCA (channel 20), branded on-air as Fox 5 Plus, is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet WTTG (channel 5). WDCA and WTTG shar ...
.
From 1993 to 1998, he served as a weather forecaster at
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
station
WTTG
WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA share ...
in Washington, D.C. and co-anchored the station's ''Fox Morning News'' from 1998 to 1999.
After six years at WTTG, Perkins joined ABC's ''Good Morning America'' on March 8, 1999
as the program's weekday morning weather forecaster and features reporter,
where his catchphrase to turn it over to the local weather was "the weather in your neighborhood." He succeeded
Spencer Christian
Spencer Christian (born July 23, 1947) is an American television broadcaster, best known as the former weather forecaster for ABC's '' Good Morning America'' from 1986 to 1998. He currently is the weather forecaster for ABC-owned KGO-TV in San F ...
on ''Good Morning America'', who had moved to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, 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 List of Ca ...
to become a weather anchor for
KGO-TV
KGO-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's ABC network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, KGO-TV maint ...
in 1999. During Perkins's time together with
Robin Roberts,
Diane Sawyer
Lila Diane Sawyer (; born December 22, 1945) is an American television broadcast journalist known for anchoring major programs on two networks including ''ABC World News Tonight'', '' Good Morning America'', ''20/20'', and '' Primetime'' newsmag ...
, and
Charles Gibson
Charles deWolf Gibson (born March 9, 1943) is an American broadcast television anchor, journalist and podcaster. Gibson was a host of ''Good Morning America'' from 1987 to 1998 and again from 1999 to 2006, and the anchor of ''World News with Char ...
, they were able to help ''Good Morning America'' bounce back in its television ratings against its morning show competitors after it experienced a slump in the mid-to-late-1990s.
Perkins also co-hosted "Stealing Scenes," an entertainment-focused show for ''
ABC News Now
ABC News Live (a.k.a. ABCNL) is an American streaming video news channel for breaking news, live events, newscasts, and longer-form reports and documentaries operated by ABC News since 2018. The channel is available through various streaming d ...
''.
In 2004, Perkins made a cameo on the ABC sitcom, ''
Less than Perfect
''Less than Perfect'' is an American television sitcom created by Terri Minsky and starring Sara Rue and Sherri Shepherd which originally aired on ABC from October 1, 2002, to June 20, 2006. It follows Claude (Rue), who works at a television netw ...
''.
That same year, he was also invited onto ''
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...
'' as a guest.
On December 2, 2005, Perkins left ''Good Morning America'' to return to WTTG
and was succeeded by
Mike Barz. During his second stint on WTTG, Perkins continued as morning weather anchor and gradually transitioned to become the main anchor for the weekday morning newscast alongside Allison Seymour in July 2012.
He was later transferred to the evening 5:00PM newscast with Laura Evans and 10:00PM newscast with Shawn Yancy on October 28, 2013.
On January 19, 2019, Perkins departed WTTG to spend more time on his radio commitments.
On October 21, 2019, he joined CBS affiliate WUSA in Washington, D.C. for six weeks to be a part of the station's ''Get Up DC!'' morning show, together with
Reese Waters
Reese Waters (born October 22, 1980) is an American comedian, commentator and writer. He was the host of ''Get Up DC!'' on WUSA, the CBS affiliate in Washington, District of Columbia.
Early life and education
Waters was born in Prince George's ...
and Annie Yu.
On January 7, 2020, just under a year after he left WTTG, it was announced that Perkins was returning to WUSA to anchor ''Get Up DC!'' full-time. The assignment allows him to continue hosting his radio show on WMMJ in the afternoons.
On March 3, 2023, it was announced that Perkins was joining WRC in Washington, DC, to co-anchor News4 Today, the station's morning news program. Pat Lawson Muse, a member of WRC for over 40 years and co-anchor of the evening newscast, retired March 24, 2023. Eun Yang, News4 Today co-anchor, filled the vacancy left by Lawson Muse. Perkins filled the open chair on the morning news program left by Yang.
Radio
From 1985 to 1992, while working as a comic, Perkins also served as a writer, producer, and on-air contributor to ''The Donnie Simpson Show'' on
WKYS-FM
WKYS (93.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Washington, D.C. The station is owned by Urban One through licensee Urban One Licenses, LLC, and broadcasts an Urban Contemporary radio format. It is co-owned with WMMJ, WOL, WPRS-FM, a ...
.
He later co-hosted ''The Morning Crew'' on WKYS-FM from 1992 to 1993.
Perkins was an occasional in-studio guest on the ''
Don and Mike Show
The ''Don and Mike Show'' was an American nationally syndicated radio talk show hosted by the shock jocks Don Geronimo and Mike O'Meara, which aired from December 1985 through April 11, 2008. The show debuted on WAVA-FM in 1985 as ''The Mornin ...
'', and its successor, the ''
Mike O'Meara Show
''The Mike O'Meara Show'' is a daily podcast available through their website or iTunes. The show is hosted by Mike O'Meara and includes Robb Spewak and Oscar Santana. ''The Mike O'Meara Bonus Show'' is available every Friday to VIP members thr ...
.'' From 2014 to 2018, he also hosted his own weekly comedy and entertainment podcast with co-host Gary Stein, the ''Tony Perkins Show featuring Gary Stein''.
On December 18, 2017, Perkins announced that he would be returning to
WMMJ-FM
WMMJ (102.3 FM broadcasting, FM), known on air as "Majic 102.3 & 92.7," is a Rhythmic oldies, jammin' oldies-leaning urban adult contemporary radio station owned by Radio One (Company), Radio One in the Washington, D.C. market. It is co-owned wi ...
102.3 Majic with Donnie Simpson as the afternoon drive host for a reboot of ''The Donnie Simpson Show'' on weekdays from 3:00PM to 7:00PM.
To accommodate the schedule, he moved his anchoring schedule on WTTG from weeknight evenings to Friday and Saturday morning shows.
Awards and accomplishments
Perkins earned an
Emmy Awards
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
in 1988 for his work on ''DC20 Breakaway''.
He has also earned an additional Emmy Award.
Personal life
Perkins is married to Rhonda Perkins, who worked as a social services administrator,
and has a son named Connor (b. September 2003).
References
External links
WTTG Fox 5 DC: Tony PerkinsWUSA 9: Tony Perkins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Tony
1960 births
Weather presenters
African-American television personalities
Living people
American University alumni
Television anchors from Washington, D.C.
Place of birth missing (living people)
21st-century African-American people
20th-century African-American people