Bob Lape (born Robert Cable Lape; 1933 in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

) is an American broadcast journalist, writer, restaurant reviewer, and food critic.

Career

Lape worked as a reporter and news director at

WCUE WCUE (1150 AM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to serve Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, carrying a Christian format as a repeater for the Family Radio network. Owned by Family Stations, Inc., the station services the Akron metro area. WCUE do ...

, WICE in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

and WBZ in Boston, Massachusetts, before joining

WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Lincoln Square neig ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

as a charter member of the '' Eyewitness News'' team in 1968. Originally hired as a

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

and

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

reporter (beats he would continue throughout his run with the station), as well as being an occasional

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄ� ...

, Lape started a segment called "The Eyewitness Gourmet" in 1970. It became a highly popular feature on the program, running 1,200 times in 12 years and was called "the harbinger of the

Television Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

" by restaurateur Drew Nieporent. Lape also reviewed film and theater for WBZ-TV and WKBG-TV in Boston and for WABC-TV. After leaving Eyewitness News, he hosted a

phone in In broadcasting, a phone-in or call-in is a programme format in which viewers or listeners are invited to air their live comments by telephone, usually in respect of a specific topic selected for discussion on the day of the broadcast. On radio ( ...

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 Sh ...

, ''Bob Lape's Food Show'', on

WABC (AM) WABC (770 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, carrying a conservative talk format known as "Talkradio 77". Owned by John Catsimatidis' Red Apple Media, the station's studios are located in Red Apple Media headqu ...

and wrote a restaurant column in the

New York Law Journal The ''New York Law Journal'', founded in 1888, is a legal periodical covering the legal profession in New York, United States. Background The newspaper, published Monday through Friday, provides daily coverage of civil and criminal cases fr ...

. He also served as a network radio news correspondent for the ABC Information Network. His restaurant review column in

Crain's New York Business Crain Communications Inc is an American multi-industry publishing conglomerate based in Detroit, Michigan, United States, with 13 non-US subsidiaries. History Gustavus Dedman (G.D.) Crain, Jr. ( Gustavus Demetrious Crain, Jr.; 1885–1973), pre ...

was its most popular feature for 24 years, and "Bob Lape's Dining Diary," broadcast on WCBS since 1986, focuses on eating and drinking reviews, trends and events. Lape is the author of the journals ''Epicurean Rendezvous'', 1990–1996, and ''Bob Lape's Restaurant Index'', 1987-1991 (along with art by

Milton Glaser Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929June 26, 2020) was an American graphic designer. His most notable designs include the I Love New York logo, a 1966 poster for Bob Dylan, and the logos for DC Comics, Stony Brook University and Brooklyn Brewery. In 195 ...

). Lape is co-author with Joanna Pruess of the book ''Seduced by Bacon : Recipes & Lore About America's Favorite Indulgence''

Awards

Bob Lape's awards include Kent State University 2022 Alumni Award for Professional Achievement, Chevalier d'honneur Swiss Ordre du Channe, conferred in 2004, and an Emmy Award for TV News Coverage in 1980; a series of UPI Tom Phillips Awards for radio news in the 1960s; and a Congressional Citation for WBZ's coverage of the Great NE Blackout. He led the combined WBZ radio and TV news team, the sole broadcaster on the air for the region.

Personal

He is a member of the Ohio-based Broadcasters' Hall of Fame, The Friars Club, the Commanderie de Cordon Bleu de France, and the Association of Italian Sommeliers. He received his bachelor's degree at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...

in 1955.

References

5

6. https://www.kent.edu/alumni/kent-state-alumni-awards

Notes

* "Robert Cable Lape." Marquis Who's Who, 2006.
short autobiography
* New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Sep 19, 2004. pg. 9.18 * New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: Aug 7, 2005. pg. 11.9 * https://web.archive.org/web/20060420171936/http://www.poynter.org/dg.lts/id.45/aid.76937/column.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20141204160038/http://www.wheretodineonline.com/home/articles/16/ * http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/documentary-subject-and-former-host-of-abc-eyewitness-news-news-photo/485770053 * http://www.worldcat.org/title/walden-1962/oclc/22444449 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lape, Bob 1933 births Living people Writers from Akron, Ohio New York (state) television reporters Television anchors from New York City American broadcast news analysts American reporters and correspondents American food writers Journalists from Ohio