Ira Joe Fisher (born October 31, 1947,

Salamanca, New York Salamanca ( Seneca: ''Onë:dagö:h'') is a city in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States, inside the Allegany Indian Reservation, one of two governed by the Seneca Nation of New York. The population was 5,929 at the 2020 census. It was na ...

) is an American broadcaster,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, and educator.. The winner of two regional Emmys, he currently presents Speaking Fearlessly seminars and teaches at UConn and Mercy College. He was the weather reporter for

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 ...

The Saturday Early Show ''The Early Show'' is an television in the United States, American breakfast television, morning television show that aired on CBS from November 1, 1999 to January 7, 2012, and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the network sin ...

, a position he held from 1999 until 2006. He is known for his ability to write backwards on

Plexiglas Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite ...

during his weather presentations.Biography at cbsnews.com
retrieved 2011-01-10....

Background

Fisher spent his childhood in Cattaraugus County, New York, a rural area in western New York, south of Buffalo. He was born in Salamanca, got his first job at

WGGO WGGO is an AM radio station located in Salamanca, New York, United States. The station broadcasts at 1590 kHz. WGGO is owned by Holy Family Communications as part of its network of Catholic radio stations, The Station of the Cross. WGGO's l ...

there and graduated from Little Valley Central High School in 1965. He attended college at the

State University of New York at Fredonia The State University of New York at Fredonia (SUNY Fredonia) is a public university in Fredonia, New York, United States. It is the westernmost member of the State University of New York. Founded in 1826, it is the sixty-sixth-oldest institute of ...

but left before graduating for a four-year stint in the Air Force. He was stationed in Syracuse, New York and attended Syracuse University, majoring in

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

; he later worked for the Air Force as a Russian translator.. He has a Master of Fine Arts from

New England College New England College (NEC) is a private liberal arts college in Henniker, New Hampshire. As of Fall 2020 New England College's enrollment was 4,327 students (1,776 undergraduate and 2,551 graduate). The college is regionally accredited by the N ...

. Fisher has been a college professor, author, columnist, poet, disc jockey, reporter, actor, and weatherman. He played himself in the 1985 TV movie ''California Girls'', and starting in 1995, he played the role of Hucklebee in approximately 500 performances of the long-running off-Broadway musical

The Fantasticks ''The Fantasticks'' is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the 1894 play ''The Romancers'' (''Les Romanesques'') by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neigh ...

... He is the author of three works of poetry: a chapbook titled ''Remembering Rew'', and two full-length collections, ''Some Holy Weight in the Village Air''. and ''Songs from an Earlier Century''. He has extensively studied the life and works of Robert Frost, and has taught poetry at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

, New England College,

Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pace ...

, and Mercy College. Fisher lives in Connecticut with wife, Shelly. They have four children: Joshua, Shelby, Ashley, and Dylan.

Television career

Fisher began his television career at

KHQ-TV KHQ-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Spokane, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship and namesake of the KHQ Television Group, a subsidiary of the locally based Cowles Company, which also owns ''The Spokesm ...

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 Cana ...

in 1970 as a reporter and host of "The Noon Show". He worked there for 10 years, until 1980. While at KHQ he also had evening weather duties. He worked at

WKRC-TV WKRC-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to MyNetworkTV affiliate WSTR-TV (channel 64) under a lo ...

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...

between 1980 and 1983. While there, he was a weather reporter and co-host of

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 ...

. He also worked at WKRC radio as a commentator. From 1983 to 1985, Fisher served as a weatherman and feature reporter at WABC in

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 ...

; during this time, he also worked on ''

Live with Regis and Kathie Lee ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American syndicated morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show formula has aired under various hosts since ...

''. Fisher returned to

from 1985 to 1989, where he hosted ''The Ira Joe Fisher Show'', a daily talk/variety show; he won two regional Emmy Awards for his writing at WKRC. From 1989-1995, he served as a weather and feature reporter on

WNBC-TV WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo statio ...

. In 1995, he moved to WCBS where he remained until 2003.. At different times during his tenure there, he served as the weather anchor for every one of the station's newscasts. Fisher left WCBS in 2003. After that, he appeared on the '' CBS News Saturday Early Show'' and as a voiceover artist for the ''CBS Morning News'' and ''The Early Show'' until 2007. He occasionally serves as a substitute anchor on CBS morning news shows.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Irajoe 1947 births Living people American television journalists Journalists from Upstate New York Television anchors from New York City People from Salamanca, New York People from Ridgefield, Connecticut Weather presenters New England College alumni American male journalists Mercy College (New York) faculty