Kent Shocknek

Kent Shocknek
Born	Kent Schoknecht December 2 Berkeley, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Southern California (B.A.)
Occupation	Broadcaster, actor

Kent Shocknek, television newsman/actor

Kent Shocknek is an American former television newsman turned actor. Because of the length of his journalism career, the duration of his broadcasts, and breaking news events, by the time of his retirement from news, he is credited with having logged more hours anchoring newscasts than anyone else in Los Angeles.^[1] The city has designated a day in his honor (below). Before anchoring prime-time newscasts on CBS-TV owned stations CBS2 and KCAL9, Shocknek was Southern California's first and longest-running television news morning news anchor.^[1] Starting with his tenure at CBS News, he also has been sought out to appear in dozens of feature films and television dramas - typically as a newscaster or commentator - giving rise to a popular second career that continues currently.^[2] On radio, Shocknek has narrated a daily commentary in Los Angeles, and has hosted a nationally syndicated entertainment program. TV viewers and magazine readers also recognize him as a reporter and authority on automotive issues.^[1]

Contents

• 
  1 Life and career
  


• 
  2 Filmography
  


• 
  3 Awards
  


• 
  4 Education
  


• 
  5 References
  


• 
  6 External links
  

Life and career

Born Kent Schoknecht in Berkeley, California, he simplified the on-air spelling of his name upon arrival to Los Angeles television. After working at the Long Beach Press Telegram while attending the University of Southern California, Shocknek's first TV reporting job was in Sioux City, Iowa (KCAU-TV), followed by a three-year stint as anchor and Space Shuttle reporter in Orlando, Florida (WFTV).^[3]

In 1986, Shocknek anchored the start-up of L.A.'s first TV morning news program, "Today in L.A." on KNBC-TV. Over the years, he broadcast—often single-handedly—such marathon events as the Los Angeles riots, O.J. Simpson murder trial, and natural disasters, including earthquakes that more than once shook his studio while he was on the air.

Shocknek first made national news headlines anchoring the 1986 launch and explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger; and a strong aftershock to the deadly 5.9 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake. The threat of falling studio lights forced Shocknek to take cover under his set's anchor desk for several seconds as he continued reporting about the ground- and studio movement.

After helming the KNBC program for 15 years, Shocknek moved to morning newscasts at KCBS-TV (CBS2-TV in Los Angeles) in 2001. There, L.A. Confidential magazine named him one of L.A.'s top three anchors. He anchored live the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center, and subsequently reported live on the War in Iraq, Michael Jackson's funeral, presidential inaugurations; plus Southern California's seasonal wildfires and frequent high-speed freeway chases.^[1] In November 2013, Shocknek and his morning coanchor Suzie Suh moved to prime-time spots on Los Angeles CBS TV-owned station KCAL9, anchoring the #1-rated newscasts, "KCAL9 News at 8 and 10 PM." The City of Los Angeles proclaimed January 10, 2014 as "Kent Shocknek Day," in honor of Shocknek's decades of dedicated service. In a move that surprised viewers, he retired from daily newscasting in late 2014. Shocknek's final newscast - including a 10-minute career retrospective and farewell video featuring L.A. newsmakers and Hollywood celebrities - aired September 26, 2014.^[4][5][6] Various local governments and agencies, including the City and County of Los Angeles, as well as the State of California, have honored him for his work.

Shocknek on production location

Shortly after Shocknek retired from news anchoring, the short film "The 6 O'Clock" premiered online, starring Shocknek as the male lead in the role of a highly focused individual, who may not be the person the audience believes him to be. He has acted in major Hollywood film productions, working for directors Steven Spielberg, Adam McKay in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Barry Levinson, and Justin Lin, among others. In television, Shocknek has marked more than a dozen appearances as newsman "Guy Ross" in the crime procedural dramas, NCIS (TV series) and the NCIS spin-off series, NCIS: Los Angeles. He also has appeared several times in Criminal Minds, and the Amazon series, Bosch.

Shocknek's voice is almost as well known as his image; he began writing and delivering the 60-second daily radio commentary Just A Minute with Kent Shocknek on CBS all-news radio station KNX-1070 AM in Los Angeles, in 2003.^[1] Later, he launched Premiere Magazine Live!, a weekly national radio show about movies, in approximately 50 markets countrywide,^[1] with his wife Karen, using the on-air surname Walters, working as co-host.^[3]

Filmography

	Year	Title	Role	Notes
	1985	A View to a Kill	fisherman	extra, uncredited
	1993	Blossom	himself	NBC TV
	2004	Envy	newscaster	Barry Levinson, director
	2004	The Terminal	newscaster	Steven Spielberg, director
	2004	Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy	network reporter	Adam McKay, director
	2004	First Daughter	contentious reporter	Forest Whitaker, director
	2004	Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: the Lost Movie	network reporter	video
	2005	The West Wing	anchorman	NBC TV
	2005	xXx: State of the Union	newscaster	Lee Tamahori, director
	2006	Commander in Chief	news anchor Ben	ABC TV, 3 episodes
	2006-07	Shark	TV reporter	CBS TV, 3 episodes
	2007	Primeval	newscaster
	2007	Disturbia	news anchor	D.J. Caruso, director
	2008	Monk	TV reporter	USA Network
	2008	Superhero Movie	news anchor
	2008	ER	news reporter	NBC TV
	2008	Fragments	hospital reporter	Rowan Woods, director
	2008	Grave Misconduct	TV reporter	TV movie
	2008	Eagle Eye	newscaster	D.J. Caruso, director
	2008	Dirty Sexy Money	Channel 10 reporter	ABC TV
	2008	The Unit	TV newscaster	CBS TV
	2008	Parasomnia	himself	William Malone, director
	2008	The Sarah Silverman Program	TV reporter/anchor	Comedy Central
	2009	Meteor	WNN overnight anchor	TV mini-series, 2 episodes
	2009	Imagine That	financial reporter	Karey Kirkpatrick, director
	2009	Washington Field	David Sumner	TV movie
	2009	Medium	newscaster	CBS TV
	2009	Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy	Battlenizer	USA release 2017, voice
	2009-10	Flash Forward	Hansen	ABC TV, 4 episodes
	2009-10	True Jackson, VP	himself	Nickelodeon
	2010	CSI: NY	reporter	CBS TV
	2010	The Company Men	Rittenour	John Wells, director
	2010	The Chosen One	newscaster	Rob Schneider, director
	2011	Fast Five	news anchor	Justin Linn, director
	2012	The Mentalist	newscaster	CBS TV
	2012	Brake	Jack Stern	Gabe Torres, director
	2012	Ultraman Saga	Capt. Hibiki	USA release 2017, voice
	2012	The Amazing Spiderman	TV newscaster	uncredited
	2005-13	Criminal Minds	John Jenkens, et. al.	CBS TV, 3 episodes
	2013	Jobs	1980 newscaster
	2013	Under the Dome	newscaster	CBS TV mini-series, voice
	2014	Intelligence	reporter, newscaster	CBS TV
	2014	Nightcrawler	himself	Dan Gilroy, director
	2014	The Six O'Clock	the Man	short, male lead
	2014	Legends	CBN reporter	CBS TV
	2013-15	NCIS: Los Angeles	news reporter, et. al.	CBS TV, 6 episodes
	2015	The Vatican Tapes	interviewer	uncredited
	2016	Supergirl	newscaster	CBS TV
	2016	Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice	himself	Zack Snyder, director
	2016	Brooklyn Nine-Nine	Slade Austin	Fox TV
	2015-17	Bosch	news anchor	Amazon, 6 episodes
	2017	Law & Order True Crime: the Menendez Murders	himself	NBC TV, voice, 2 episodes, uncredited
	2016-18	Madam Secretary	anchor	CBS-TV, 4 episodes
	2018	Conman	reporter	Bruce Caulk, director
	2018	9-1-1	National News Anchor	Fox TV
	2018	Liberty Falls	Pierce Brennan	TV movie, pre-production
	2018	Speeeed Dating	Man #4	short
	2018	The Purge	TV Reporter	USA Network/SyFy based on film series
	2018	The Righteous Gemstones	Announcer	HBO Danny McBride, prod./dir.
	2004-18	NCIS	Guy Ross	CBS TV, 9 episodes
	2019	Documentary Now!	'80s TV Reporter	IFC
	2019	Pale Blue Dot	Self	26 Keys Productions

Awards

• 8 regional Emmy Awards (individual and group)


• 2 L.A. Press Club Awards


• Golden Mic. Award (Best Daytime Newscast)


• Wm. Randolph Hearst Award (investigative reporting)

Education

B.A., University of Southern California, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa

References

1. 
   ^ ^abcdef KCBS/KCAL-TV Los Angeles Web Site Bio: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/personality/kent-shocknek/ Accessed November 19, 2013.
   


2. 
   ^ Kent Shocknek's IMDb Profile: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0794688/
   


3. 
   ^ ^ab Kent Shocknek's Web Site: http://kentshocknek.com
   


4. 
   ^ Announcement on KCAL9 10:00 news program 2014-09-26
   


5. 
   ^ Longtime Anchor Kent Shocknek Signs Off From Local News, KCBS Los Angeles, accessed 2014-09-30
   


6. 
   ^ No more Mr. News Guy -- L.A. anchor Kent Shocknek signs off, Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, accessed 2014-10-01
   

External links

• 
  Kent Shocknek on IMDb


• CBSLA.com website Shocknek bio


• Kent Shocknek website

Authority control	ISNI: 0000 0003 7018 9059 LCCN: no2012069501 VIAF: 249569345 WorldCat Identities (via VIAF): 249569345

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