Larry Mendte

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Larry Mendte
Born	January 19, 1957 (1957-01-19) (age 52) Lansdowne, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Occupation	Television news anchor

Larry Mendte (born January 16, 1957) is a former American news anchor and was the first host of the American syndicated television show Access Hollywood. Up until mid-2008, Mendte was the lead male anchor of the 6pm and 11pm newscasts for KYW-TV (Channel 3) in Philadelphia. Mendte has also had success as a documentary film maker winning several film festivals across the country. In August 2008, he pled guilty to the federal charge of illegally accessing his co-anchor's e-mail.^[1] The Justice Department is now investigating the case because of alleged improprieties by the US Attorney's office and Mendte has petitioned for a Post Sentence Hearing^[2] because of those improprieties.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early career 1.2 Returning home 1.3 Anchoring at KYW 2 Honors 3 Charity Work 4 Personal 5 Alycia Lane controversy 5.1 Guilty plea 5.2 Sentencing 6 Filmography 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Biography

Born and raised in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, Mendte attended St. Philomena School, a local Catholic School. During this time, Mendte got his start in news, when he delivered the former Philadelphia Bulletin. Mendte graduated from Monsignor Bonner High School in nearby Drexel Hill.

[edit] Early career

From 1984 to 1988 he was a weekend anchor on WABC, as well as fill-in sports anchor. He has also anchored the news and was an investigative reporter at WBBM in Chicago from 1991 to 1995. While at WBBM, Mendte's series of reports on school bus safety resulted in a new state law. Mendte won a record 27 Emmy Awards in Chicago and was twice named Best reporter by the Illinois Associated Press. Mendte also anchored the news at WCMH in Columbus, Ohio, WLYH in Lebanon, PA (where he did the sportscast), WTAJ in Altoona, PA and KIEM in Eureka, CA. Mendte was also a weather personality at San Diego's KFMB in San Diego, and also did stand-up comedy in Southern California comedy clubs. While in San Diego, Mendte did a humor commentary feature called "How Come?" for the Paramount Studios syndicated program Hard Copy. A few of the "How Come?" reports can be seen on YouTube.

Mendte was the first male host of the infotainment program Access Hollywood when the show debuted in 1996. He co-hosted Monday through Friday with Giselle Fernández and also co-hosted the weekend edition with current weekday host Nancy O'Dell.

[edit] Returning home

Mendte left Access Hollywood in 1997 to return to Philadelphia and become the main anchor of WCAU (Channel 10)'s newscasts, including the 4pm, 6pm and 11pm programs, with the 4pm show being the first on at that time in the market. He also created and hosted the public affairs program Live at Issue. During his time at WCAU the 11pm newscast outrated market leader WPVI (Channel 6) for the first time since the 1970s.

[edit] Anchoring at KYW

Mendte joined KYW in 2003 after being wooed from WCAU. KYW launched a massive "Make The Switch" promotional campaign when Mendte came over. The idea for the campaign was Mendte's. He also helped reformat the newscast and introduced the "walking anchor" to KYW that he was famous for at WCAU. KYW's ratings immediately jumped with Mendte in the main seat and fellow station newcomer Alycia Lane co-anchoring, and within a year the station would overtake WCAU at 11pm and 6pm for second place. Lane was fired in December 2007 after being charged with a felony for assaulting a female police officer in New York. Despite a sworn statement by a fellow officer, the charges were later dropped.^[3] For a short time Mendte then anchored solo before being teamed with Susan Barnett. Mendte was fired in June 2008 after an investigation revealed he accessed Ms. Lane's email accounts.

[edit] Honors

Mendte received acclaim for a series of reports he did on the Eternal Flame, a tribute to American veterans, in Philadelphia's historic Washington Square. Mendte highlighted the flame's failing infrastructure, forcing the city to take action to repair the natural gas line which provided the flame's fuel and relight it. His efforts were read into the Congressional record by Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. Mendte was honored with a regional Edward R. Murrow Award in the writing category for his reports on the Eternal Flame and a report on the Iraq War. He also won a national Murrow award in 2008 for a report he produced and wrote on Delaware Soldier Stephen McGowan who died in Iraq.

In 2006, Mendte was inducted into the Philadelphia Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame. Mendte has over 80 Regional Emmy Awards from the New York, San Diego, Chicago and Philadelphia markets, and holds the record in several categories in Philadelphia and Chicago. In Philadelphia, he has won a record 4 Emmys in the Outstanding Anchor category and seven in various writing categories.

In 2007, Mendte was named as one of the 75 Greatest Living Philadelphians by the Philadelphia Daily News in honor of the Philadelphia Eagles 75th anniversary.

[edit] Charity Work

Mendte has done an unprecedented amount of work with local charities including Alex's Lemonade Stand, the Alzheimer's Association, The Little Rock Foundation, Walk Now for Autism, The Jewish Employment and Vocational Services, TeachAmerica, The Juveile Diabetes Foundation, the Burn Foundation, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Make-A-Wish, Goodwill, The Salvation Army, the Irish Memorial Committee, The Ancient Order of Hibernians, The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and other groups supporting veterans.

[edit] Personal

Mendte is married to Dawn Stensland.^[4] the 10pm news anchor at Fox's WTXF (Channel 29) since 2001. She came to Philadelphia in 1997 as anchor for KYW, then anchored CBS News Saturday Morning for a year and a half. In the 1990s she was an anchor and reporter at WBBM in Chicago, Illinois and WKYC in Cleveland, Ohio. Together, they have two children, Michael, born in 2004 and David born in 2006. In addition, Mendte has two adult children, Stacia and Jonathan, from a previous marriage.

[edit] Alycia Lane controversy

[edit] Guilty plea

On August 22, 2008, Mendte pled guilty to the charge of intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization.^[1] Mendte was accused of viewing Lane's e-mails from January 2008 to May 2008, including ones from her agent and lawyers representing her after she was arrested in New York last year for striking a New York police officer and calling that female officer a homophobic slur. Mendte read a statement and admitted to once having an "improper relationship" with Lane. He said that he ended the relationship and it "quickly turned into a personal feud" and that Lane was attempting to get him fired. ^[5] The Philadelphia press was in a tabloid feeding frenzy over the Mendte case, as he was one of the best known celebrities in Philadelphia at that time.^[6]

[edit] Sentencing

On November 24, 2008, Mendte appeared in Philadelphia's federal courthouse for sentencing. Also present were his wife, children, clergy and over twenty extended family members, as well as Alycia Lane herself; Lane and Mendte had not seen each other face to face since her dismissal from CBS3. Mendte's wife Dawn Stensland took the stand and made an impassioned plea to the judge for mercy. She also told Lane that "there is nothing but sorrow in our house." Mendte presented an in-person apology to Lane for "what I did.".

Mendte received a sentence of 3 (later 2/1) years probation, 6 months home confinement, 250 hours of community service, computer monitoring, a psychiatric evaluation, and a $5000 fine. Additionally, he was ordered by the judge to have no further contact with Lane.^[7]

[edit] Filmography

Mendte has a small filmography, having appeared in three movies. All three were made in 1998 or later, and in each one, Mendte has appeared as a television anchor or reporter. Mendte has never acted in more than a cameo style appearance. These films included Primary Colors, Shadow of Doubt, and Snipes.

Mendte has also written and directed four short documentaries. Ben Franklin: Stealing Lightning from the Sky aired across the country on Ben Franklin's birthday in 2006. The documentary questioned whether Ben Franklin really did conduct his famous kite experiment. Later that year Mendte wrote and directed Alex Scott: A Stand for Hope, a short documentary about Alex Scott, founder of Alex's Lemonade Stand. Alex Scott: A Stand for Hope won the award for Best Documentary at the Reno, Oxford, Danville, West Chester, Lake Arrowhead and Reel Award film Festivals. Mendte was also named Best Pennsylvania Film maker for Ben Franklin: Stealing Lightning From the Sky at the West Chester Film Festival. A Stand for Hope also won the Sigma Delta Chi award for best documentary in the country in 2007. The Sigma Delta Chi Awards are given each year by the Society of Professional Journalists. "The Beanie Baby Soldier" and "Brothers in Arm" are two Mendte documentaries about soldiers killed in Iraq, both short documentaries have also been shown at film festivals.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Mendte Report
• Larry Mendte at the Internet Movie Database
• Article in Philadelphia's CityPaper
• Larry Mendte Blog Site
• Larry Mendte Petition

Media offices
Preceded by none	Host of Access Hollywood with Giselle Fernandez 1996–1997	Succeeded by Pat O'Brien with Giselle Fernandez
Preceded by Ken Matz & Renee Chenault-Fattah	NBC10 4pm,6pm & 11pm NBC 10 anchor 1997 – 2003 with Renee Chenault-Fattah	Succeeded by Tim Lake & Renee Chenault-Fattah
Preceded by Marc Howard	CBS 3 6pm & 11pm Eyewitness news anchor 2003 – 2008 (with Alycia Lane) 12/2008 – 1/2008 (solo anchor) 2/2008 – 6/2008 (with Susan Barnett)	Succeeded by Chris May & Susan Barnett

Persondata
NAME	Mendte, Larry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Television news anchor
DATE OF BIRTH	1957-1-19
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lansdowne, Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH