36 | NOVEMBER 19 • 2020

I

n his recently released memoir
and Amazon bestseller Enough
to Be Dangerous, Mort Meisner,
president of a TV news talent agen-

cy and PR agency in Royal Oak,
dishes about his career as a concert
promoter — promoting acts such
as Kiss and Bruce Springsteen while
attending Oak Park High School —
and his TV news career, growing up
in an abusive household and over-
coming a cocaine addiction.
The book has garnered great
reviews — well deserved. It’
s a fun
dive into the experiences of a larger-
than-life character who takes the
reader on a no-holds-barred and
honest ride through his 43-year
career in broadcast news, which
began at WXYZ-ABC in Detroit,
took him to major network sta-
tions in Chicago and St. Louis, and
concluded at Detroit’
s WJBK Fox 2
News.
Many faces familiar to Detroit
TV viewers were mentored and/or
represented by Mort: at Channel 7
(including Glenda Lewis, Jennifer
Schanz and Diana Lewis), and at
Channel 2 (Taryn Asher). He also
helped bring popular anchor Huel
Perkins to Fox 2 News.
“One of the reasons I wrote this

book is to expose what happens
behind closed doors in the media,
”
he said.
Prior to the book’
s release, Mort
blogged about many times in his
career when he witnessed female
co-workers endure sexist behavior
from their male colleagues, and
Black co-workers were shut out
of job opportunities by high-level
white men. He said that TV news
managers would use offensive labels
for black male reporters, calling
them “garbagemen” and assigning
them the worst stories.
“Unfortunately, the racism and
sexism that I witnessed during the
’
80s and ’
90s are still a problem in
some newsrooms,
” he added.
He also writes about getting
addicted to cocaine along the way.
“I pissed away a lot of money and a
$100K a year job. Am I ashamed?
No, but I was. Do I have guilt? No,
but I did,
” he said. “Because of my
drug addiction, I met people I oth-
erwise would not have met, includ-
ing my best friend in Texas and a
guy I have coffee with every day.
”

ARTS&LIFE
ON THE COVER

Mort Meisner battled
childhood poverty,
addiction and loss
of faith to become a
TV news kingmaker.

JACKIE HEADAPOHL ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Spotlight

From the
Shadows

to
the

continued on page 38

COURTESY OF MORT MEISNER

Mort with his parents while he was

at WLS (ABC in Chicago) in 1983.