Michael Smerconish facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Michael Smerconish
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Smerconish in 2018
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| Born | March 15, 1962 (age 63) Doylestown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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| Education | Lehigh University (BA) University of Pennsylvania (JD) |
| Occupation | SiriusXM host, CNN and CNN International host, columnist, author, political analyst, lawyer |
| Political party | Republican (before 2010) Independent (2010–present) |
| Spouse(s) | Lavinia Nardini |
Michael Andrew Smerconish (born March 15, 1962) is an American who works in many interesting fields! He is a radio host, a TV presenter, a political commentator, an author, and a lawyer. He hosts The Michael Smerconish Program on SiriusXM radio and has a weekly show on CNN and CNN International. He used to write a Sunday column for The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. Michael Smerconish has written seven books and works as a lawyer at a firm in Philadelphia.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Michael Smerconish was born on March 15, 1962, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. His mother's family came from Montenegro, a country in Europe. His father's family came from a village in what is now Southeast Poland.
He went to Central Bucks High School West. Then, he earned his first degree from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. After that, he got a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Michael grew up in a family that supported the Republican Party. When he was a teenager, he even wrote letters to Frank L. Rizzo, who was the Democratic mayor of Philadelphia. In 1980, he helped his father campaign for a spot in the Pennsylvania state legislature. That same year, he started a group called "Youth for Reagan/Bush" at Lehigh University. While studying law, he tried to run for the Pennsylvania state legislature himself, but he did not win the primary election.
After this, Michael continued his law studies and worked on political campaigns. In 1986, he helped manage the Philadelphia campaign for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter. In 1987, he was the political director for Frank Rizzo's campaign for mayor, which was not successful.
Career Highlights
After finishing law school, Michael Smerconish started a business with his brother. When he was 29, he was chosen to be a regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Philadelphia. This was during the time George H. W. Bush was president.
After George H. W. Bush lost the election in 1992, Michael spent ten years working as a lawyer. He worked with a famous trial lawyer named James E. Beasley. He helped many different clients, including the Philadelphia police and a professional boxer. Today, Michael Smerconish still works as a lawyer at the firm Kline & Specter.
For a long time, Michael Smerconish only supported Republican presidential candidates. But on October 19, 2008, he decided to support Barack Obama for president. He wrote an essay where he explained his reasons. He felt that the Republican Party needed to be more moderate on social issues to appeal to more voters.
In 2010, Michael Smerconish announced that he was no longer a member of the Republican Party. He later voted for Gary Johnson in the 2016 election. Many people noticed his shift to being more in the middle of politics. The Washington Post newspaper wrote that he believed there was a "great untapped center" in politics.
Media Work
Michael Smerconish first appeared on the radio in Philadelphia in 1990. He started as a guest, then became a guest-host. By 1993, he had his own Sunday night radio show, while also working as a lawyer. In 1996, he moved to weekend mornings. He left that station in 1997 and joined another radio station, WPHT. He first worked in the afternoons, then took over the morning show in 2003.
In February 2009, Michael Smerconish's radio show started being heard all over the country. On August 20, 2009, he became the first talk radio host to interview President Barack Obama live from the White House. He has also interviewed other presidents like Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. He has also spoken with vice presidents like Al Gore, Dick Cheney, and Joe Biden.
Michael Smerconish's TV career started with local appearances in Philadelphia. This led to him appearing on national TV channels like CNN and MSNBC. He was often on CNN's TalkBack Live. He also filled in as a host for other shows, like Scarborough Country and Hardball on MSNBC.
In 2013, Michael Smerconish moved his radio show to Sirius XM’s POTUS Channel. He said he wanted to have discussions that were not just about one political party, especially after leaving the Republican Party. In 2014, he left MSNBC to host his own show on CNN, which airs on Saturdays.
To celebrate 30 years in talk radio, Michael Smerconish released a one-man film about his life called Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Talking. It first aired on CNN in July 2020 and then became a special on Hulu.
Books Written
After the September 11, 2001, attacks, Michael Smerconish became very interested in the investigation into what happened. He wrote about a question asked by a commissioner about airport security. His research led him to speak before a Senate committee. He then wrote a book called Flying Blind: How Political Correctness Continues to Compromise Airline Safety Post 9/11 (2004). He gave all the money from this book to a memorial for the 9/11 victims.
His second book, Muzzled: From T-Ball to Terrorism (2007), became a New York Times bestseller. This book talked about how being "politically correct" can make it harder to fight terrorism. Michael Smerconish also gave the money from his third book, Murdered by Mumia (2007), to a charity.
In Morning Drive: Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Talking (2009), Michael Smerconish shared his thoughts on his career and how his political views changed. His fifth book, Instinct: The Man Who Stopped the 20th Hijacker (2009), told the true story of Jose Melendez-Perez. He was a customs officer who helped stop a person who was planning to be a hijacker before 9/11. Michael Smerconish donated the money from this book to the Flight 93 National Memorial.
Michael Smerconish's first fiction book, Talk: A Novel (2014), is a story about a conservative talk show host. This host has to decide whether to keep repeating what he is told or to stay true to what he believes. A TV company bought the rights to make this novel into a show. His next book, Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right (2018), was a collection of 100 of his newspaper columns. He gave the money from this book to a children's treatment center. He also created a one-man show based on his columns, which he performed across the U.S.
Awards and Recognition
Michael Smerconish has received three special honorary degrees from universities. He got a Doctor of Humane Letters from Widener University in 2016 and another from Delaware Valley College in 2018. In 2020, he received a Doctor of Science from the University of the Sciences.
He has also won many awards for his work in media. Talkers Magazine named him one of America’s most important talk show hosts. In 2003, he was listed among Pennsylvania's most important political figures. In 2006, he was honored as the nation's Local Personality of the Year. He was also a finalist for a Marconi Award in 2011 for being a great network host. Philadelphia magazine named him the city's best talk show host in 2004.
In 2024, Michael Smerconish was given a rating of +1.8 by Ad Fontes Media. This rating shows that he is one of the most balanced media figures, with zero meaning the very center of political views. This matches Michael Smerconish's goal to give fair and balanced news that goes beyond just one political side. Ad Fontes Media is a group that checks how reliable and biased news sources are. They want to help reduce strong disagreements and bring people together. Michael Smerconish's near-center rating from Ad Fontes shows his dedication to balanced reporting.
Images for kids
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Smerconish in 2018
