Larry Kane, 84, a longtime Philadelphia broadcaster known for his Beatles coverage and interviews with eight presidents, has officially retired after more than six decades in journalism.
The Brooklyn native began in Miami radio at 15. In 1961, while based there, he became the first U.S. correspondent to report the Bay of Pigs invasion after receiving a tip from friends in the city’s Cuban exile community.
Kane moved to Philadelphia in 1965 as an anchor at WFIL Radio and WFIL-TV, which later became WPVI-TV. He was the face of the station’s “Action News” format when it launched in 1970, helping develop its fast-paced style with 90-second story limits and expanded coverage of city and suburban affairs. Then 26, he helped shape the newscast’s conversational tone and coined its signature line, “The big story on ‘Action News’ is ...”
He was the only American journalist to travel with the Beatles on every stop of their 1964-65 North American tours after writing to manager Brian Epstein. The assignment led to a decades-long connection with band members, which he later detailed in two books. In 1975, he covered John Lennon’s visit to WPVI studios.
Kane’s interviews also included two popes and civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. He hosted numerous Philadelphia mayoral debates and received the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award for his coverage of the 1985 MOVE bombing. He has won multiple Emmy Awards, including a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Board of Governors Award in 2005 for lifetime achievement as a Philadelphia anchor.
Kane is the only local news anchor to have worked at WPVI, NBC10 and CBS3. He spent a brief period with ABC News in New York in the late 1970s, covering the city’s 1977 blackout and anchoring primetime national segments while commuting from Philadelphia. He later returned to NBC10 for nearly 15 years, followed by about a decade at CBS3.
For the past 23 years, he has been a special contributor and radio commentator for KYW Newsradio.
He was the only American journalist to travel with the Beatles on every stop of their 1964-65 North American tours after writing to manager Brian Epstein. The assignment led to a decades-long connection with band members, which he later detailed in two books. In 1975, he covered John Lennon’s visit to WPVI studios.
Kane’s interviews also included two popes and civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. He hosted numerous Philadelphia mayoral debates and received the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award for his coverage of the 1985 MOVE bombing. He has won multiple Emmy Awards, including a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Board of Governors Award in 2005 for lifetime achievement as a Philadelphia anchor.
Kane is the only local news anchor to have worked at WPVI, NBC10 and CBS3. He spent a brief period with ABC News in New York in the late 1970s, covering the city’s 1977 blackout and anchoring primetime national segments while commuting from Philadelphia. He later returned to NBC10 for nearly 15 years, followed by about a decade at CBS3.