Geraldo Rivera Celebrates 50 years in Broadcast Television

Lillian Langtry
3 min readSep 24, 2020

--

Geraldo Rivera ©Fox News

This past Labor Day, 2020 marked Geraldo Rivera’s 50th Anniversary in television. One of America’s most enduring public figures, the Emmy and Peabody-award winning correspondent shares stories of his wild life and high times in a hugely entertaining series available right now on Fox Nation, the Fox News Channels’ digital platform.

Titled “I Am Geraldo, 50 years,” the series chronicled Geraldo’s amazing half-century in broadcasting, beginning with his epic expose on the conditions of the “Willowbrook State School.” In that riveting crusade to close down America’s grim institutions for the developmentally disabled, Geraldo made history. His work is literally still being taught in every school of social work in the nation, forever changing attitudes about the care and treatment of the mentally challenged.

On a personal level, the impact of the series propelled the little-known New York reporter to international stardom. The arc of his unique career and vivid personal life took Geraldo from gritty street reporter to jet set playboy to host of saucy late night and raucous daytime television programs. Probably the last of the Rock and Roll newsmen, Geraldo went everywhere from the killing fields of Iraq and Afghanistan, Central America, Africa and around the globe, including America’s inner cities. He’s interviewed everyone from Yasir Arafat to Fidel Castro, Muhammad Ali to Charles Manson to Donald Trump.

Geraldo Rivera with his wife Erica Rivera and their daughter Sol Rivera ©Little Bobos, Cleveland

Sometimes, the line between news and entertainment blurred in his unplanned, improvisational travel through the ever-changing pop culture landscape, 1970–2020. The Fox Nation series re-airs his infamous, ratings record busting “Al Capones Vault,” as well as his classic interviews with Mick Jagger, Barbra Streisand and Paul McCartney. It also airs Geraldo’s confrontation with violent skinheads, the best studio brawl ever caught on tape. The series culminates with Geraldo returning to reporting. After losing friends and neighbors on 9/11 the series shows how Geraldo left a high profile, highly rated hosting gig at CNBC, taking a huge pay cut to become a War Correspondent for the Fox News Channel.

Now FNC’s Correspondent-at-Large, Geraldo relives history as he shares a treasure trove of amazing footage like the Zapruder film of the assassination of the young and gracious 35th President JFK, and includes interviews with the totally unconventional 45th president, their decades long friendship, their rendezvous on Celebrity Apprentice, and the odds President Trump will be re-elected.

In addition to the four hours on Fox Nation, on Labor Day, Geraldo’s actual 50th anniversary, the Fox News Channel aired a One-Hour Geraldo Special on their broadcast channel.

Follow Geraldo @GeraldoRivera

Geraldo for Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/person/r/geraldo-rivera.html

--

--

Lillian Langtry
Lillian Langtry

Written by Lillian Langtry

Lillian Langtry is a freelance writer covering the latest events, hot spots, charities, influencers, beauty trends and more, from NYC to the Hamptons.