Kenn Venit
His Story
The following is an e-mail from Kenn Venit to Gerry Wilkinson dated 10/21/98 Best regards,
Kenn
Your WRTI website is great! I saw it shortly after a mention in the Alumni Review and contacted Jane Lessner and Marlene Patrick. Your e-mail today was
helpful in updating me about the site, and about the faculty members who were so helpful.
In my basement are cartons of reel-to-reel tapes of my WRTI career. They have not been played in 25 years or more. I have "Broad Street Broadway,"
the Friday night show I did for several years, "Focus on The Femme" with Toby Gordon Dichter (now with Smith, Kline, Becham), and "Horizon," the hour newscast. There are other specials, Studio Schoolhouse, etc. It would be a monumental task to even determine if they have survived.
I can't be at the post-Thanksgiving gathering, but if you know the date of
the next May get-together, please let me know. I keep in touch with Prof. Betsy Leebron at Temple.
I am now 53, and as of November 8, I will be starting my own tv consulting company, "Kenn Venit & Associates." For the past 16 1/2 years, I have been
the vice president/senior consultant for Primo Newservice, Inc., in Greenwich, CT. It was founded by Al Primo, "The Father of Eyewitness News" who was news director at KYW-TV in the Sixties. Prior to that, I worked in news at WFIL-AM-FM-TV, WTIC-AM-FM-TV Hartford-New Haven, WNHC-AM-FM-TV New Haven-Hartford, and WTNH-TV New Haven-Hartford. Among other things, for the past six years, I have been doing talent coaching at The Weather Channel. My
career included time as anchor, reporter, producer, executive producer, managing editor, talk show host, weathercaster and "High School Bowl" moderator.
I have been informed that I will be receiving two "lifetime achievement" honors. On December 1 in Boston, I will be inducted into the Silver Circle of the National Academy of Television Arts & Science New England Chapter. April 10, I will receive a lifetime achievement award from Emerson College/AP/RTNDA New England at their Regional Conference in Braintree, MA. I became a member of Temple's Johnny Ring Society about 20 years ago when I served as president of Temple's alumni chapter in Connecticut.
I have been married for 32 years to Bonni, who was from Hartford and worked
at Temple's School of Education when I was working on my master's degree at Temple's new SCAT. I received my master's degree on the day Prof. Blenheim, my broadcast advisor and mentor, received his PhD. Another guy and I received the first two master's degrees from SCAT.
We have two married daughters, one grandson (and another grandchild due November 4.) I'm attaching some photos of my grandson, Logan, taken at a family wedding this summer. I'm in one of the photos, my wife is in another.
Although my daughter said Logan was not named for the neighborhood in Philly where I grew up, I choose to believe otherwise.
I'm sure that's more than anyone wants to know about me at this point! Thanks for tracking me down and I do hope to meet the gang in 1999. My time at WRTI-AM and WRTI-FM was among the most important activities during my six years at Temple. Although I left Philly in 1969, part of me is still running in those trolley lines and carrier current wires, and shooting through the ether with a whopping 790 watts from atop Conwell Hall!
By the way, 25 years after JFK's death, the Alumni Review printed my memoirs of that tragic weekend on the Temple campus as we mourned the President. Seeing the material on the WRTI website about his campus visit brought back memories...I was part of the coverage team for the Temple News. (I served as news director of WRTI-FM and was an editor on the Temple News, as part of my radio-tv-film & journalism curriculum.)
Please keep in touch and pass along my whereabouts to the WRTI family!
The following is an excerpt of an e-mail from Kenn Venit to Gerry Wilkinson dated 10/22/98 Best regards, Attached (is) another grandson Logan photo...showing him training to do tv weather so he can work for one of my clients, The Weather Channel! (Logan Photo #3)
Thanks for the page! It's great! I will keep Memorial Day Weekend (possible date for the 2nd Annual WRTI Reunion) in mind and hope to be able to get down there. I will pack up some WRTI stuff and bring it along.
Bob Cirillo and I worked at WRTI-FM at the same time...he became station manager, beating me out for the job! He deserved it. I was a hybrid, doing Temple News and 'RTI, whereas he was a purebred --just 'RTI!
I had always hoped to get a job in Philly after leaving WFIL-TV in 1969. I had a shot at a reporting job at WCAU-TV about 20 years ago, but I was so well established in Connecticut, the Philly situation was a step down.
I'm going out on my own because I want to have a better lifestyle, do more things for the fun of it, and live longer. There's risk, but not as much as if I keep on doing what I've been doing for 16 1/2 years!
Anyway, it's great to be linked with you and WRTI!
Kenn
Photo of Kenn Venit and his grandson, Logan
Photo #1 of Logan, Kenn Venit's grandson
Photo #2 of Logan, Kenn Venit's grandson
Photo #3 of Logan, Kenn Venit's grandson (added 10/23/98)
Photo of Logan, Kenn Venit's grandson and Bonni, Kenn's wife
Via e-mail, we received good news from Kenn Venit. He writes: "Our grandson, Douglas Shane, was born November 16, 1998. We were told by the folks who interpret ultrasound images to expect a girl, so we awaited the arrival of Lauren Shane in the birthing room. When the nurse shouted, "It's a boy!" we were shocked, but happy! Douglas weighed in at 7 1/2 pounds, and was 21" in length. Our daughter Joy and her husband Michael were very pleased! (We do not have a great photo yet --one
that meets Joy's standards, but we are working on it!)"
On Monday, June 21, 1999, Kenn's first granddaughter was born. Get the details.
This is the WRTI Old Gang Web Site