BOOKS
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Mike Walker of The National Enquirer
Author of Malicious Intent
 Mike
Walker is surely one of today's most recognized media
names, whether you're talking print, radio, TV, or books.
Born in Boston, he was reading Dante at 7 with the encouragement
of an uncle who lectured at a local university. Yet, by
16, Walker had left school to join the U.S. Air Force,
where, during a four-year stint, he became interested
in the world of newspapers and taught himself how to be
a working journalist. On leaving the AF, he remained in
the Far East, becoming the youngest ever foreign correspondent
for International News Service (which later merged with
UP to become UPI), and working as a reporter for Tokyo's
Asahi Shimbun, the world's largest newspaper. His
journalism career in Japan included writing a column on
the entertainment world for the Tokyo-based Shipping
and Trade News , the Far East equivalent of the Wall
Street Journal.
While in the Far East, he also worked as a foreign correspondent
for NBC "Monitor," the award-winning news and
news feature radio network show, and as a contributing
editor to The Boston Traveler, London Evening
News, Hong Kong Tiger Standard, and Bunte
(Germany). And he produced an award-winning prime-time
network TV special that revealed twelve Japanese heroes
and the world's only intact Mitsubishi bomber on a Pacific
island forgotten after World War II. (His journalistic
career abroad was certainly enhanced by the fact that,
while living and working in the Far East, Walker learned
to speak fluent Japanese.)
Returning to the States, Walker joined the National
Enquirer. In the 25 years since, he's developed his
two-page "Behind the Screens" gossip column
into the newspaper's most popular and best read feature,
and the Enquirer has become the largest circulation
paper in America--read by 17 million readers weekly. While
continuing his column, he branched out into daily talk
radio, taking on the job of hosting the nationally syndicated
and highly rated radio program, "Mike Walker's Gossip
Page," on the Westwood One (CBS) network. The show
was broadcast on 165 radio stations. Walker is still heard
daily on 24 BBC and independent stations in Great Britain.
In the mid-1990s, with the publication of two New York
Times non-fiction bestsellers, Nicole Brown Simpson:
The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted, co-authored
by Walker with Faye Resnick, and Private Diary of an
O.J. Juror co-authored with Michael Knox, Walker's
name achieved high recognition in the book world.
With successful forays into TV through regular appearances
on "Larry King Live," "Joan Rivers,"
"A Current Affair," "Entertainment Tonight,"
"Politically Incorrect," and "Geraldo"
(more times than any other guest), Walker proved Walker
to be a gregarious, engaging TV personality. His MGM-TV
specials on the entertainment world were big ratings grabbers
in 1998.
Since 1996, Howard Stern, who calls Walker "the Hemingway
of gossip," has featured Walker every Friday on his
top-rated radio show to conduct the "Mike Walker
Game." For those who've not listened in, here's the
way the game works: Sometime during the 7:30 to 8 AM segment,
Stern introduces Walker as the gossip editor of the National
Enquirer. With the time slot's guest ensconced in
the studio, Walker talks gossip with Stern, co-host Robin
Quivers, a show producer, and the guest. Then Stern says,
"Alright, let's play the 'Mike Walker Game.'"
On comes the recorded lead-in, which closes with the booming
tag, "Enquiring Minds Want to Know," and a female
voice saying, "I want to know." Walker then
provides four gossip items, only one of which is false.
The group's object is to guess which one is the red herring.
Often, Walker stumps the panel.
Starting September 13, 1999, Walker will host "National
Enquirer," a highly anticipated half-hour daily TV
program. The show will harness the unique resources of
the National Enquirer and the talent of America's most
popular gossip columnist, Mike Walker. It will offer a
daily roundup of celebrity gossip, entertainment news,
and investigative reports as well as feature stories and
live interviews with the industry's most closely followed
gossip columnists. The nationally syndicated series, produced
by Bogorad/Wyler Productions and distributed by MGM Domestic
Television, will be broadcast in more than 95 percent
of the country.
In addition to all this, Walker, whom Publishers Weekly
has dubbed "The King of Gossip," has successfully
lectured on journalism and gossip at such distinguished
journalism schools as the University of California at
Berkeley and Columbia University. "I'm an historian,"
Walker explains. "I could teach a course in Hollywood
gossip as a Professor of Whisperology."
Walker and his wife of 30 years live in both Palm Beach,
Florida, where they raise horses, and in Los Angeles,
California. They raised two children, both of whom are
grown. Mike
Walker Website |
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