Wisconsin Is Happy

Anderson Cooper Coming To WISC Weekdays
Veteran Journalist, Author, Host Will Head New 4 PM Talk Show

Updated: 10:44 am CDT May 9, 2011

MADISON, Wis. -- WISC-TV is pleased to announce that beginning this fall, veteran journalist, author, and TV personality Anderson Cooper will head a new hourly daytime talk show, entitled Anderson, that will air weekdays at 4 p.m. on WISC-TV.

Anderson Cooper has been one of television's most recognized, respected, and trusted journalists and hosts since the late nineties, when he began working as a correspondent for ABC News. It was while at ABC that Cooper first began to show off his tremendous range of abilities, becoming the host of the reality show The Mole for its first two seasons.

Deciding he wanted to get back to news full-time after the events of September 11, 2001, Cooper landed at CNN, where he first co-hosted American Morning. In 2003, he was named anchor of the acclaimed nightly program Anderson Cooper 360 , a program that has allowed Cooper to cover some of the major events of the past eight years, including Hurricane Katrina, the Iraqi elections, the BP oil spill, and, most recently, the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Since 2007, Cooper has been a correspondent for CBS's 60 Minutes, and in 2006, he wrote his first memoir, Dispatches From the Edge.

Despite all of his journalistic credits, it is perhaps Cooper's dozens of appearances filling in for Regis Philbin on Live! with Regis and Kelly that made him in many people's minds the heir apparent to Phil Donahue and Oprah Winfrey. On the long-running syndicated talk show, Cooper has proven to be a skilled and knowledgeable interviewer, a good listener, and wickedly funny.

Reflecting the host's many interests, Anderson will have wide appeal as it covers social issues, events and trends, pop culture and celebrity, human interest stories, and personal stories behind the day's headlines. On the new talk show, Cooper plans to dig deep into issues affecting families, going on emotional journeys while focusing on issues and stories relevant to the daytime audience. Like Oprah, Cooper will also feature personal interviews with celebrities, exposing the human side of public people.

As he has proven over the years on his nightly CNN show and filling in for Regis, Cooper can effortlessly and seamlessly cover a breadth of topics with credibility, strength of storytelling, empathy, and humor.

During his career, Cooper has won two Emmy Awards, a National Headliner Award, and the prestigious Peabody Award for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

Anderson will premiere Monday, September 12, following Dr. Phil.

For more information on the program, go to its web site.