Robert Kuehl Goen (born December 1, 1954) is an American

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

emcee and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

personality, best known for his work on ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American first-run syndicated news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Paramount Streaming. ET also airs in Aus ...

'' between 1993 and 2004 and as the fourth and final host of the daytime ''

Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or '' Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art * ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-J ...

'' from 1989 to 1991.

Early life and career

Goen was born in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, but was raised in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

suburb of Lakewood. In a 2009 interview at the Game Show Awards Red Carpet, he stated when he was 5, he always dreamed of becoming a game show host, with the encouragement of

Bob Barker Robert William Barker (born December 12, 1923) is an American retired television game show host. He is known for hosting CBS's '' The Price Is Right'' from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American tele ...

Bill Cullen William Lawrence Francis Cullen (February 18, 1920 – July 7, 1990) was an American radio and television personality whose career spanned five decades. His biggest claim to fame was as a game show host; over the course of his career, he host ...

, Bob Eubanks,

Tom Kennedy Thomas or Tom Kennedy may refer to: Politics * Thomas Kennedy (Scottish judge) (1673–1754), joint Solicitor General for Scotland 1709–14, Lord Advocate 1714, Member of Parliament for Ayr Burghs 1720–21 *Thomas Kennedy, 9th Earl of Cassilis ...

Geoff Edwards Geoffrey Bruce Owen Edwards (February 13, 1931 – March 5, 2014) was an American television actor, game show host, and radio personality. Starting in the early 2000s, he was also a writer and broadcaster on the subject of travel. Background P ...

, Wink Martindale, Monty Hall, among many others, and his dream came true as a young adult. Goen graduated from Lakewood High School in 1972, and from

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

in 1976 with a degree in telecommunications and film. In 1977, he used his college radio experience to land a part-time job at KFOX radio in his native Long Beach, which led to his first full-time job as a disc jockey/producer for KPRO in Riverside, where he was promoted to work as a director. In 1981, he came to television, becoming a sports anchor at

KESQ-TV KESQ-TV (channel 42) is a television station licensed to Palm Springs, California, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Coachella Valley. It is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) alongside five low-power stations: ...

, the ABC affiliate in

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...

Career

In the early 1980s he served as

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's desert-area correspondent. After almost four years in that role, he came to Hollywood, where he has hosted several game shows, including '' Perfect Match'' (syndicated, 1986), ''Home Shopping Game'' with co-host Bob Circosta (syndicated, 1987), '' Blackout'' ( CBS, 1988), '' The Hollywood Game'' (CBS, 1992), ''

Born Lucky ''Born Lucky'' is an American television series in which contestants earned mall money and prizes. It was hosted by Bob Goen and announced by Jonathan Coleman. Four contestants competed in a stunt game show taped at various shopping malls for a ...

'' (

Lifetime Television Lifetime is an American basic cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of A&E Networks, which is jointly owned by Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company. It features programming that is geared toward ...

, 1992) and '' That's the Question'' ( GSN, 2006–2007), which was based on a format from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. His greatest success in this area came as the final host of the daytime network version of ''

'' (CBS, 1989–1991; NBC, 1991). He had a small role in the opening of the 1988 series premiere episode of ''Freddy's Nightmares: A Nightmare On Elm Street: The Series'', "No More Mr. Nice Guy", as a nightly news anchorman and on-scene reporter at the Springwood Municipal Courthouse for the pre-trial hearing of accused mass-murderer Fred Krueger. He served as host for the "Name That Tune" video game released for the Philips CD-i in 1993. He also hosted several

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall St ...

pageants in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

(Manila, Philippines),

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

(Windhoek, Namibia), and

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

(Las Vegas, Nevada). Goen also hosts the annual

AKC National Championship The AKC National Championship is held by the American Kennel Club every year in December or January in the US since 2001. Over 5,000 dogs from all over the world come to compete, but only seven go to best in show. The 2021 AKC National Champion ...

, broadcast on

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily ...

and other channels owned by

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chan ...

. Goen was co-host of GSN Radio with Marianne Curan, his wife. The show debuted on August 18, 2008 and aired its last episode on November 13, 2009. He and Curan moved to

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

in 2012 to work at Warm 98. Goen has hosted live traveling versions of '' Family Feud'' and '' The Price Is Right''. In 2012, he hosted The Price is Right LIVE in Branson, MO. Goen has hosted a locally produced version of '' Let's Ask America'' called '' Let's Ask Cincinnati'' for Scipps'

WCPO-TV WCPO-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer ...

featuring local Cincinnati celebrities and personalities playing for local charities in 2014.

''Entertainment Tonight''

On April 12, 1993, he joined ''

'' as a substitute anchor and a reporter. When John Tesh left ''ET'' on May 30, 1996, to pursue his music career, Goen was promoted to nightly anchor alongside

Mary Hart Mary Hart (born Mary Johanna Harum; November 8, 1950) is an American television personality and actress. She was the long-running host (1982–2011) of the syndicated gossip and entertainment round-up television program '' Entertainment Tonight ...

. Between 1994 and 1996, he hosted the worldwide telecasts of ''Miss Universe'', ''Miss USA'' and ''Miss Teen USA'' Pageants, all for CBS, replacing

Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American radio and television personality, television producer and film actor, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting '' American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 19 ...

. As ''ET'' host, he made guest appearances on two separate movies in 1999. On

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, he covered the attacks on the World Trade Center. In 2003, he interviewed Suzanne Somers about the death of actor John Ritter. In April 2005, Goen voiced a cartoon version of himself on an episode ''

The Fairly OddParents ''The Fairly OddParents'' is an American animated television series created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon. The series follows the adventures of Timmy Turner, a 10-year-old boy with two fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda who grant him ...

''. Goen, playing a character named Bob Glimmer, appeared with

(whose character was named "Fairy Hart") as anchors of a show named ''Fairytainment Tonight''. Goen also appeared as an interviewee on a 1997 episode of the cartoon mock-

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...

Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. In contrast to the original ...

''.

Personal life

In August 2004, after 11 years of serving as ''ET'' anchor, he left to spend more time with his new wife and to pursue other projects.

Mark Steines Mark Anthony Steines (born June 7, 1964) is an American broadcast journalist and actor who was host of the syndicated gossip and entertainment round-up program '' Entertainment Tonight'' from 2004 to 2012, joining the program on August 24, 1995 ...

succeeded him. Goen was married to Sabrina in 1988, and in 1994, had a son, Max. Max is the host of "The GoenLive Podcast." The couple divorced in 1997. In 2004, he married fellow television personality Marianne Curan. In his spare time, Goen does annual charity work for his golfing tournament, The Bob Goen Lexus Invitational, which benefits the

Make-A-Wish Foundation The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in the United States that helps fulfill the wishes of children with a critical illness between the ages of and 18 years old. Make-A-Wish was founded in 1980 and headquart ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goen, Bob 1954 births American game show hosts American infotainers People from Long Beach, California San Diego State University alumni Living people People from Lakewood, California Wheel of Fortune (franchise)