Asa Aarons (born Asa Smith, October 20, 1956) is an American consumer reporter,
photojournalist
Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...
, and co-creator of "Just Ask Asa!" His reports focus on the problems, concerns and realities of everyday life, ranging from false advertising claims to credit card rip-offs and business swindles. Aarons has appeared on television stations in cities including
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
,
Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
and
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
. He appeared on
WNBC
WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey� ...
in NYC from 1993 until the NBC 2.0 budget cuts in 2007.
Biography
He established the proprietary "Ask Asa" brand and developed the expression into a catchphrase for consumers seeking assistance. His work was featured on television and the station's mobile Internet-based platform. Following WNBC, he was hired by local cable station
NY1 News
NY1 (also officially known as Spectrum News NY1 and spoken as New York One) is an American cable news television channel founded by Time Warner Cable, which itself is owned by Charter Communications through its acquisition in May 2016. The cha ...
as its employment reporter.
In 1998, he began writing a newspaper column for the ''
New York Daily News
The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...
'', which appeared four times a week. He has made numerous guest appearances on The Today Show, nationally televised talk shows such as
Maury Povich
Maurice Richard Povich (born January 17, 1939) is an American former television personality, best known for hosting the tabloid talk show '' Maury'' which aired from 1991 to 2022. Povich began his career as a radio reporter, initially at WWDC an ...
and
Sally Jesse Raphael
Sally Lowenthal (born February 25, 1935), better known as Sally Jessy Raphael, is an American retired talk show host, who is best known for her program '' Sally'' (originally called ''The Sally Jessy Raphael Show'').
Early life and education
Lo ...
, and on programs on
MSNBC
MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...
and
CNBC
CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...
. Before moving to New York, Aarons appeared from 1990 to 1993 on
WDIV
WDIV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves as the flagship broadcast property of the Graham Media Group subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. WDIV-TV maintains studio facilit ...
in Detroit, where he also wrote a consumer column for ''
The Detroit News
''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United S ...
'' and hosted a consumer call-in radio shows. He worked at
WPXI
WPXI (channel 11) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Cox Media Group. The station's offices and studios are located on Evergreen Road in the Summer Hill (Pittsburgh), Summer Hill ...
in Pittsburgh from 1984 until 1990, where he also hosted a 30-minute consumer/health show called "Your Money or Your Life."
He worked in several smaller television markets in Ohio early in his career:
Toledo
Toledo most commonly refers to:
* Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain
* Province of Toledo, Spain
* Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States
Toledo may also refer to:
Places Belize
* Toledo District
* Toledo Settlement
Bolivia
* Toledo, Or ...
,
Youngstown
Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...
,
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
and
Cleveland
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
. He won Emmy awards for stories in Cleveland (1982), Detroit (1992) and New York City (2007).
Aarons is a native of Toledo, Ohio. He is married to writer Noreen Seebacher. They have five children and live in the
Savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...
, GA area.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aarons, Asa
American advice columnists
Living people
1956 births
20th-century American journalists
21st-century American journalists
New York Daily News people
Writers from Toledo, Ohio
Journalists from Ohio
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
The Detroit News people
American male journalists