Conan Patrick Nolan is the political reporter for
KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, NBC-Universal's flagship station for the western
United States. He is also the host of the station's ''News Conference'' program, one of the nation's longest running local political/public affairs shows. Established in 1966 by
Tom Brokaw and
Bob Abernethy, ''News Conference'' normally broadcasts Sunday mornings following ''
Meet the Press'' in the Los Angeles market. Previous hosts include
Warren Olney,
Linda Douglass, and
Jess Marlow.
Early life and education
Nolan is from
San Luis Obispo, California
San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfwa ...
. His father Thomas F. Nolan, a former U.S. diplomat, was an unsuccessful candidate for the
California State Senate
The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, Cal ...
in 1960. His father later taught political science at
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Un ...
. His mother raised five children.
Nolan attended
San Luis Obispo High School and spent two years studying journalism. During that period, he volunteered at various radio stations and briefly hosted a program on public station
KCBX-FM
KCBX (90.1 FM) is a non-commercial radio station that is licensed to San Luis Obispo, California. The public radio station is a member station of NPR and airs a wide variety of programming, including '' All Things Considered'', '' Democracy ...
titled “Political Profile,” where he interviewed such figures as
Leon Panetta, former
U.S. Secretary of Defense
The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The se ...
, who at that time was the congressman representing
San Luis Obispo.
Nolan completed his degree in Political Science at the
University of California, Davis.
Broadcasting career
Nolan's first full-time broadcasting position was at
KVEC-AM radio in San Luis Obispo, where he served as the Assistant News Director. Two years later, he moved to television, first as a weekday reporter and weekend sports anchor at
KSBY-TV. He later moved to
KSBW-TV in the
Salinas/
Monterey market. Among the stories he covered was actor
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
's campaign for mayor of
Carmel, California.
In July 1986, Nolan was hired by
KNBC-TV News Director Tom Capra, the former executive producer of
''The Today Show'' and son of film director
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-born American film director, producer and writer who became the creative force behind some of the major award-winning films of the 1930s ...
. Over the course of his career, he has covered numerous fires, floods, earthquakes, police chases and riots. In 1989, he reported live for
NBC News from
Candlestick Park moments after the 7.2 magnitude
Loma Prieta earthquake
The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of t ...
(he had been on vacation attending the sporting event at the stadium). In 1992, he broke the investigation into singer/entertainer
Michael Jackson by the
Los Angeles Police Department. In 1994, reported live during the police pursuit while driving in front of
O. J. Simpson
Orenthal James Simpson (born July 9, 1947), nicknamed "Juice", is an American former football running back, actor, and broadcaster who played for the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. Once a popular figure ...
’s white
Ford Bronco.
Nolan also reported from
Iraq during
Operation Iraqi Freedom
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
;
Pakistan during the war in
Afghanistan;
Lebanon during the anniversary of the
September 11 attacks; and in
Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
and
Tokyo,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
following two massive earthquakes in
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
and
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
, respectively. He has also reported from
Rome,
Tel Aviv,
Mexico City and the small island of
Tuvalu in the South Pacific.
Awards
Nolan was selected in 2010 as the television “Journalist of the Year” for the Los Angeles chapter of the
Society of Professional Journalists
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...
.
He has a
Golden Mike Award for a story chronicling the plight of Afghan refugee children along the Pakistani frontier and has a regional
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for a series on the small South Pacific island of
Tuvalu in its struggle against global warming.
Personal life
Nolan is married to Julie Dear Nolan. The couple have one son, Jefferson.
References
External links
KNBC- Talent Biography*http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2011/11/02/i-dont-keep-my-emmy-in-the-bathroom/personalities/in-the-green-room/
*https://web.archive.org/web/20170531213240/https://www.president.usc.edu/conan-nolan/
*https://www.pressrush.com/author/5070303/conan-nolan
*http://spjla.org/spjla-announces-2010-distinguished-journalist-honorees/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nolan, Conan
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
People from Glendale, California
American political journalists
American television reporters and correspondents
University of California, Davis alumni
Journalists from California