Conan Patrick Nolan is the political reporter for

KNBC-TV KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Co ...

in Los Angeles, NBC-Universal's flagship station for the western

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. 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 Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American author and retired network television journalist. He first served as the co-anchor of Today (American TV program), ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anch ...

and

Bob Abernethy Robert Gordon Abernethy (November 5, 1927 – May 2, 2021) was an American journalist, best known for serving various roles during a 42-year career with NBC News. He later co-created, and was executive editor and host of '' Religion & Ethics News ...

, ''News Conference'' normally broadcasts Sunday mornings following ''

Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television Sunday morning talk show broadcast on NBC. It is the List of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running program on American television, though its format has changed since th ...

'' in the Los Angeles market. Previous hosts include

Warren Olney Warren Olney, Sr. (March 11, 1841 – June 2, 1921) was an American lawyer, conservationist, and politician, in California. He was a founding member, alongside John Muir and the young botany professor, Willis Linn Jepson of the University of ...

, Linda Douglass, and

Jess Marlow Myron Jess Marlow (November 29, 1929 – August 3, 2014) was an American journalist. He was best known for his work on television in Los Angeles, California, where he spent the bulk of his career. Early career Marlow began his television care ...

Early life and education

Nolan is from

San Luis Obispo, California ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

. 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. ...

in 1960. His father later taught political science at

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or Cal Poly) is a public university in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States, - Cites the location of the university and shows that the university ...

. His mother raised five children. Nolan attended

San Luis Obispo High School San Luis Obispo High School, also referred to as "San Luis High" and "SLO High", is an American public high school in San Luis Obispo, California. It is the only non-Continuation high school, continuation public high school within the city. The ...

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 Now! ...

titled “Political Profile,” where he interviewed such figures as

Leon Panetta Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is an American retired politician and government official who has served under several Democratic administrations as secretary of defense (2011–2013), director of the CIA (2009–2011), White House chi ...

, former U.S. Secretary of Defense, who at that time was the congressman representing

San Luis Obispo ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

. Nolan completed his degree in Political Science at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

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 KSBW (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Salinas, California, United States, serving the Monterey Bay area as an affiliate of NBC and ABC. Owned by Hearst Television, the station has studios on John Street ( Highway 68) in downto ...

in the Salinas/

Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census. The city was fou ...

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 (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

's campaign for mayor of

Carmel, California Carmel-by-the-Sea (), commonly known simply as Carmel, is a city in Monterey County, California, located on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 3,220, down from 3,722 a ...

. In July 1986, Nolan was hired by

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-American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind Frank Capra filmography#Films that won Academy Award ...

. 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 NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

from

Candlestick Park Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium located in the Bayview-Hunters Point, Hunters Point area of San Francisco, California, United States. It was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 S ...

moments after the 7.2 magnitude

Loma Prieta earthquake On October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. PST, the Loma Prieta earthquake occurred at the Central Coast of California. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately 10 mi (16 km) ...

(he had been on vacation attending the sporting event at the stadium). In 1992, he broke the investigation into singer/entertainer

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

by the

Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

. In 1994, reported live during the police pursuit while driving in front of

O. J. Simpson Orenthal James Simpson (July 9, 1947 – April 10, 2024), also known by his nickname "the Juice", was an American professional American football, football player, actor, and media personality who played in the National Football League (NFL) ...

’s white

Ford Bronco The Ford Bronco is a model line of SUV, SUVs manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company, Ford. The first SUV model developed by the company, five generations of the Bronco were sold from the 1966 to 1996 model years. A sixth generation of ...

. Nolan also reported from

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

during

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

;

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

during the war in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

;

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

during the anniversary of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

; and in

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

following two massive earthquakes in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, respectively. He has also reported from

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

and the small island of

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...

in the South Pacific. In January 2025, he reported on-site during the Los Angeles wildfire event.

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, lette ...

. He has a

Golden Mike Award The Golden Mike Award is a broadcast journalism award presented by the Radio and Television News Association (RTNA) of Southern California. Awards are given in the categories of television news and radio news. Eligibility is limited to a select g ...

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 television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for a series on the small South Pacific island of

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