Danuta Pfeiffer (née Rylko, formerly Soderman) (born February 22, 1949) is a retired journalist, broadcaster, and author, best known for co-hosting ''

The 700 Club ''The 700 Club'' is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing each weekday in syndication in the United States and available worldwide on CBN.com. The news magazine program features live guests, daily news, p ...

'' from 1983 to 1988 with

Pat Robertson Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (March 22, 1930 – June 8, 2023) was an American Media proprietor, media mogul, Televangelism, televangelist, political commentator, presidential candidate, and charismatic movement, charismatic minister. Rober ...

and Ben Kinchlow.

Biography

Born in England after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

to a father who was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

emigre and sculptor and an English mother who was a nurse, Danuta Rylko moved to the United States as a child, with her family, shortly after her birth. She grew up in northern

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, near Bellaire. She began her career in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

as a newsreader on radio, and co-host of ''SunUp San Diego'' on

KFMB-TV KFMB-TV (channel 8) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with CBS, The CW, and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Tegna Inc., it has studios on Engineer Road in the Kearny Mesa section of San Diego, and its transmitter i ...

from 1976 to 1983."CATCHING UP". John Farina. ''The San Diego Union-Tribune''. (January 14, 1985 Monday). (retrieved via Lexis) Rylko was hired by the

Christian Broadcasting Network The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is an American Christian media production and distribution organization. Founded in 1960 by Pat Robertson, it produces the long-running TV series ''The 700 Club'', co-produces the ongoing ''Superbook (198 ...

after becoming a

born again Christian To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is d ...

. Initially hired to be CBN's foreign correspondent in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, she was instead made co-host of ''The 700 Club'' days after arriving at CBN's headquarters in

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the most populous city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeastern Virginia. It is the sixth-most populous city in the ...

. Reflecting on her experiences in her memoirs, she wrote: "But no one ever asked me about my politics. I was converted by association from my liberal democratic feminism to conservative Republican fundamentalism. I felt like a wolf in sheep’s clothing adapting somewhat awkwardly to becoming one of the sheep." In 1985, she broke the story of the John Anthony Walker spy ring when she interviewed Walker's daughter, Laura Walker Snyder, for CBN. During the interview, Snyder detailed how her father had allegedly intimidated and manipulated his children into becoming spies. She was fired by Robertson in 1988 after he learned that her then-husband, Kai Soderman, had previously been twice married and divorced. She married Swedish businessman Kai Soderman in 1983, six months after joining ''The 700 Club''. Soderman was a suicidal alcoholic and the two eventually divorced after she moved back to California. She ceased being a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

as a result of her experiences at CBN and returned to San Diego where she hosted ''Danuta Time'', on

KSDO KSDO is a radio station in San Diego, California, broadcasts at 1130 KHz. The station is licensed for 10,000 watts of power from a directional antenna system, but has been operating since 2016 with 2,500 watts non-directional from a different sit ...

radio in the late 1980s and was also a news commentator on

KUSI-TV KUSI-TV (channel 51) is an independent television station in San Diego, California, United States. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Fox affiliate KSWB-TV (channel 69). The two stations share studios on Viewridge Avenue (near I- ...

in the early 1990s. She moved to

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, where she was a columnist for the ''Colorado Eagle'', before moving to

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

in 1994 to be closer to her family. There she met and married her second husband, Robin Pfeiffer, a winery owner, in 1994. Since 1994, she has been co-owner, with her husband, of Pfeiffer Winery in Oregon. In 2016, she supported

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

presidential campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

. Pfeiffer has written a memoir called ''Chiseled: A Memoir of Identity, Duplicity, and Divine Wine'' (2015) about her life in general as well as her experiences with CBN. She has also written ''Libertas'' (2021), and ''Firmitas'' (2022) the first two novels of a trilogy, ''A Pocket Full of Seeds'', telling the story of a couple escaping slavery and travelling the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

Bibliography

*''Watersafe Your Baby in One Week'' (as Danuta Rylko), 1983 *''Dear Danuta: Cries and Whispers of Searching Hearts'' (as Danuta Soderman), 1986 *''A passion for living'' (co-authors: Danuta Soderman & Kai Soderman), 1987 *''Chiseled: A Memoir of Identity, Duplicity, and Divine Wine'' (as Danuta Pfeiffer), 2015 *''Libertas: Book One in the Pocket Full of Seeds Trilogy'', 2021 *''Firmitas: Book Two in the Pocket Full of Seeds Trilogy'', 2022

References

External links

websiteInside the 700 Club: Pat Robertson's former co-host speaks out
– article by Danuta Pfeiffer for

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) is a progressive left-leaning media critique organization based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1986 by Jeff Cohen and Martin A. Lee. FAIR monitors American news media for bias, inaccur ...

C-SPAN interview on her memoir
2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pfeiffer, Danuta Living people American women television hosts American talk radio hosts American women radio journalists Converts to evangelical Christianity from Roman Catholicism American women memoirists American people of English descent American people in the wine industry People from Junction City, Oregon 1949 births American women television journalists American television talk show hosts Radio personalities from San Diego Former Pentecostals American people of Polish descent English emigrants to the United States American former Christians American women historical novelists American historical novelists