Laura McKenzie is an American author, television personality, and a two-time

Emmy 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 catego ...

nominated travel host for her TV series ''Laura McKenzie's Traveler''.

Early career

Laura began her career as an

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

reporter, where she developed and became recognized for her informative two-minute "Travel Tips" segments. These instructive news segments were syndicated nationally throughout the 1980s. Post on-air travel tips, Laura had a syndicated Sunday newspaper column, "Laura McKenzie's Travel Tips.” Laura wrote, hosted and produced 42 home video

travel guides A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place designed for the use of visitors or tourists". It will usually include information about sights, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying det ...

for

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

and in the early '90s she was awarded ''Billboard'' Magazine's "Number #1" award and ''Billboard'' Magazine's "Video of the Decade" award for the longest running title in the number one position in the special interest category for "Laura McKenzie's Travel Tips: Hawaii.” Laura has written and hosted numerous television series, including ''Great Moments of the 20th Century'' for

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

(26 hours), ''Laura McKenzie’s Round Trip'' for

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...

(52 half hours), ''Laura McKenzie’s Travel Tips'' for Travel Channel (26 half hours), ''Laura McKenzie’s Travel America'' for Discovery (52 half hours), and ''American Adventurer'', the longest running adventure program on television, with 270 episodes running in syndication and on Discovery. In addition, she has starred in the following TV series: ''Platinum'', ''Exposing the DaVinci Code'', ''Unlocking Ancient Secrets of the Bible'', ''The DaVinci Code Tour'' and ''Baby Animals'' (a children’s series). She has starred in several feature-length motion pictures: '' Chill Factor'', ''Visions'', ''

Red Sun Down Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

'', and '' The Lost Samurai''. Laura co-hosted ''American Adventurer'' for 10 years with

Erik Estrada Henry Enrique Estrada (born March 16, 1949) is an American actor. He is known for his co-starring lead role as California Highway Patrol officer Francis (Frank) Llewelyn "Ponch" Poncherello in the police drama television series '' CHiPs'', which ...

(later her co-host on '' The World's Funniest Moments''). The show aired on

KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). The two stations share studios at the ...

9 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and syndicated to 170 stations in the U.S. and in 100 countries around the world, winning two Telly Awards for "Best Hosts". Her daily travel reports have aired on the

Westwood One Westwood One, Inc. is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1976. The co ...

and

radio networks during the ''America in the Morning'' show, with favorite topics from business travel tips to travel gadget reviews.

Present career

''Laura McKenzie's Traveler'' (produced and syndicated by

Associated Television International Associated Television International is a television production company mainly specializing in American and international syndication through production and distribution. The company is based out of a facility on Empire Ave in Burbank,

) received a

Daytime Emmy The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...

nomination for Outstanding Special Class Writing in 2009 (McKenzie was head writer), and a nomination for Outstanding Special Class Series in 2010. In 2010, the ''Traveler'' episode titled "Vietnam" won the 2010

Gracie Award The Gracie Awards are awards presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWM) in the United States, to celebrate and honor programming created for women, by women, and about women, as well as individuals who have made exemplary contr ...

for 'Outstanding Magazine' from the Alliance for Women in Media, (AWM). She hosted the Christmas Caroler Challenge on the CW with Dean Cain in 2019 and 2020, and co-hosted the 92nd Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade in 2024. She has won several industry awards including Telly Awards, Davey Awards, Hermes Awards and more.

References

https://www.distractify.com/p/laura-mckenzie-christmas-caroler-challenge retrieved 1/1/2021

External links

* * *
"Laura McKenzie's Traveler , The Live Well Network"
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Laura Living people 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses American travel writers Writers from Kansas City, Missouri American women travel writers 1963 births