Rose Ann Scamardella (born July 20, 1947) is a former anchorwoman of

WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, WABC-TV maintains studios in the Hudson Square neighborhood ...

's ''

Eyewitness News ''Eyewitness News'' is a style of television presentation that emphasizes visual elements and action videos, instead of the older ,"man-on-camera" style of newscast, and is most prominently featured in the New York City metropolitan area. Hi ...

'' in New York City, and the inspiration for

Gilda Radner Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress and comedian. She was one of the seven Saturday Night Live cast members, original cast members of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy series ...

's character "

Roseanne Roseannadanna Roseanne Roseannadanna is a character created and portrayed by Gilda Radner on '' Weekend Update'' in the early seasons of ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). She was the segment's consumer affairs reporter who, like an earlier Radner character ...

" on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

''.

Biography

Rose Ann Scamardella was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York City, and graduated from

Marymount Manhattan College Marymount Manhattan College is a private college on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. As of 2020, enrollment consisted of 1,571 undergraduate students with women making up 80.1% and men 19.9% of student enrollment. Columbia University Masters ...

with a B.A. in sociology in 1968. After working for Gerald Freedman, a stockbroker, for "a couple of years" by her own account, she became the personnel director of an export company. By 1972, referred to in ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' as "Roseann" Scamardella, she was working as what the paper identified only as a "television journalist". Accounts of her hiring at

'' vary. Howard Weinberg, a producer then with the Educational Broadcasting Corporation, owner of

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...

, recounts that he "responded to concerns for newsroom diversity and he WABCNews Director's complaints that he couldn't find an

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

correspondent; found Rose Ann, ... coached her, worked with her." Scamardella said in 1975 that while she was employed at the export firm and working to get her master's degree in sociology at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, "I get this call that the

Human Rights Commission A human rights commission, also known as a human relations commission, is a body set up to investigate, promote or protect human rights. The term may refer to international, national or subnational bodies set up for this purpose, such as nationa ...

is looking for an Italian-American girl. ... So they took me, sitting on

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

cases. Then the news director here at ABC at the time, Al Primo, was looking for an Italian girl. ... Al talked to me for about five minutes and hired me. I went on the air two weeks later, scared stiff. I got no training at all.

Correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

Geraldo Rivera Geraldo Rivera (born Gerald Rivera; July 4, 1943) is an American journalist, attorney, author, and political commentator who worked at the Fox News Channel from 2001 to 2023. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Geraldo'' from 1987 to 1998. He g ...

took me around on some stories a few nights, but that was it." Scamardella began as a reporter and later became an anchor for the broadcast in 1978. She was mostly known as a co-anchor with

Ernie Anastos Ernie Anastos (born July 12, 1943) is a New York Emmy award winning television news anchor and talk show host on WABC (770 AM) with ''Positively Ernie'' focusing on uplifting stories and interviews. He is also a children’s author and host of hi ...

on the weeknight 11 p.m. edition of ''Eyewitness News'' during the late 1970s and early 1980s. She remained in that position until leaving WABC-TV in 1983. She returned to New York local television in May 1999 to present a two-part report on the plight of

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

n refugees in Brooklyn for

WNYW-TV WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship WWOR ...

's ''Ten O' Clock News.'' She went on to teach at the

Salisbury School Salisbury School is an elite all-boys, private college-preparatory boarding school in Salisbury, Connecticut. It was founded in 1901 by the Reverend George E. Quaile, former headmaster of St. Austin's Military School in Staten Island, New Yo ...

Salisbury, Connecticut Salisbury () is a New England town, town situated in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town is the northwesternmost in the state of Connecticut; the Connecticut-Massachusetts-New York tri-state marker is located at the northwest ...

, during the 1990s and into 2000. After this, Scamardella co-hosted a television show, ''Crossroads Magazine.'' She was partnered with Father John Gatzak on the show, which was produced in cooperation with the Office of Radio and Television of the

Archdiocese of Hartford The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Hartford () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Connecticut in the United States. It is a metropolitan see. It was established as the Diocese of Hartford in 1843, whe ...

; it aired on two

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

television stations, CW20 and MyTV9.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scamardella, Rose Ann American television journalists American women television journalists Journalists from Brooklyn Television anchors from New York City 1947 births Living people Marymount Manhattan College alumni American people of Italian descent 21st-century American women