Paul Linnman

Biography

Paul Linnman (born January 25, 1947) is an American former television news reporter and anchor in Portland, Oregon, and radio personality in the same city. He is perhaps best known for his 1970 KATU report on the attempt by the Oregon Highway Division to dispose of a dead, beached whale by exploding it (beaches open to motor vehicles are considered state highways in Oregon). He worked for more than 30 years as a television news reporter, host and anchor, from 1967–1972 and 1978–2004. He had a talk radio show on KEX 1190 AM from 2003 to 2014, and subsequently has worked as a media consultant. He began his broadcast career in 1967, when he was hired by Portland's ABC affiliate, KATU. His initial stint working at KATU lasted through 1972 and included various jobs, among them news assignment editor, sports director and investigative reporter. He left the station in January 1973, to join the staff of then-new City Commissioner Mildred Schwab, as an executive assistant. At the time, he had not intended to return to broadcast journalism, he told The Oregonian in a 1978 interview. In January 1978, he was hired by KGW, Portland's NBC affiliate station, to become the new co-host of a local magazine program named Evening, which had been airing every weeknight in the early evening since 1975. The Evening program was replaced in September 1979 by PM Magazine, a nationally syndicated program with a similar format and local hosts at each affiliate station, and Linnman also served as one of its regular co-hosts while at KGW. At the end of 1983, Linnman left KGW to return to KATU, to host a new daily one-hour afternoon local features program, Two at Four, scheduled to debut in January 1984. He remained with KATU for the next 20 years. In September 1987, Linnman returned to news broadcasting, when KATU made him the anchor of its 6:30 p.m. weekday newscast. In 2003, Linnman began hosting a morning talk show on Portland radio station KEX. In August 2004, he left KATU in order to focus exclusively on his KEX radio show, which continued until 2014. Since 2014, he has worked as a media consultant.