Kaity Tong - Career

Career

Tong's television career began as a reporter for KPIX-TV in San Francisco, where she worked from 1976 to 1979. Originally hired as a writer for the station, Tong was asked to do an on-air test and was immediately promoted to a street reporter, where her first on-air story was a report on the new carts that transported people around the airport. In December 1979, she became co-anchor of the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts on KCRA-TV in Sacramento, California where she soon became number one-rated out of all the television news personalities in Sacramento.

Referring to the difficulties of having a family and career, she said at the time: "Anchoring is fun. At one time I wanted to be a network reporter, but now I think that is too difficult a life. One of these days I want to have a baby." In 1981, she moved to WABC-TV in New York City. Within two years, she became co-anchor of the station's 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts, first with co-host Tom Snyder from 1983 to 1984 and with Ernie Anastos until 1986.

She moved to the 6 p.m. newscast, rotating the anchor chair with John Johnson alongside Bill Beutel after Roger Grimsby was fired in 1986, while still co-anchoring the 11 p.m. Eyewitness News with Anastos until he left for WCBS in 1989. Eventually her sole anchor role was the 11 p.m. news, as Beutel became solo anchor of the 6 p.m. broadcast. The two continued as the anchor team for the 11 p.m. newscast. In 1984, she appeared as herself, reporting on the defection of the Soviet circus performer played by Robin Williams in feature film Moscow on the Hudson. She has also played a newscaster in Wolf, Spider-Man, Lost Souls, City Hall, Marci X, Night Falls on Manhattan, and 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate.

Her firing from WABC-TV in 1991 caused considerable outrage, especially since she was replaced by Susan Roesgen, who came from a small Midwestern station and who never adjusted to New York, lasting only a year on WABC-TV. A "Coalition of Asian-American New Yorkers" suggested that Tong's Chinese-American background was the reason. Other supporters of Tong cited her age, which was over 40 at the time, as a main reason for her firing. Others speculated further. Station management stated that Tong was released due to her high salary which was $750,000 per year at the time (the equivalent to $1,193,281 in 2010. Capital Cities/ABC chairman Thomas Murphy said it was "strictly a business decision."

According to Tong, her direct boss Channel 7 Vice President and General Manager Walter Liss acknowledged that Tong's newscast at 11p.m. had the highest ranking in that time slot, but he wanted "...a much bigger No. 1", and had a vision of what the ideal look of how television should be in the 1990s. Tong declined to repeat specifically what Liss's vision was, other than to say, "I am trying hard to take the high road in all of this."

In early 1992, Tong joined WPIX as the station's top female anchor and has been there ever since. She co-anchored the station's 10 p.m. newscast with Marvin Scott from 1992 to 1994, with Jack Cafferty from 1994 to 1998, and with Jim Watkins from 1998 to 2010. She is currently weekend anchor for the station. Tong was involved in a 2010 lawsuit by former news director Karen Scott against WPIX for age discrimination when Scott and other veteran broadcast personnel lost their jobs, later testifying in court.