John Kennedy O'Connor (born in 1964) is a television and radio broadcaster, author, and entertainment commentator. He was born in North London, England, but is a naturalized citizen of the United States.[1] He has written, reported and broadcast for numerous media organizations, as well as written, created and produced media events for a number of international corporations.[2] He is best known for his work within the Eurovision Song Contest as a TV commentator and host. Until 2023, he was the news anchor for NBC and CBSNorthern California channels KIEM-TV and KVIQ-LD, before moving to CBS Station KIMA-TV in Washington, as the main anchor.
O'Connor's second Eurovision work, The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official Celebration, was published by Carlton Books in April 2015 (ISBN978-1780976389). The book was also published in German and Swedish editions.[5]
Since 2012, O'Connor has been the special host of San Marino RTV's Eurovision coverage, presenting the preview shows. In 2013, he was the first spokesperson of the final.[6] On 17 May, O'Connor presented a EurovisionPopMaster on BBC Radio 2, with Ken Bruce and Paddy O'Connell as the two contestants.
In 2014, together with his CreativeLive co-host Jamarie Milkovic, O'Connor provided English commentary for San Marino RTV live from Copenhagen, Denmark, and did so alone in 2015 for the second semifinal. During the Eurovision finals, he also reported for ABC News Australia, ABC Radio National Australia and once more guested on The Ken Bruce Show on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Breakfast on BBC1.
In 2018, O'Connor was one of the judges for 1in360, the talent show to choose San Marino's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal. He again presented, as the spokesperson, the preview shows for San Marino RTV.
In celebration of the contest returning to the UK after an absence of twenty-five years, O'Connor was chosen to be San Marino's voting spokesman for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 held in Liverpool.
In Australia, O'Connor has become a regular contributor to various ABC Radio National programs, including the now defunct Perspective program, hosted by producer Sue Clark, providing commentary on British and International Politics as well as popular culture issues.[13] Among other stories, O'Connor reported on the underlying racism of the 2008 US General Election, Gordon Brown's accession as British Prime Minister and the international media coverage of the 2007 Australian federal election, for the program.[14] He has also regularly appeared on ABC's Radio National Breakfast Show with Fran Kelly and many local radio stations in Australia and was the featured guest on an hour-long special on the Triple J ABC station.
Since 2013, O'Connor has been the lead on-screen host for the educational broadcaster CreativeLive, fronting a variety of multi-day live broadcasts from the platforms San Francisco studios.
At the end of 2014, it was announced on Twitter and PBS.org that O'Connor was recording a series for PBS on international architecture and was filming the first episode in Kuala Lumpur and San Francisco with César Pelli as the subject. The six-part series (also featuring Norman Foster and I.M.Pei) aired across the US in the summer of 2015. In August 2015, O'Connor was recording a travel series focussing on India, Nepal and Myanmar.
In February 2020, O'Connor became the host of FacebookLive, broadcast bi-weekly on the social network's blueprint platform. In May 2021, O'Connor became the host of the irregular corporate online newscast The Zero Trust Exchange, produced by ZScaler.
From February 2022, O'Connor became the news anchor for NBC and CBS Northern California channels KIEM-TV and KVIQ-LD. In July 2023, he became the main news anchor for CBS station KIMA-TV in Washington.
For the 60th anniversary of Eurovision, The Telegraph ran O'Connor's (accurate) predictions for the result in the run-up to the competition.[18] The Star also ran a detailed discussion of the UK's contest chances for 2015.[19] Previously, Oikotimes.com ran a series of seven articles written by O'Connor in January 2011, tracing the history of Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest. Concurrently, the UK Daily Mail, reporting on the BBC's selection of the group Blue to sing for Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, quoted from an article written by O'Connor for ESCInsight.com.
In 2006, O'Connor was featured in the UK editions of Metro for their "60 Seconds Interview" column.[20] In 2007, O'Connor contributed on camera items for both the Associated Press and Reuters for broadcast, in addition to video spots on AOL's Big Story. Online, he has been interviewed by ESCToday.com[21] and Oikotimes.com[22] about the Eurovision Song Contest.
References
^The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official Celebration. O'Connor, John Kennedy. Carlton Books 2015. ISBN978-1780976389. Page 3
^O'Connor, John Kennedy: The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History, page 2. Carlton Books, UK 2007, ISBN978-1-84442-586-0