Posted on 03/15/2015 5:47:04 PM PDT by nickcarraway
This week’s installment of “American Greed” marks the 100th episode of the CNBC documentary series on frauds, hustlers and other white-collar criminals, created and produced by Chicago-based Kurtis Productions.
Airing at 9 p.m. Thursday, the profile of Barry Minkow, who began a carpet-cleaning business as a teenager and amassed a fortune as a con man, hits a milestone for “American Greed” and the company founded by Chicago television news icon Bill Kurtis.
Bill Kurtis Bill Kurtis “When we started in 2007, we knew we were onto something big,” Kurtis said. “But we had no idea how big. With each year, it seems white-collar crime and prosecutions become more prevalent. Greed shows no signs of slowing down.”
In part Kurtis can thank the financial crisis of 2008 for inspiring an abundance of fraud schemes for his show to document. To date the series has reported on more than $49.2 billion in losses by investors. “You know what they say about an ill wind,” he said. “For us, greed has been good.”
Since Kurtis was under an exclusive contract to A&E when he launched “American Greed,” he wasn’t able to narrate the series for CNBC, a competing network. So he hired actor Stacey Keach, who continues to voice the sordid tales of financial deception, now into their ninth season.
Coming up March 9 on “American Greed” will be the real-life story of “The Wolf of Wall Street,” former New York stockbroker Jordan Belfort.
“American Greed” is the second series from Kurtis Productions to reach triple-digits. A&E’s “Cold Case Files” ran for seven years and more than 125 episodes. “We’ve been fortunate to have two incredibly successful and long-running series,” Kurtis said. “It’s increasingly rare in the business, but we keep the networks happy and the viewers enthralled.”
He’s still alive?!
Yup! And VERY greedy, making a fortune.
A Topeka boy...
I heard when I lived in Topeka that he became famous for his broadcast as the city was being hit by the F5 tornado in 1966.
He was on a local station as it was roaring down Burnett’s Mound.
Kurtis’s famous words were “for God’s sake take cover.” Pretty direct—about what you’d expect from a former Marine Corps officer. But it brought him to the attention of CBS and got him a slot at WBBM in Chicago. Paired on the anchor desk with Walter Jacobsen, they dominated local news ratings in Chicago for more than a decade. In fact, it wasn’t until WLS-TV hired Dennis Swanson as a news director that Kurtis was dethroned. Swanson’s strategy was to recruit his own team of legends, bringing Floyd Kalber back to anchor the 6 pm news and hiring John Drury for the 10 pm show.
Kurtis is a legend in the business and as WBBM slipped in the ratings, he began to devote more time to his production business. Smart move.’
The whole quote is :
‘The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word, is good.’
Define ‘Greed’.
He worked for WIBW, owned by Stauffer Publications at the time. I met him briefly when I worked for another Stauffer station.
He’s done well.
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