Kaity Tong

Born

1947-07-23

Biography

Kaity Tong (Chinese: 董恺悌; pinyin: Dǒng Kǎitì; born July 23, 1947) is a Chinese-born American broadcast journalist. She has been a television news anchor in New York City since 1981. 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 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 the 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."[6] 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 Tom Snyder from 1983 to 1984 and later 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. broadcast with Anastos until he left for WCBS in 1989. Eventually, her sole anchor role was the 11 p.m. news, as Beutel became a solo anchor of the 6 p.m. broadcast. In 1984, she appeared as herself, reporting on the defection of the Soviet circus performer played by Robin Williams in the feature film Moscow on the Hudson. She has also played a newscaster in Wolf, City Hall, Marci X, Night Falls on Manhattan, and the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate.