Former Spokane News Anchor Likes Talk-Show Format

Maureen O’Boyle was defensive about not having to be defensive.

“Ultimately, I can only do the job I do,” said the former Spokane television news anchor who now hosts the “In Person with Maureen O’Boyle” daytime talk show. “I don’t feel I have to defend our show.”

Many TV talk-show hosts probably feel pushed to the wall these days. Along with attacks from observers who find the genre pointless and degrading have come questions about the potential harm done by the “ambush” interviews so prized by series such as The Jerry Springer Show and, tragically, The Jenny Jones Show.

Recently, a Jenny Jones guest was convicted of killing a fellow guest who had revealed a crush on him.

“I feel so bad that they call it ‘the Jenny Jones murder case,”’ O’Boyle said, “because Jenny Jones didn’t murder anyone. This was a disturbed person. But it’s really not my place to comment on it, since it’s produced by the same company as ours.”

Her syndicated show, which premiered in September (weekdays at 3 p.m. on Spokane’s KREM-2, where she once worked), is different from its more raucous, irresponsible brethren, O’Boyle insisted.

“Some talk shows are purely entertainment,” she said. “I approach my show from a journalistic perspective. I’m a stickler for the people on our show being real, honest and really wanting to deal with the topic.”

While her first national exposure came with “A Current Affair,” the tabloid show she hosted from 1988-94 after leaving KREM, O’Boyle began her TV career in local news in such cities as Greenville, N.C., and Macon, Ga.

What enticed her about the talk-show format, she explained, was the chance to inject opinions and show emotion.

“In all of my career, I’ve had a barrier between myself and the viewer,” O’Boyle said. “Now I have the opportunity to be on television as myself. It’s a challenge. It’s like being naked after years of being an anchor.”

How does she respond to critics of her show?

“If I was loved by everybody on the planet, I wouldn’t be working; people would just throw money at me,” she said with a chuckle.

To more general criticism, to charges that the talk-show genre is corrupt, demeaning and unimaginative, O’Boyle is equally unapologetic.

“People from the beginning of time have turned to groups to help them with their problems,” she said. “The talk show is not going to go away. These shows are watched by so many people.”