Paul Rea
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 Paul Rea from WSAV.com |
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| Born: | September 06, 1968 (age 38) Clarkesville, Georgia, USA |
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| Occupation: | News Anchor/Reporter |
Paul V. Rea is a television news reporter and anchor at WSAV-TV the NBC affiliate in Savannah, Georgia.
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[edit] Early life
Rea was born in Clarkesville, Georgia to Judy, a florist, and James M. Rea, an attorney. According to his mother,he knew he wanted to be a DJ at an early age. When he was 6, Rea called a radio classifieds show, Dial and Deal on WIAF-AM, offering to sell his older sister. There were no takers. He also hosted the morning announcements at Habersham Central High School.
[edit] Broadcasting career
[edit] 1980's
Rea began his career in1983 at age 14 as an afternoon and weekend radio host and News Anchor for Clarkesville’s WIAF. He was one of the station's youngest DJs.
After completing high school, Rea went on to attend the University of Georgia where he majored in Journalism. During his freshman year of college, Rea worked for both WGAU and WNGC as a DJ. Rea left the stations in 1988 to work for cross-town rival WBKZ where he held the largely ceremonial title of Afternoon News Director.
While news was only a fraction of Rea’s job, he managed to score one significant story in the few months he worked for the station. During the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, actor Rob Lowe became involved in a sex scandal with a 16 year old girl. Rea managed to get one of the first and only interviews with Hue Henry the attorney who sued over the matter on behalf of the girl's mother.
Rea returned to WNGC as the host of their All Night Request Show in 1989.
[edit] 1990's
Rea was promoted to Music Director and Midday Host at WNGC in 1991. His work on the popular Paul Rea Midday led to an offer to host an afternoon video music show on Athens TV station WNGM-TV.
In 1992 he joined actress/model Eaddy Thomas to co-host a morning news show on WNGM. When the show was cancelled in 1994, Rea went back to radio at Magic 102.1 FM in Athens. There he was reunited with Thomas and hosted a successful morning show for the station until leaving again for television news.
In 1997 he joined WNEG-TV the CBS affiliate in Toccoa, Georgia as a reporter and then as anchor of the Daybreak morning news show.
[edit] 2000-Present
He joined WSAV-TV in Savannah in 2000 as a photojournalist. During his year at the station, he began his investigation of the Tybee Bomb.
The nuclear weapon was lost near Tybee Island, Georgia in the 1950s. With the help of amateur bomb hunters Rea brought to light documents that showed the weapon might still be dangerous due to a small quantity of plutonium believed to be inside. These reports were rejected by the United States Department of Defense but the United States Air Force did reopen the investigation first in 2001 and again in 2005.
Both recent investigations maintain the weapon is lost and no danger to the public.
In the summer of 2000, Rea was attacked while covering a story in Coffee County, Georgia.
The incident came to light in a November 2005 article in Georgia Trend magazine. The article, "Who’s Who in TV News" by Jerry Grillo, also ranked Rea as one of the top reporters in the state.
Grillo wrote:
Though Rea almost certainly is the only person on Georgia Trend’s Who’s Who list of TV news people to have taped his own beating, his experience defines the pluck and tenacity of the TV journalist.
While the magazine claims Rea’s camera was rolling during the attack; the footage never appeared on television.
Rea returned to anchor, write and produce the morning show at WNEG-TV in 2001. He also produced the station's popular Georgia Journey segments showcasing unique people and places in Northeast Georgia.
Rea returned to WSAV-TV in 2003 to oversee the station’s Community Report covering neighborhood issues such as blight, crime, policing issues, and poverty in Savannah.
Recent special reports include Counting Cops in which he showed the Savannah Metropolitan Police Department was seriously understaffed and Houses From Hell which drew attention to some of the city’s worst dilapidated houses.
[edit] Plastic Surgery
Rea shared his plastic surgery experience in 2005 with his special series The Real Reality of Plastic Surgery. He underwent a circumferential lift. WSAV broadcast the surgery and every day of the recovery in order to show viewers and potential patients what other shows leave out between the before and after pictures.
