Larry Atteberry's place in Tabloid Television history

There’s a glorious tabloid chapter in the life of Larry Attebery, the award-winning Los Angeles broadcast journalist who died last week at 73.

Atteberry covered L.A. for more than three decades, including stints as anchor and news director at KTTV-TV Channel 11 and as a reporter for KCOP-TV Channel 13, where in 1994 he made his mark on the influential tabloid series, Premier Story.

Premier Story was the now-legendary late-night show that Peter Brennan and Burt Kearns started up after they turned A Current Affair and Hard Copy into tabloid television powerhouses. The “Tabloid Nightline,” hosted by the beautiful British import Alison Holloway, faced off against Ted Koppel’s show and was soon followed and imitated by the competition (and made international headlines as it led the coverage of the OJ Simpson case), despite its low budget and small staff.

Premier Story’s original office was in a corner of the KCOP building, tucked away upstairs from the KCOP-TV newsroom. Of all the telegenic young reporters and achormen there, it was hardened, experienced, no-frills and genial street reporter Larry Attaberry who filled in as host of Premier Story when Alison was on assignment.

Larry Atteberry hosted Premier Story!

Tabloidbaby Trivia:
Q: Who was the only other substitute host of Premier Story, filling in for a week when Alison returned to the UK to fulfill some television obligations?
A: David Lewis, the controversial New York City attorney who represented Fatal Attraction killer Carolyn Warmus and served as the television prototype for Survivor’s Rupert.


David Lewis & Rupert