Geraldo Rivera

In 1997 Rivera cut a $30 million six-year contract with NBC as a news journalist, capping a career in journalism that has mixed serious investigative reporting with tawdry talk-show fare and the downright bizarre. After reporting for New York's WABC-TV (1970–75), Rivera became a host and correspondent for Good Night America and then Good Morning America (1973–76). During 1978–85 he worked for 20/20; his report on Elvis Presley's drug use is the highest-rated in 20/20's history. His syndicated special on breaking into Al Capone's vault became TV's highest-rated special ever. In 1987 he began hosting the Geraldo show (which continued as The Geraldo Rivera Show untill 2001) punctuated in 1988 with a brawl on the set that landed Rivera with a broken nose. In 1994 he joined CNBC on Rivera Live, a more serious venue in which he delivered well-received coverage of the O. J. Simpson trial. In 2001, Rivera moved to the Fox New Channel as a war correspondent. Both admired and lampooned, Rivera knows how to make the ratings roar.