Mort Crim Biography

As a professional speaker, Mort draws from the thousands of interviews heʼs conducted during a lifetime in journalism to show his audience that happiness and success are never a matter of lifeʼs circumstances. With stories of personal courage and triumph, Mort shares the lessons he has learned from people who have truly found the secret to leading a happy life.

Until December, 2006, Crim wrote and delivered three daily radio programs he created. They were broadcast throughout the United States and on the Armed Forces Radio Network: Mort Crim News Youʼll Talk About, a five-minute live newscast; Mort Crim One Moment Please, ninety-second motivational essays that reflected Crimʼs belief the world needs a break from the violent and bizarre stories that dominate the news media today; and Mort Crim Stories from the USA, a sixty-second essay profiling real Americans who are making a difference every day.

For both his speeches and radio programs, Mort Crim draws on his knowledge of the human condition gained from many years of broadcasting experience. He was a broadcaster for radio stations from California to New York City and for five years was a national correspondent for ABC. His was the voice that described Neil Armstrongʼs landing on the moon for the national ABC radio audience. Additionally, he was the permanent vacation substitute for Paul Harvey from 1980 to 1984 and, in the role, was heard several weeks each year on more than 1,300 radio stations.

Crim was Senior Editor and Anchor of the evening news at WDIV-TV in Detroit from 1978 to 1997. He has been outspoken on the need to elevate the news from the sensational to the truly significant. He believes human achievement and heroism should be given more airtime to balance the reports of human failures and tragedy.

His evening newscasts were twice named by United Press International Best Local TV Newscast in America and his work has won six Emmys. Before moving to Detroit, he had anchored newscasts in Chicago (WBBM-TV), Philadelphia (KYW-TV) and Louisville, Kentucky (WHAS-TV).

Crim holds a Masterʼs degree in Journalism from Northwestern Universityʼs Medill School of Journalism and is the recipient of five honorary doctorates. In 1997 he was among the first distinguished Northwestern University alumni inducted into Medillʼs Hall of Achievement. In 1995 he was awarded the Gold World Medal as Best Radio Personality at the New York Festival International Radio Awards, and the following year received the Festivalʼs Silver Medal for Best Humor Writing. He is a member of the Broadcast Hall of Fame in both Michigan and Pennsylvania and in 2010 received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Nebraska.

Besides his very active professional career, Mort is the author of seven books and currently is Chairman of Mort Crim Enterprises, Inc., a corporate communications company that handles his writing, speaking and broadcast activities. He also narrates several audio books each year. He is an Air Force veteran, an active boater and a licensed pilot, holding an ATP (airline pilot) rating and flies his own plane to meet business and speaking schedules.

He serves on the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army (Northeast Florida Division) and regularly serves as a volunteer feeding the homeless. He served two terms on the national board of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities and for fifteen years was a member of the board of Anderson University. He also has served on the Board of Alma College.