Rona Barrett, the famed, paradigmatic entertainment columnist, is our next Ken Boxer Live guest. For complimentary tickets, please click this link.

Quoting freely from her published biography:

Hollywood’s Variety Magazine calls her “the lady who turned entertainmentcoverage into big biz.” Rona Barrett is a pioneering entertainment reporter,commentator and producer with a career spanning more than 30 years. Nowas a nonprofit pioneer, she is the Founder and CEO of The Rona BarrettFoundation – the catalyst behind Santa Ynez Valley’s first affordable seniorhousing – the Golden Inn & Village.

Her career began at the age of thirteen when she conceived and organized the first international fanclub. Her pioneering efforts helped launch the careers of Eddie Fisher and Steve Lawrence. Fromthe time she became an entertainment columnist for the Bell-McClure newspaper syndicate as theyoungest columnist to ever report on Hollywood in 1957 and through her role in inaugurating“Good Morning America,” Barrett has blazed the trail for innovative entertainment reporting and forwomen in the media industry.

In 1966, after 7.5 years of trying to bring her entertainment reports to television, Los Angelesstation KABC-TV, gave her the big break. Her reports went to their five owned and operatedstations, syndicated around the world and then back to the ABC network with the inauguration of“Good Morning America” in 1975.

Barrett developed the first in-depth personal TV specials about film, television, music, sports andpolitical celebrities. She was the innovator of this media genre, which others followed. She alsopublished six top-rated magazines on the entertainment industry including “Rona Barrett’sHollywood,” paving the way for Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey enterprises.

In 1972 her novel titled, The Lovomaniacs, was published. Her autobiography, Miss Rona, waspublished in 1974.

Since 2000, in honor of her father, Barrett has used her entrepreneurial acumen to address achallenge close to her heart and an issue that affects us all: providing affordable and dignifiedhousing and care for the fastest growing population on the planet – seniors over 65 years old. Theprototypical Golden Inn & Village, which began construction in 2015, is her answer to this newreality. September 2016 welcome mats will be placed for residents of Phase I – Independent Living.

With her “Gray Matters” column, Barrett continues to shine a spotlight on the day-to-day issuesconfronting all seniors and their loved ones who care for them. Once again she’s digging deep,bringing to the surface not just the questions, but solutions as well; building our seniors a newfuture. In the fall of 2016 a compilation of “Gray Matters” will be published where proceeds will beearmarked for The Rona Barrett Foundation.

Please visit her website at http://www.ronabarrettfoundation.org to find out more.

We have limited seating available for audience members. If you would like complimentary tickets to our in-studio broadcast at the TVSB studios in Santa Barbara, please click here. This show tapes on Monday, May 22nd. Audience members generally arrive by 6:30 pm and take their seats at 6:45 pm.

(This episode first airs Thursday, 05/25/2017, 10:00 PM, on TVSB-17, and is replayed numerous times throughout the following 14 days. You will find a complete schedule of times here. Additionally, a YouTube link to this episode, available about 24 hours before original airtime, will display immediately below.)