Charlie Langton graduated from Notre Dame in 1979. Since then, he has taken quite a few twists and turns that have led him today to be one of metro Detroit broadcasting’s most ubiquitous on-air personalities. (Yet he doesn’t forget Notre Dame High School.)
Langton’s a lawyer and a talk-show host. He’s a news reporter and a college trustee. He’s also won four Emmy awards. Detroiters hear him regularly on WWJ-AM radio and see and hear him on FOX 2 Detroit TV.
“I still practice law, but because of my duties at both WWJ and Fox 2, I'm not in court a lot,” Langton said in an interview during this past weekend. “However, I talk to clients, go to the office, and supervise cases.”
He said that his days are about evenly divided between radio, TV and practicing law.
Truly a busy man about town who’s a little tough to describe.
But we will try.
After graduating from Notre Dame in 1979, Langton became a theater major at Kalamazoo College where he won a Best Supporting Actor award for a role in William Inge's play, ‘Picnic.’
He went on to attend the Detroit College of Law to hopefully build a career that combined his legal training with his obvious performing interests. When he was asked to host the Macomb County Bar Association's cable television program, he knew he was up to the challenge.
“I had the opportunity to get one-on-one interviews with people like Rosa Parks, Johnnie Cochran, Charlton Heston and even Barney the Dinosaur,” Langton said. “I wanted to make broadcasting more than just a hobby. So, after ten years of practicing law, I enrolled at Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts.
After graduating number one in his Specs class, he was offered a job at WYUR-AM 1310 hosting a political/legal talk show from noon to one, Monday through Friday. Although the ratings were pretty good, Langton said, the station eventually folded. He then went to WXYT-AM 1270 where he hosted a talk show Monday through Friday from 9 to 11 at night. It was at that time he knew that a career in broadcasting was definitely in his blood.
“While I was on the radio, somebody at FOX 2 News heard me and thought I would make a good legal analyst,” Langton recalled. “I eventually became a regular daily commentator during the Stephen Grant murder case in Macomb County. It was about that time that Kwame Kilpatrick's dirty deeds became public and I was called upon for legal commentating. I have to say that to some extent, I owe my television career to the former mayor of Detroit.”
With so much on his daily plate, we wanted to know which part of his work he enjoyed the most.
“I like reporting for morning drive WWJ,” he said. “I cover news that's happening now. And even though the murders, fires, floods, whatever, are not always nice, it's still a challenge to make it compelling and interesting. However, the Let It Rip weekly panel show I do on Fox 2 is also one of my favorites. I think I can do that show every day.”
Meanwhile, despite days chock full of activity, Langton nonetheless still finds time to reminisce about his days in high school at Notre Dame.
“I have a lot of memories of Notre Dame,” he said. “Going to debate tournaments with Mr. Rice, writing for the school paper, arguing with Mr. Schram, learning advanced algebra with Fr. Ouellette — and liking it!
“Plus, I’ll always remember the Robert Frost poem we studied under [English teacher] Conrad Vachon that began with the line ’Whose woods these are I think I know. . .’ I actually can still finish that poem.”
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." The Marist Fathers and Brothers sponsor NDPMA's Catholic identity and manages its educational program. Notre Dame is accredited by the National Association of Independent Schools, the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.