For other people named David Horowitz, see David Horowitz (disambiguation).
David Horowitz
Born
David Charles Horowitz[1]

(1937-06-30)June 30, 1937
The Bronx, New York City, U.S.
Died February 14, 2019(2019-02-14) (aged 81)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Consumer advocate
Spouse(s)
Judith Rosenthal
​
​
(m. 1964; div. 1969)​

Suzanne McCambridge
​
(m. 1973)​
Children 2

David Charles Horowitz (June 30, 1937 – February 14, 2019) was an American consumer reporter and journalist for KNBC in Los Angeles, whose television program Fight Back! would warn viewers about defective products, test advertised claims to see if they were true, and confront corporations about customer complaints.[2] He was on the boards of directors of the National Broadcast Editorial Conference, City of Hope, and the American Cancer Society,[3] and he served on the advisory boards of the FCC and the Los Angeles District Attorney.

Horowitz has been described as a consumer advocate; he personally shunned the description, noting that he always tried to maintain an objective point of view toward both the consumer and the businesses he profiled.[4]

Early life

Horowitz attended Bradley University, where he became a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi,[5] and graduated with high honors in 1959.[6] Horowitz earned a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1961,[7] then worked at newspapers and TV stations in the Midwest, including KRNT-TV (now KCCI) in Des Moines, Iowa.[1][4] He was a writer for The Huntley–Brinkley Report.[8]

Television career

Horowitz opened the first news bureau for NBC News during the Vietnam War.[9]

In early 1973, Horowitz was offered a chance to develop a consumer-awareness news segment for KNBC, NBC's flagship Los Angeles station. He nearly turned it down because they had offered it to six other people before him.[10] Nevertheless, the segment on KNBC Newservice was successful, and Horowitz gained a reputation through the 1970s as a consumer reporter and advocate. He began the weekly consumer advocate program Fight Back! with David Horowitz in 1976, and he made appearances on NBC programs including regular appearances on the Today program and on America Alive! in 1978.[11]

Horowitz made a guest appearance on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! in 1989. He also appeared as himself on an episode of Silver Spoons, ALF, The Golden Girls, The Munsters Today, and Saved by the Bell. Horowitz was also a regular guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and had a reserved parking spot next to Johnny Carson on the NBC lot in Burbank.[12]

Horowitz left KNBC in August 1992 after the station declined to renew his contract and joined KCBS-TV the following year, where he resumed his Fight Back! segments for Channel 2 Action News.[11]

Hostage situation

On August 19, 1987, during the 4 p.m. edition of KNBC's Channel 4 News, a gun-wielding man named Gary Stollman got into NBC's Burbank Studios as a guest of a former employee and took Horowitz hostage live on the air. With the gun pressed to his side, Horowitz calmly read the gunman's statements about the CIA and mental health hospitals on camera, but unbeknownst to the gunman, the news feed had been taken off the air and staff members put up a technical difficulties graphic. The man identified himself and at the end of his statement he set the gun down on the news desk, at which point anchorman John Beard quickly confiscated it. The weapon was later revealed to have been an unloaded BB gun. The incident led Horowitz to start a campaign to ban realistic toy guns.[13]

Four months later on December 5, 1987, a similar incident happened at the studios of KJEO-TV in Fresno, California, when 21-year-old David Dione Pretzer of Clovis, California, also with mental health issues, forced sportscaster Marc Cotta to read a letter containing rambling quotes from the Bible on the air. In a similar manner, the feed was taken off the air. Instead of putting up a technical difficulties graphic, the station aired a commercial and went black. Like Stollman, the weapon used in the incident was revealed as a toy gun.[14]

Controversies

In 1998, Horowitz joined a political campaign to urge voters to defeat a California ballot initiative calling for a 20% cut in electricity rates for private utility customers and ending surcharges on ratepayers to pay for nuclear power plants. Horowitz later admitted he was paid $106,000 by the campaign.[15]

Death

Horowitz died on February 14, 2019, from complications due to dementia.[2][16] David Horowitz's daughter Amanda Horowitz owns and has continued work under the Fight Back! brand.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b "Eight newsmen receive CBS Foundation fellowships" (PDF). Broadcasting. April 16, 1962. p. 78.
  2. ^ a b Ahmed, Shahan (February 18, 2019). "David Horowitz, Legendary Consumer Journalist, Dies at 81". KNBC News. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  3. ^ "David Horowitz". IMDb.
  4. ^ a b McDougal, Dennis (June 5, 1988). "David Horowitz: The Consummate Consumerist". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  5. ^ "Notable Alumni". Alpha Epsilon Pi. Archived from the original on February 19, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  6. ^ "Helping consumers, helping Bradley". Bradley University. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  7. ^ "Northwestern University 103rd Annual Commencement (Program)". February 19, 1961 – via Internet Archive.
  8. ^ "The Huntley-Brinkley Report". IMDb.
  9. ^ Pedersen, Erik (February 19, 2019). "David Horowitz Dies: Emmy-Winning 'Fight Back!' Host Who Was Held Hostage On Live TV Was 81". Deadline Hollywood.
  10. ^ Benet, Lorenzo (February 19, 1987). "Life is One Long Mass of Fine Print for Consumer Advocate Horowitz". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  11. ^ a b "'Fight Back!' consumer reporter David Horowitz dies". Associated Press. February 20, 2019. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  12. ^ @amandalhorowitz; (February 14, 2025). "Six years ago today, my dad, David Horowitz, passed away. I want to share a story that some people may not know" – via Instagram.
  13. ^ Carter, Gregg Lee (2012). "Toy Guns". Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law, Volume 3 (2nd ed.). ABC-CLIO. p. 832. ISBN 978-0-313-38670-1.
  14. ^ "Man Arrested After Using Toy Gun to Get His Religious Message Read on TV". Los Angeles Times. December 5, 1987. Retrieved April 18, 2026.
  15. ^ Rosenberg, Howard (October 28, 1998). "The High Price of Advocacy". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  16. ^ Barnes, Mike (February 19, 2019). "David Horowitz, TV's 'Fight Back!' Consumer Advocate, Dies at 81". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  17. ^ "About Us". Fight Back!.