Tony Ballew, Neighbor

Tony Ballew was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He caught the “news bug” when he was in high school and his father, a Cleveland civic leader, was interviewed by the local television stations. He landed his first TV job as a film editor at the NBC station in Cleveland in 1968. Over the next 40 years Ballew was a typical “news vagabond,” working as a producer, news manager and consultant in several cities in the United States. He came to Palm Springs in 2001 as vice president of news for KESQ-TV. He also worked as the news director for KPSP, leaving the business in 2008. Ballew has won several awards for journalistic excellence including an Emmy for KESQ’s coverage of the Esperanza Fire in 2006 where 5 firefighters died fighting the wildfire, which he dedicated to the heroic men who lost their lives and to their surviving families. Ballew’s family includes a grown son and daughter and two granddaughters, whom he calls “the most beautiful little girls on the planet.”