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For seven years (1986-1993), she teamed with Chase on TNN's popular Crook and Chase entertainment news series, sharing executive producer responsibilities with her husband, veteran television producer, Jim Owens. For over two years, the Crook and Chase team served as hosts for TNN's highest rated weeknight prime time flagship program, Music City Tonight, before debuting their nationally syndicated effort on January 1, 1996 titled, Crook & Chase. Show production led to an extended stay in Hollywood, CA with Universal Studios before returning the daily effort to TNN in September of 1997.
Crook also produces and hosts the award-winning Celebrities Offstage series, a 1 Hour celebrity interview special, and such annuals as This Year In Country Music and CMA Preview. Her co-hosting duties also extended to a series of Candid Camera specials with Alan Funt's son, Peter Funt, for CBS in 1997.
Born in Wichita, Kansas and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Crook began her career as a news reporter for CBS affiliate KAUZ-TV in Wichita Falls, Texas in 1980. Soon she became the host of that station's PM Magazine show. In 1981, Crook answered a call to come home to Nashville where she became host of PM Magazine at ABC affiliate WKRN-TV, where she expanded into producing and writing. While there, Crook co-wrote and co-produced two national award-winning specials and was named Outstanding Feature Reporter of the Year by AWRT (American Women in Radio and Television).
A magna cum laude graduate of Vanderbilt University, majoring in Russian and Chinese languages, Crook says she was more of a rock 'n roll fan until 1983. That very year, Jim Owens asked her to produce and co-host the nationally syndicated, This Week In Country Music with Charlie Chase. With that, the woman who still calls Led Zeppelin her all-time favorite musical group, dove into the world of country music. Today, both she and her co-host are among the most respected and knowledgeable interviewers in their field.
In 1985, Crook and Jim Owens married. She is his partner in Jim Owens and Associates, Inc., and together they have produced numerous successful and award winning specials and series. Crook and Chase was named Best Entertainment News Program in the Second Annual Reader's Poll of The Cable Guide published in April 1988. In 1992, that same magazine named Crook one of the "Ten Most Beautiful Women on Cable Television." She and Charlie also co-host Chase & Crook Country Countdown, a four hour nationally syndicated radio program distributed to nearly 500 stations by the Denver based Jones Radio Network.
In October of 1995, William Morrow & Company Publishing released the twosome's first literary work, Crook and Chase: Our Lives, the Music, and the Stars. The book, deemed a national bestseller, shares their insider's view of the industry, its stars and themselves.
Regardless of her role in broadcast production, Lorianne Crook utilizes her talent to bring informative entertainment programs to millions of homes daily. When she and her husband take time to relax and entertain themselves on their homefront, the couple often enjoy touring the Tennessee countryside on a pair of Harley motorcycles.
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