Lee Pitts, Host and Executive Producer, Lee Pitts Live
Smooth, intelligent, handsome, and honest are just a few of the ways viewers have described the on-air style of Lee Pitts, the award winning host and executive  producer of the T.V. talk show Lee Pitts Live. These descriptions stem from the sharp and witty ease he displays when interviewing guests.  He explores a wide-variety of topics in an almost effortless manner. “He appears to be as comfortable interviewing the mayor of a city as he is a teenage rapper. The way he has been consistently great at his job is amazing. Pitts sets the standard for other hosts to emulate,” states Charlotte Carter, Editor, CSN Magazine, which in 2006 selected Lee “The Best of the Best Talk Show Host” and featured him on its cover.

The 2006 season marks the fifteenth year he has sat at the controls of the popular south Florida based show. In the beginning, the show was a local Lee County market show produced in Fort Myers, Florida, but much has changed since those early days. Now the show is produced at the Comcast headquarters in Naples and covers the entire southwest Florida region. It has clearly become the place to be seen on television. “Everybody who is anybody wants to be seen on Lee Pitts Live,” says DJ Reddog, a popular disc jockey in the area, who frequently appears on the show, “I thought I was as well known in the region as possible but once appearing on Lee Pitts Live, I am astonished at all the people who recognize me and want me to DJ their functions.”

When it comes to the “big” interviews in the area, Lee is the person with whom you want to talk. His reputation as a prepared, fair and friendly host has landed him such guest as Baby “V” of American Idol fame; Smoosh Parker, of L. A. Lakers Basketball; Dennis Johnson, former Boston Celtics great; Jim Humphrey, Mayor of Fort Myers; Veronica Shoemaker, City Councilwoman of Fort Myers; Frank Lee, Vice President of Wachovia Bank and Carletha Griffin, President of the Lee County NAACP.

Lee, who is in high demand on the speaking circuit, is a unique success story in his own right. He is a nationally and internationally renowned swim instructor and a bank vice president. “One special aspect about Lee is when you are around him, you would never know he is as big a celebrity as he really is. He is able to blend right in. He is such an ordinary guy that you realize he had a special upbringing. When you see all the attention he gets when he walks into a crowded room, it’s amazing how cool and regular he stays,” states John Gibbons, a longtime friend of Lee's.

Surprisingly, Lee’s start in television was not by design. In the late 80’s ,as a result of his swimming fame, he was often requested to appear on radio and TV talk shows as an expert on swimming and water safety.  In 1992, he appeared on a TV talk show on WBR-TV, a local Fort Myers station, to discuss his inner-city youth swim program. The show was so well received that when the show’s host went on vacation, Lee was asked to fill in as a guest host. With absolutely no experience as a TV host and an already busy schedule, he hesitated, but eventually agreed to sit-in for two shows. What happened next was magic.  Lee’s on-air style and personality immediately connected with his viewers and the ratings rocketed. “I recall the buzz around the station when Lee came in for the two shows. We were all surprised at how natural he was on camera and that smile was simply disarming. It was clear he had a bright future in television, if he wanted it. What seemed to puzzle our production staff was how this guy, who essentially walked in off the streets, could do this job effortlessly like a seasoned TV host, and with no teleprompter. This just doesn’t happen in this arena,” recalls Brad Cooper, the show’s director at the time. 

  
Two weeks later, Hugh Boyd, General Manager of WBR-TV, offered Lee an opportunity to start his own show at the station. Over a two month period, Lee declined the gig three times indicating he had no interest in a television career. “I knew television was where Lee needed to be, and he had the goods. So I figured I would take another approach toward recruiting him. I invited him to a proposed one hour lunch, of which he had no interest in attending. Therefore, I knew this would be my final shot. It ended up being a three hour lunch. I was able to convince him that he could change the face of television in the area. You see, to this point, no African-American male had ever hosted a TV show in this area. I explained this to Lee and told him he was my first and only choice to take on this groundbreaking job,” explains Boyd. Lee finally agreed and just like that, Upclose with Lee Pitts was born. Five years later, the name was changed to Lee Pitts Live.

In 1999, the show was picked up by MY-TV 8 and now is the longest running local TV talk show in the region. “It’s hard to imagine the success of the show. Here it is 15 years later and I have interviewed over 1,500 people, made many lasting friendships, filled a critical niche, made priceless contacts, and now look forward to our 20 year anniversary. All I can say is, wow,” Lee says, bearing his trademark smile, “The way the community embraced and applauded this show, a show that some critics thought would not last a full season, epitomizes the show’s motto: ‘Those who say it can’t be done, are usually interrupted by those who are doing it.’ ”

                         “Lee Pitts is a pioneer, leader and stellar talk show host”
                                                                                               The News-Press                                                                       
                                                                                                   February 6, 2006  

                                                                                           
Lee is a native of Birmingham Alabama.  He was raised in the low income Collegeville Public Housing projects where his mother, Johnnie, raised seven children. He’s a graduate of Carver High, where he was student body president his senior year and a standout swimmer. He received his Bachelors Degree in Business from Talladega College and a Masters in Economics from Clark Atlanta University. In 1994, he was selected to Who’s Who in African- American History. Ebony magazine named him one of America’s most outstanding bachelors. He has received five NAACP Image Awards and three southwest Florida Peoples Choice Awards..