He’s All Business

Whether he’s reporting on the stock market, the auto industry, or personal finance, Fox 2’s Murray Feldman delivers the news straight up — but he’s also a guy with a heart

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Photograph by Marvin Shaouni

Graciously, and surprisingly, Murray Feldman greets a guest to his cluttered Fox 2 office cubicle with a warm handshake and an unexpected invitation: “Let me give you a tour of the station.”

Feldman escorts his visitor around the newsroom, introduces him to the assistant news director, and strides to the backdrop where the reporters stand when they report breaking news. Then, as if uncovering a secret passageway only he knows, Feldman leads his invitee up a back stairwell to a huge, opulent boardroom that’s evocative of a glorious local-television era gone by.

Suddenly, the thought clicks. Why wouldn’t Murray Feldman want to proudly escort a guest around the Channel 2 facilities? It’s been his second home for practically his entire adult life. WJBK may not be the House That Murray Built, but he’s held a lease on the property longer than any current occupant.

In December, Feldman marked his 33rd consecutive year at WJBK, and in this modern-media age, that’s a record for on-air permanence that might never be equaled. “And I’m not even that old,” Feldman, 56, says with a smile, “so I can’t believe it.” Far from coasting toward retirement, Channel 2’s veteran business and financial correspondent may be the hardest-working man in Detroit media.

He delivers regular “Money Minute” reports every weekday morning, “Murray’s Money Savers” segments each afternoon, and “The Fox 2 Job Shop” employment update runs during the day. His past nightly news spot, “The Feldman Report” is now featured on WWJ Newsradio 950, where he serves as the station’s business reporter. He also hosts Webcasts on myfoxdetroit.com. And, in his spare time, he co-anchors WJBK’s 5:30 p.m. newscast Monday through Friday. In these troubled times of auto industry freefall, life-shattering layoffs, and foreclosure hell,

Feldman’s warm voice of confidence and reassurance has become one of Detroit’s most valuable resources.

“Do you realize how many jobs he has?” marvels Huel Perkins, Fox 2’s lead anchor. “But he is indispensable. He’s the consummate professional. He knows the auto industry, he knows Detroit, the region, the state better than anybody in the market. I have said to him several times, ‘You know, you should be the lead anchor sometimes.’ But he has never wanted that role, and I think it’s because he loves what he does so much.

“Murray Feldman is the heart and soul and brains of Fox 2. He makes us all better. And I could not imagine coming to work without him by my side.”

If not for the vagaries of fate, Perkins might not have had that privilege. As Feldman says, “I’ve been really fortunate that timing worked out for me, because there were a couple of occasions when I was on the chopping block, but it just wasn’t time. Once I wasn’t at the end of a contract, but my boss was, and he got the ax.”

Through Channel 2’s tumultuous history, he has survived five ownership changes, a dozen management teams, and countless news directors, station managers, and program consultants. His secret? “When new people come in, you go to them and say, ‘Hey, I look forward to learning from you,’ ” Feldman says. “I’ve learned from every single person I’ve worked for. From many of them I learned what I never want to do, but I learned.”

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