Eric Parker is the co-anchor of Eyewitness News This Morning at WFSB-TV CBS 3 in Hartford, CT. He is also the stations chief investigative reporter.
Eric joined WFSB in 2004 as a reporter, and was promoted to the anchor desk in 2010. Eric's news career began at NBC News in Washington, where he worked on the assignment desk and as a field producer on Capitol Hill and at the White House. His first on-air reporting job was at at WBOC-TV in Salisbury, Md.
A native of East Lyme, CT, Eric is a graduate of the University of Maryland where he studied journalism. He later graduated from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 2010. In addition to his duties at WFSB, Eric practices law at Romano & Associates in Rocky Hill.
1. What kind of phone do you have, and what are your favorite apps?
iPhone – I’m on Twitter a few times a day usually but the rest of my most-used apps are boring but practical: my bank, Amazon, our station’s weather app.
2. Favorite and least favorite news topics to cover (besides violent crime)?
Most of my reporting is for investigations, so I love when I get a chance to cover a lighter, feature and really tell a good, fun story but it doesn’t happen often.
My least favorite topic is easy: anything to do with the British royal family. I know tons of people care a lot about them but I just cannot understand why.
3. If you weren't working in TV news, what would you be doing?
I’m already doing it. I went to law school at night shortly after I started at WFSB with the goal of being a better investigative reporter, but I quickly found out I love being a lawyer as much as being a journalist. I now spend my afternoons practicing law at a small firm not far from the station. Someday I’ll have to decide which one I want to be when I grow up, but hopefully I can keep doing TV and law for a long time before I’m forced to make a choice.
4. What was your favorite cartoon growing up?
The Road Runner. I can still sit and watch Wile E. Coyote get blown up by TNT and have boulders dropped on his head!
5. When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time?
I’m a beach guy. We recently moved to be closer to the shore and I’m on the sand every moment possible. It’s the one thing I do where I truly relax. I’m also a die-hard Mets fan and can’t get enough of watching games, reading tweets and stories, and chasing the latest trade rumors.
6. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why?
I’ve always wanted to go to Sicily where some of my family is from so that’s probably next whenever I get the chance to do some traveling, but the list of places I’d love to see someday is long.
7. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?
I love smart, thoughtful people and I’d want to laugh—and maybe talk a little about the Mets: Jerry Seinfeld or Jon Stewart
8. Do you collect anything?
Nothing
9. What are the top 3 played songs on your iPod?
I’ve been on a Bruce Springsteen kick lately, but my musical tastes are pretty varied. Mostly rock from the ‘80s and ‘90s, but I listen to everything from James Taylor to Guns N’ Roses.
10. What is one of your favorite quotes?
When I’d go somewhere with my grandfather as a kid, he’d always pick up a piece of trash or straighten something out and say “let’s leave this place better than we found it.” Both literally and metaphorically I try to remember (and practice) that brilliant line as often as possible.
11. What was the last experience that made you a stronger person?
Anything to do with being a dad. You don’t know how much you don’t know until you’re a parent, but it’s without a doubt the best experience there is. I’d take my smallest accomplishment as a father over anything I’ve done professionally in a heartbeat.
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