Former NBC Connecticut reporter Tom Monahan is dead. His wife Nancy confirmed he died in Florida after suffering a stroke Sunday night. He was 84.
Monahan spent forty-five years at NBC Connecticut, beginning in the days when the station was simply known as “Channel 30.” Before that, the Bristol native worked at his hometown radio station WBIS.
Monahan’s friendly demeanor helped him build sources throughout the state and sometimes masked a competitive side. One of his main tactics for breaking a story was simply to understand what was likely to happen next – and where – and show up and wait for it to happen.
The best example being his exclusive interview with former Hartford Whalers owner Peter Karmanos as the team was making the decision to pull out of Hartford. Knowing that Karmanos was going to need to eat, and that Chuck’s Steakhouse was in the Hartford Civic Center, Monahan staked out the steak house and got the story.
Monahan was one of a trio of local television reporters designated by their respective stations(Mark Davis-WTNH and Duby McDowell-WFSB) as political reporters during the 1991 budget crisis stemming from a debate over imposition of a state income tax. The story had Monahan leading off the coverage on nearly every newscast for close to a year and led him to cover politics for most of the rest of his time at NBC Connecticut. He retired in 2010.
