Over the last 70 years, WBRZ has seen countless personalities, newsmakers, community servants and celebrities come onto our air. As part of our celebration of Channel 2's anniversary, here is a list of 70 people who have appeared on air since we began. 

John Pastorek will have interviews with some of the people on the list - they'll be linked here!

70 news makers, movers and shakers, community servants who have informed, influenced and inspired our community. They’ve appeared on WBRZ over the last 70 years.

1. Michael Acaldo - Former head of Baton Rouge shelter, St. Vincent de Paul

2. Seimone Augustus - Record-setting basketball player with LSU who now serves as assistant coach

3. Skip Bertman - Legendary LSU baseball coach who led the team to five national championships

4. Kathleen Blanco - Louisiana's 54th governor and to date the only woman ever elected to the seat

5. Dale Brown - 25-year coach of LSU men's basketball

6. Major Reginald Brown - Community leader who served in law enforcement for 40

7. Grace Broussard - Successful musician born in Prairieville

8. Butch Browning - Former State Fire Marshal who now works as director of National Association of State Fire Marshals

9. Joe Burrow - Heisman award-winning LSU quarterback known for LSU's 2019 championship run

10. D.D. Breaux - Former LSU gymnastics coach with a slew of accolades

11. Sharon Weston-Broome - Former Baton Rouge Mayor-President

12. Roger Cador - Former head coach of the Southern Jaguars' baseball team

13. Billy Cannon - Heisman award-winning halfback, return specialist and safety for the LSU Tigers from 1957 to 1959

14. Holly Clegg - A Baton Rouge native and holiday chef who died of cancer in 2019

15. Andrea Clesi - Former WBRZ anchor who sat at the desk for 31 years to keep her community informed

16. Sister Linda Constantin - Longtime nurse working at Mary Bird Perkins who died of cancer in 2005

17. Willie Davenport - Southern University alum who competed in Olympic sprinting

18. Jimmie Davis - Former Louisiana governor who wrote "You Are My Sunshine"

19. Paula Pennington de la Bretonne - A member of the Pennington family and local philanthropist who used to own the most expensive home in Baton Rouge

20. Donna Douglas - Late television star of "The Beverly Hillbillies" who laid her estate in Livingston Parish

21. Jayden Daniels - Multiple award-winning LSU Tigers quarterback 

22. Paul Dietzel - Former LSU football coach

23. W.W. “Woody” Dumas - Former Baton Rouge Mayor-President

24. Edwin Edwards - Three-time Louisiana governor who went to federal prison for corruption

25. Mike Foster - Former Louisiana governor from Franklin who started the TOPS system

26. Ernest Gaines - Award-winning writer and novelist who was born in Pointe Coupee Parish

27. Jim Garrison - New Orleans prosecutor who said the JFK assassin didn't act alone

28. John Fred Gourrier - Member of the band "John Fred and His Playboy Band" who wrote "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)"

29. Todd Graves - Baton Rouge entrepreneur who started restaurant Raising Cane's 

30. Sue Gunter - Former LSU Women's Basketball coach

31. Melvin “Kip” Holden - Former Baton Rouge Mayor-President

32. Lt. General Russel Honore - Retired Lieutenant General who served as the 33rd commanding general of the U.S. First Army who went to Southern University

33. Jay Johnson - As of 2025, current head coach for LSU baseball

34. Rev. T. J. Jemison - Civil rights activist who led the first-ever bus boycott in Baton Rouge

35. Bobby Jindal - Two-term Louisiana Governor who served from 2008 to 2016

36. Johnnie Jones - First Black warden in the Louisiana Department of Corrections

37. Price LeBlanc - Owner of prominent local car dealerships

38. John Mahaffey - Former WBRZ anchor known as the "Walter Cronkite" of Baton Rouge

39. Dr. Catherine O’Neal - Louisiana doctor who largely led the state's COVID response

40. Shaquille O’Neal - Global basketball star who attended and played for LSU

41. Bishop Stanley Ott - Catholic bishop and namesake of the Bishop Ott Center, a 24/7 emergency shelter

42. Judge John Parker - Long-serving Baton Rouge judge who oversaw one of the state's first desegregation cases

43. Mary Evelyn Parker - First woman to serve as state treasurer from 1968 to 1987

44. Claude “Doc” Pennington - Former Pennington Biomedical Research Center Executive Director

45. Bob Pettit - Award-winning basketball player who played with LSU from 1951 to 1954

46. Justice Catherine “Kitty” Kimball - Former Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court

47. Chris Thomas King - Grammy-award-winning blues artist and son of Tabby Thomas

48. Mary Landrieu - Former U.S. Senator

49. Russell Long - Former U.S Senator

50. Gaylynne Mack - Executive Director of Big Buddy Program in Baton Rouge

51. Mary Manhein - "The Bone Lady" who worked at the LSU FACES lab to identify bodies and work serial killer investigations

53. Paula Garvey Manship - Baton Rouge philanthropist who married Charles Manship, the president of the Capital City Press 

54. Richard Manship - Longstanding pillar of the broadcasting community who assumed the head position at WBRZ after his father, Douglas Manship Sr., retired 

55. Pete Maravich - LSU basketball player nicknamed "Pistol Pete" who led the league in scoring before the invention of the three-point line and shot clock 

56. SJ Montalbano “Sam Montel” - Local music legend who produced a national No. 1 hit in 1963 and founded his own record label afterward

57. Henson Moore - Served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1975 to 1987

58. Warren Morris - LSU baseball player who hit a walk-off home run in 1996 to secure the Tigers' National Championship win 

59. Kim Mulkey - LSU women's basketball head coach who transformed the program into a championship-caliber team with her tough love and sparkly outfits 

60. Brooks Read - A Baton Rouge journalist and storyteller who is beloved for his recordings of the "Brer Rabbit" stories 

61. Angel Reese - LSU's women's basketball player nicknamed the "Bayou Barbie," who led the tigers to their first ever NCAA Championship in 2023

62. Pete Richardson - Head football coach at Southern University who led the team to five SWAC titles 

63. Eddie Robinson - Grambling State University football coach who headed the program for 55 years 

64. Charles “Buddy” Roemer - Governor of Louisiana from 1988 to 1992

65. Donna Saurage - Manager of Community Coffee

66. Pat Screen - Former East Baton Rouge Parish mayor who was an LSU  quarterback before his time in office 

67. Pat Shingleton - Beloved weatherman who started Baton Rouge's "Wearin' of the Green Parade" 

68. Brittany Spears - Kentwood native turned international pop star 

69. Jimmy Swaggart - Evangelical caught in the middle of a scandal, captured in a 1983 report by John Camp called "Give Me That Big Time Religion"

70. Doug Williams - 1988 Superbowl champion and Zachary native