NEW YORK CITY -- With a story as big as the Charlie Sheen "scandal" (for lack of a better one-word summary), it was only a matter of time until CNYTVNews.com would have some sort of local tie-in. The troubled actor called Jeff Rossen, a former Syracuse and Utica TV reporter, a "rock star" after Rossen interviewed Sheen a few times recently for NBC's Today show.
According to an Associated Press article on syracuse.com today, Sheen dubbed the title upon Rossen during an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan. Sheen even suggested that Morgan invite Rossen to be a guest on his show, which fills the evening timeslot formerly occupied by the recently-retired Larry King.
Rossen, a graduate of Syracuse University, worked at WUTR-TV in Utica in the mid 1990s (your editor recalls crossing paths while participating in a high school internship with WKTV during the summer of 1996).
Rossen later worked at NewsChannel 9 (then WIXT) in Syracuse for awhile before jumping to WABC-TV in New York City. After several years there, he was hired by NBC News in 2008.