| Personal Details Summary | |
|---|---|
| Name | Denise Koch |
| Birthday / How old is Denise Koch Age / Date of Birth / DOB | Born in 1951. As of 2025, she is around 74 years old. |
| Wedding & Marriage / Husband / Engaged / Partner / Boyfriend | Married. Check the full bio for relationship details. |
| Children / No. of Kids | 2 |
| Ethnicity / Origin / Heritage / Race | White |
| Nationality | American |
| Is Denise Koch retiring? | Koch completed 40 years as a WJZ anchor in 2022 and had confirmed that she is not yet retiring. Upon receiving public confirmation of her retirement, it will be updated here. |
Wikipedia Biography / Profile Background
Introduction :
- Denise Koch is a veteran Baltimore news anchor who has represented the best in media journalism for almost three decades.
- A California native, Denis is a graduate of Pasadena High School, who later attended UCLA & even earned a Natalie Wood Award.
Personal Life : Parents, Family and Education
- Koch grew up living in the Los Angeles basin with her mother and stepfather and spending summers in New York City with her father.
- She graduated from the California Institute of the Arts: CalArts and received an M.A. in Theater ‘Summa-Cum-Laude’ from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
- In college, she met her husband, theater director Jackson Phippin, and they were married in 1976.
- In 1995, Denise lost a good friend, Al Sanders, to lung cancer and had also experienced a life-threatening pregnancy loss.
- She has been open about her struggles and brief treatment for panic disorder and post-partum depression, leaving her more compassionate and engaged in women’s struggles.
Pregnancy Journey :
- For most of her life, Koch believed she did not want children but later changed her mind in her mid-30s after experiencing a series of events that made her realize the importance of participating in the process of keeping the family name alive. Koch and her husband, Jackson Phippin, ultimately decided to have a child.
- However, the journey was not easy. Denise suffered two miscarriages, surgery, took fertility drugs, and in vitro fertilization before finally becoming pregnant with twins at the age of 43 (in the year 1994).
- Koch decided to discuss her infertility journey to help other women who feel alone and isolated during this process.
Acting Career and Other Work :
- Denise & her husband moved to Baltimore and helped found the experimental theater group Kraken.
- Her acting career took her to theaters nationwide & as cast of daytime TV opera Another World.
- In a thriller movie, Mirrored Reason, she experienced the effect of cameras shooting her face close-up and experimental film techniques.
- She also came to Baltimore’s Center Stage as a literary manager and has taught at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), University of Michigan, and University of Wisconsin.
- When Denise came to Baltimore’s WJZ in the mid-1980s, it was because a certain revelation occurred: She was working with actors in their fifties who had nothing but a hat in a carrying case, and she wondered if this side-job may be a better direction for her life.
Reporting Work, Salary and Net Worth :
- Koch has traveled to China, West Africa, Jamaica, and nationally with Super Bowl teams, teachers, and school rights stories and covered numerous regional stories over the past thirty years.
- Denise was first on WJZ Baltimore as a sports reporter on Evening Magazine, and then joined the newsroom as a lifestyle reporter, reviewing plays and films on the creative arts in the region.
- For many years, Diane had an interviewing program called Get To Know where she reported on Marylanders and their unique talents or lifestyles.
- She has also followed high school students for four years as they participated in the Futures program, traveling with them to Senegal to determine the roots of slavery.
- After thirty years on the late-night Baltimore news desk, Denise is finally moving to days with WJZ news.
- Since her twin daughters, Meg and Jo, have now graduated college, and it’s just her and her husband living in their Owings Mills home, she is enjoying the new transition life brings.
- Her real love, she insists, is being out in the field, and she is looking forward to being more hands-on in her daily reporting job.
- Her responsible anchor desk discussions following the death of Freddie Gray in 2015 and the resulting trials of the police officers kept the focus calm and community-oriented and set the standard for reporting.
Awards and Recognition :
- The successful anchor has been nominated for six Emmy awards, receiving one for the Senegal story and received an award for regional teachers working in China called Baltimore East.
Advisory Work :
- Denise has worked on the advisory boards of the Hospice Network of Maryland, Success in Style assisting women who are re-entering the workforce, and the Maryland Committee for the Children.
- She is on the president’s advisory council for the University of Notre Dame, Maryland, and has been a board member and women’s leadership council of United Way of Central Maryland for more than a decade.
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Hello,
I am emailing to see if I could get a autography phot of Denise Koch sent to me. I have been watching her and the WBAL news team for years and I have always enjoyed the entertainment and conversations. Thank you.
I started to watch Denise Koch on Evening/PM Magazine on WJZ when she was “Daring Denise!” It was always interesting to see what she was daring us to try! After she switched over to the news and team, and had a morning show, I wasn’t able to watch her much longer, because of my hectic work schedule. Then sometime later, we moved out of the state!
I have been watching denise do the news since al sanders was her co-anchor! Denise is professional in dressing and giving what I regard as true and accurate news…Keep it up as long as you want.
I was fortunate to have met Denise when she first came to Baltimore, and I was lucky enough to become her dentist. She did a fascinating story on me when I worked with John Waters, and believe it or not did dental work on Miss Edie Massey, the egg lady of PINK FLAMINGOS.
Ironically, in 1988, I gave up the practice of dentistry and have been a television producer since then. Happy to report I am still at it and currently am connected with two theatre events that will take me to NY and Broadway this summer. THANKS, DENISE!
Denise Koch is a class act! I called the station and complained that I never heard her give the phone number or email of a place she was asking people to give money to and I was interested in checking it out. I was invited to leave a message for her. She called me back and tried to be so helpful. It was important for her to make sure I had the correct information I was seeking.
Denise,
I have watched WJZ news from the time of my arrival in the area from Canada in 1984 to marry the woman I loved.
Sadly, she passed on over seven years ago. It seems that my “WJZ friends” are slowly taking retirement as well. You all will be missed. Enjoy your retirement.
Denise Koch has always presented a warm and professional personality.
I always felt I had a personal connection from afar. My husband worked at WJZ and suffered a massive heart attack at the age of 45. We were close to Al Sanders and his wife Ruth and I knew the professional connection Denise had with Al Sanders.
Denise in an interview treats all like they are so important.
If I attend an event and Denise is the MC we know the event is extra special. I love her delivery and professional work. I only regret she was never my guest at my school during my career as a Baltimore City Principal. What would Baltimore do without Denise Koch?
Denise,
The pandemic has you back in a rotation of nighttime anchoring, I SIMPLY LOVE IT. I hope WJZ keeps the rotation! You are truly loved in Baltimore, I hope this is home for you.
Where do you purchase your clothes? My sister loves a pullover you have on this evening news at 5 August 13, 2021. Been watching you since you sat next to Jerry Turner behind the desk.
Thank You Denise Koch,
We have benefited from Denise’s excellent reporting at WJZ for more than 4 decades. Denise’s quality, integrity and wonderfully clear disposition are a blessing to her and all receivers of news. Honesty oozes from her every word. She MUST remember her collogues, such as Al Sanders and Jerry Turner. They are all cut from the same cloth. I am certain, Jerry and Al, were then and would be proud of her now. Thank you Denise!
Francis Reeves
Hi Denise,
I have been watching you on WJZ for a very long time. I really enjoy the way you make the news interesting. Now I watch you and Meg at 9 every morning. I hope you stay on the air for a long time to come.
Regards,
Angela
Thank you thank you!! And may God continue to Bless you and yours
I been watching you SINCE I was a kid don’t know how old u r but I must say u r just as BEAUTIFUL today than u was when I was a kid I love watching you today and everyday THANK you for what u do I love you ALWAYS and forever
Hello Denise
As Sr reporter I thought it be best that I voice my deep concerns to you.
There is nothing charming about Baltimore that can ever right the atrocities that are present there on a daily basis. Yes their was a time long ago when it was a safe place to be during the Delasandro Shaffer time frame. That’s history the actions that are displayed and the violent carnage is beyond acceptable. Let’s get realistic referrals to Baltimore as charm city is not only deceptive but dangerous to the young people who are innocent and gullible. They are walking into a hornet nest. I pray that someday this gets turned around, but I don’t see this happening anytime soon. We need tough officials and law enforcement that are assertive and shut down these out of control vigilantes with stiff penalties. Thank you for all you do to help the community, but please put the title Charm City on the shelf until it truly earns that distinction.
Thank you, and God Bless you, and the citizens of Baltimore