‘I won't sleep': Fort Lauderdale's Brian Entin will drop everything for a scoop

Miami Herald

2 days ago

NewsNation senior correspondent Brian Entin was enjoying the Florida Panthers victory parade in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale a few Sundays ago. Suddenly, his phone rang.
On the other end was his editor, Cherie Grzech.
Question: Are you willing and able to fly to Qatar, like, now?
He had just returned from covering the lawmaker shootings in Minnesota and reality star Todd Chrisley's release from a Pensacola prison, but Entin didn't hesitate.
In the sweltering heat, surrounded by wall to wall screaming hockey fans, he began checking flights on his phone. By that evening, he was on a plane to Doha, roughly 8,000 miles away.
Grzech called the right man for the job.
'You send Brian because his on the ground reporting is unmatched,' she told the Miami Herald.
Entin, whose suitcase is half-packed at all times, has developed a wide following (some Redditors call him 'News Daddy') because of his willingness to go wherever, whenever for the sake of good journalism.
'I've had success because I'm willing to drop everything at the drop of a hat to pursue a good story,' said Entin. 'I stay places for extended periods and just wait it out. I'll sweat. I won't sleep. I'll watch a house all night if I think something's going to happen there. I'm crazy that way. I don't leave.'
South Floridians may recall the intrepid reporter from his early days, first at NBC affiliate WPTV-TV in West Palm Beach, then at WSVN-7News, where he honed a very particular set of skills.
Still pretty green, Entin soon had enormous shoes to fill, taking over for the late, great Carmel Cafiero who retired in 2016. The station's first female on-air reporter exposed corruption in South Florida for more than four decades.
'I knew it was a big responsibility to be her successor, so went really hard,' Entin said. 'I learned that Carmel was really into old-school surveillance and chasing people down with her microphone. I just kind of took that and ran with it.'
There's a good chance his curiosity about crime came from tagging along at work with his father, criminal defense attorney Michael Entin. While other kids his age were playing Pac-Man at the arcade, Entin was attending trials and hanging around the Gold Coast Railroad Museum while dad saw clients at the nearby Federal Correctional Institution.
'Crime, drugs, jails. None of it ever freaked me out,' said Entin. 'I was exposed to a lot.'
But neither law enforcement nor the legal profession was his jam; Entin preferred the more human, storytelling side.
While attending the University School in Davie and editing the campus newspaper, the ambitious teen began contributing to the Sun Sentinel's community page, 'Next Generation,' which came out every Saturday.
'Your picture was printed along with your article, and you got paid,' he explained. 'It was a big deal. I was super into it.'
Entin learned the trade by watching the pros, specifically '7News.'
'Forget Hollywood actors like Brad Pitt. Local anchors were my celebrities. I was obsessed,' Entin said, laughing. 'My bedroom was full of their autographed pictures. I'd make my mom drive me around to follow the news trucks!'
Some of his idols, OGs like Lynn Martinez, Belkys Nerey, Patrick Fraser are still working there. So is Craig Stevens, a family friend who put in a good word or two to the brass to get him hired.
'Craig is the greatest, someone I grew up looking up to,' said Entin of his mentor.
The feeling is mutual.
'He's just a first-rate guy, smart supremely talented and deserves all the success he is enjoying,' Stevens told the Miami Herald. 'He's a superb journalist and a fine human being, and it's been a pleasure growing our friendship.'
After graduating with a BA from the University of Missouri, Entin got hired at a small station close to his alma mater, then cut his teeth at WTOC in Savannah, Ga., before returning home to South Florida in 2013.
As for how it felt to get hired full time alongside the folks he once worshipped from his living room? One word: 'Insane.'
While enjoying household-name status for a hot minute at '7News,' Entin really hit the big time after getting hired as senior correspondent at NewsNation in the summer of 2021.
The breakthrough assignment: Covering the disappearance of van life influencer Gabby Petito from Northport, Fla. The missing blogger's fiancé-travel partner Brian Laundrie had been named a person of interest, and his family lived there.
'I remember thinking at first, 'This is nothing, she's going to be found.' It was very early on and not getting much attention,' Entin recalled. 'Little did I know how huge it would become.'
After Laundrie returned the van solo to his parents' place, Entin locked in. He shrewdly paid neighbors about $100 a day to use their lawn, camping out in his car for up to 20 hours a day for six weeks straight.
Because Entin was on site almost around the clock, he built relationships with key witnesses and snagged coveted interviews with police, feds, and even keyboard sleuths. The exclusives rolled in. Other established, mainstream outlets ended up aggregating Entin's stuff.
'I just decided I would live and breathe this thing, and do a stakeout like Carmel Cafiero did in her day,' he explained. 'I was in my car all the time, really embracing the 24-hour news cycle. I would start recording and posting over and over again. And people responded.'
After Northport came the so-called Moscow Murders involving Brian Kohberger, who'd been accused of slaughtering four University of Idaho students in late 2022. Entin ended up again scooping other outlets as the first one on the scene when Kohberger was arrested at his family's home in Pennsylvania.
Entin had initially blocked out his whole summer for the trial before the shocking plea deal came through. In July, Kohberger received four life sentences, plus 10 years.
News doesn't take a break, much like Entin. Next dateline is New Orleans for a 20-year anniversary special on Hurricane Katrina, airing Aug. 24.
In between desk duty filling in for colleagues Ashleigh Banfield and Chris Cuomo, the unexpected could always pop up. So be forewarned, if you see Entin in town, something pretty bad might have happened, and he'll be around to knock on doors and take names.
'I have several things planned, but that could all change with one phone call,' Entin said. 'I could end up literally anywhere... And I'll go!'