I’ve only met Larry Mendte a couple of times. Once you get past the way he looks, he’s not exactly the stereotype of a TV anchorman.

Yes, he has great hair, and it’s almost always perfectly coiffed. That’s opposed to mine, which is entirely too gray and usually a mess.

I don’t do makeup in the newspaper racket, but if I did I would guess you could do worse than Mendte’s. The guy always looks great.

The other thing you realize when you meet him is that he is a fairly imposing presence. He’s a big guy, and he can fill up a room, let alone a TV screen.

I found this out when I shared a stage with him at the debate between then Republican Congressman Curt Weldon and Democratic challenger Joe Sestak. Mendte was the moderator; I was one of the panelists. Mendte was smooth as silk. As usual, I proved to a fairly substantial Comcast audience that this was a face that was meant for newspapers.

But I also learned something else that day. Mendte was a nice guy. I’ve met more than my share of TV anchors and TV types in general. We, that being newspapers and TV news operations, don’t always get along, especially when we’re both working the same story.

But Larry couldn’t have been nicer, and was anything but the blow-dried buffoon that Will Ferrell’s “Anchorman” – as well as so many folks who grace our TV screens, might suggest. OK, he probably does go overboard with the weather, but these days don’t we all?

I trace it to his upbringing right here in Delco. Mendte is a Lansdowne native, and a graduate of Monsignor Bonner.

All of which is to say for the life of me I can’t figure out how the hell Mendte managed to find himself in the position he’s now in.

That would be the focus of an FBI probe, in which it is alleged that he accessed the e-mail account of his co-anchor Alycia Lane, after she was fired from KYW-TV 3 in the fallout from her infamous run-in with police in New York City.

Today there is more, with it looking more and more as if this was precipitated by a complaint from Lane that her e-mail was hacked. Her lawyer has gone so far as to suggest that Mendte may have been jealous over his partner, sometimes referred to as the “Latina bombshell,” who had a penchant for making the gossip pages as often as the TV section.

I hope that’s not the case.

There is one person I’d like to hear from. We have yet to hear Mendte’s side of this. He’s been off the air since this latest meltdown at Channel 3 became public over the weekend. The station indicates he likely will not be back on until the matter is resolved.

Everyone is saying the right thing, that they are all cooperating with the investigation.

Lane was fired by Channel 3. She’s now suing the station. Mendte is on the sidelines.

I guess there’s a lot about TV news I don’t understand. Can’t say I’m especially interest in finding out, either.