Coming from NY I never think of him as a TV personality. I think of him as a businessman and a real estate tycoon. The TV thing was much later in his decades long career.
A lot of us just don’t relate to NY having never been exposed to it in this way. He is an archetype of the NY tycoon. Wasn’t there a song about a NY state of mind?
I’m not suggesting it is wrong but it is different from what a lot of us are accustomed to.