In Memoriam

[doublejman69 124]

Long time WTMJ anchor and reporter Bill Taylor passed away at 79. he retired from WTMJ in 2001, He anchored the midday newscast and reported all over the world for the station. He was one of the first African American reporters in Milwaukee, and often reported on the led story shortly after arriving in 1972. He launched "Positively Milwaukee" and was involved with Milwaukee's Juneteenth day celebrations in the first few years and now is one of the longest running Juneteenth day celebrations in the country.   

Bill Taylor, TV anchor who started 'Positively Milwaukee,' dies (jsonline.com)

 

(Bill Taylor interviewing WTMJ's graphics person about WTMJ's 50th anniversary and anniversary website).

Edited May 12, 2024 by doublejman69

[DENDude 221]

Former KUSA, KCNC & KMGH Anchor John Rayburn has passed away at the age of 96.  He worked at KCNC (then KOA-TV / NBC) from 1959-1963 as a sports anchor, KMGH (then KLZ-TV / CBS) as an anchor from 1963-1970 & then KUSA (then KBTV / ABC) from 1970-1980.  Up until his death on Sunday he was doing some radio broadcasting, he was the first person to anchor the news at all 3 network stations in Denver.

 

https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/john-rayburn-tv-anchor-denver-obituary/73-9d256c9b-b574-46bd-8158-b9a8c7d236d5

[Recovering Producer 221]

Longtime KELO-TV anchor (and voiceover person post anchoring retirement) Doug Lund has died.

 

https://www.keloland.com/news/local-news/doug-lund-longtime-tv-anchor-dies-at-78/

[T.L. Hughes 900]

Former WRTV news anchor Tanya Sumner (neé Spencer), who later became a town council member in the Indianapolis suburb of Whitestown after leaving journalism, has died at 53 from complications from a rare form of colon cancer she was diagnosed with in November 2022.

 

https://deadline.com/2024/05/tanya-sumner-dead-news-anchor-indianapolis-abc-affiliate-wrtv-1235941409/

[MD TV 277]

Bill Walton, basketball Hall of Famer-turned memorable broadcaster, died from cancer at 71:

 

The irony that he died as the Pac-12 is ready to dissolve.

Edited May 27, 2024 by MD TV

[MD TV 277]

Former WPVI reporter Rose Tibayan succumbed to cancer:

 

https://6abc.com/post/former-action-news-reporter-rose-tibayan-passes-away/14993088/

[H-Town TV Fan 219]

Lou Dobbs, political commentator and host of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on CNN and Fox Business, has died at the age of 78.

Lou Dobbs Dead: Conservative Pundit and Former CNN Host Was 78 (variety.com)

[norcalTVfan 18]

News from Spokane, WA … Debra Wilde, popular KHQ-6 anchorwoman of the 80s and 90s, died Sunday. She spent more than 25 years as a personality in the market. 
https://www.khq.com/news/a-big-loss-for-the-khq-family-longtime-khq-anchor-debra-wilde-dies-at-73/article_1492dbe6-4885-11ef-9b1a-877790047cf2.html

[Weeters 1969]

Sean O'Flaherty, WTMJ (and Scripps') longest-tenured employee, passed away on Friday, at the age of 74. He had been with the station for 53 years, holding the position of Newsroom Operations Manager for the last several decades. 

 

https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/longtime-tmj4-news-employee-sean-oflaherty-dies-at-74

 

Sean had started out as a reporter at the station, some of his packages are available online on UW Milwaukee's digital archives of WTMJ's film collection. One package that's not on there is coverage of a failed hot air balloon race in 1975, the crew of which coincidentally included the balloon pilot from WITI's "Look up to TV6" promo from a few years prior.

 

A sad loss not only for WTMJ, but the entire Milwaukee market. Sean also moonlit (literally) as the station's weekend overnight photographer, and was well known at the other stations in town, even by those who never worked at WTMJ.

[Georgie56 3318]

WGNO sports director Ed Daniels has passed away. He was 67.

 

 

[GodfreyGR 685]

John Lansing, former news director at KARE, WCCO and WBBM, later the CEO of National Public Radio has died at 67, just months after his retirement. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/news/john-lansing-cbs-npr-obit/

[SDHIll1980 107]

Pioneering daytime talk show legend Phil Donahue passed away last night (Sunday 8/18), at age 88.

 

https://www.today.com/popculture/news/phil-donahue-dies-rcna167132

[TheRolyPoly 2546]

On 8/16/2024 at 5:35 PM, Georgie56 said:

WGNO sports director Ed Daniels has passed away. He was 67.

 

 

 

You gotta feel for the WGNO Sports department. First, it was him. Now, it's longtime sports producer Mark Deane who passed away as well, killed in an awful tragic motorcycle accident.

 

https://awfulannouncing.com/local-networks/mark-deane-wgno-sports-producer-passes-away.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky

[PelicanMan 19]

It hasn't been a good couple of days for WGNO. First, sports director Ed Daniels died last week after a massive heart attack. Then Friday morning, WGNO sports producer Mark Deane, 48, of Gretna, La., was killed in an accident on the Crescent City Connection (US 90 Business) heading downtown. The man who caused the accident was booked into the Orleans Parish Prison and denied bond.

 

WGNO story and video of the crash scene.

[J.W. Rodriguez 17]

Former longtime CBS News correspondent Phil Jones, who had been with the network for 32 years until his retirement in 2001, died this past weekend in Florida at the age of 87.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/phil-jones-former-cbs-news-correspondent-dies-at-age-87/ar-AA1ppqRf?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=b05b7b04f4dc4977bdfd13e8d7af27ba&ei=19&fbclid=IwY2xjawE5FIdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHcSndJkEPlHjsxnAdgB-onIcVNF5OM3SomJYnl-pNHXhUIqM8GmZdF8oxg_aem_vJzDm_XphL_mW6_H8DLFCg

 

 

[jerseyfla 207]

I was looking around Youtube for a link to clip of a WBRC 1984 Newsbreak during the Summer Olympics Closing Ceremonies that was shown simultaneously to one I saw on a former Jacksonville TV station employees Instagram for WTLV. I saw on the other videos next to the Newsbreak clip that longtime WBRC anchor Scott Richards passed away back in February. He was main anchor at the station from 1981-2014 and up until a short time before his death he did retrospectives on WIAT.

 

Longtime WBRC anchor Scott Richards dies

 

There was no link to it here on the In Memoriam forum. 

Edited August 29, 2024 by jerseyfla

[Jase 1065]

Former WFLD Political Reporter, Jack Conaty has passed away. He was 77.

 

"Jack Conaty brought a talent for concise and impactful writing, an acerbic wit and a willingness to help his colleagues to his work as political reporter at Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32 for more than two decades. Conaty, 77, died of complications from cancer on Aug. 28 at a hospital in Tucson, Arizona."

 

-- Chicago Tribune

[SDHIll1980 107]

Although his tie to the news world was only that as the continuity voice of CNN for many years, legendary actor James Earl Jones passed away today at age 93.

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/09/entertainment/james-earl-jones-death/index.html

Edited September 9, 2024 by SDHIll1980

[DENDude 221]

Former KUSA Anchor & Investigative reporter Ward Lucas passed away Sunday at 75, no word on his cause of death.   He was part of a Netflix Documentary on the serial killer Ted Bundy, he worked at KUSA-TV from 1976--2009 when he retired, and before KUSA he started his career at Seattle's KIRO-TV from 1974-1976..   More at the link below.

 

https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/ward-lucas-reporter-anchor-denver-dies/73-d5119198-5c1f-420f-b2f3-d6387cc4faf9

Edited September 18, 2024 by DENDude

[ABC 7 Denver 1729]

2 hours ago, DENDude said:

Former KUSA Anchor & Investigative reporter Ward Lucas passed away Sunday at 75, no word on his cause of death.   He was part of a Netflix Documentary on the serial killer Ted Bundy, he worked at KUSA-TV from 1976--2009 when he retired, and before KUSA he started his career at Seattle's KIRO-TV from 1974-1976..   More at the link below.

 

https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/ward-lucas-reporter-anchor-denver-dies/73-d5119198-5c1f-420f-b2f3-d6387cc4faf9

 

Damn. His retirement didn't feel like that long ago.

[C Block 1566]

3 hours ago, DENDude said:

Former KUSA Anchor & Investigative reporter Ward Lucas passed away Sunday at 75, no word on his cause of death.   He was part of a Netflix Documentary on the serial killer Ted Bundy, he worked at KUSA-TV from 1976--2009 when he retired, and before KUSA he started his career at Seattle's KIRO-TV from 1974-1976..   More at the link below.

 

https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/ward-lucas-reporter-anchor-denver-dies/73-d5119198-5c1f-420f-b2f3-d6387cc4faf9

 

That's sad. He was one of the good ones. You could always count on him to be a class act on weekends with the occasional and unexpected quippy remark.

[J.W. Rodriguez 17]

Sad news out of Los Angeles.

 

Warren Wilson, legendary Los Angeles broadcaster and KTLA reporter, dies at 90 | KTLA

[tyrannical bastard 4018]

Longtime WIS Anchor, weatherman, midday host, and "Mr. Knozit" Joe Pinner passed away.
He retired in 2018 after serving WIS-TV for 55 years.
He was 89.

 

https://www.wistv.com/2024/09/23/legend-community-remembers-life-joe-pinner/

Edited September 29, 2024 by tyrannical bastard

[tyrannical bastard 4018]

Dan Coughlin, longtime Cleveland sports journalist who wrote for the Plain Dealer and has worked at WJW since 1983. passed away earlier today. 

https://fox8.com/news/cleveland-legend-lost-dan-coughlin-passes-away/

[tyrannical bastard 4018]

A big loss in Gulf Coast television.

 

Mel Showers, who reported and anchored for WKRG in Mobile for 50 years, has passed away.

 

https://www.wkrg.com/news/business/mel-showers-broadcasting-pioneer-and-legendary-news-5-anchor-dies/

 

Being the local legend that he was, all of the local stations (and even AL.com) covered the story as well.

https://weartv.com/news/local/mel-showers-beloved-mobile-news-anchor-and-trailblazer-dies-at-78#

https://www.fox10tv.com/2024/10/19/longtime-local-news-anchor-mel-showers-passes-away-78/

https://mynbc15.com/news/local/longtime-mobile-news-anchor-mel-showers-has-died#

https://www.al.com/news/2024/10/beloved-mobile-news-anchor-mel-showers-dead-at-78.html

 

 

Edited October 20, 2024 by tyrannical bastard
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