Bill Jorgensen, the esteemed New York broadcasting icon who graced the city’s 10 p.m. local news hour, has passed away at the age of 96, as reported by the Daily Caller.
News of Jorgensen’s demise was shared by his daughter Rebekah, who took to Facebook to announce the sad news. “It’s with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my dad, 96-year-old broadcast news anchor and journalist, Bill Jorgensen yesterday,” she penned in a Thursday post.
“Many people knew and enjoyed his work on air in radio and TV from the ’50’s – the 70’s, the ‘Golden Age of News Broadcasting’ in Cleveland (WERE, KYW) and New York (WNEW, WPIX and Independent Network News). But I grew up knowing him, behind the scenes, as a man deeply committed to finding the story that put people and their rights in danger, intent on finding innovative ways of telling it, whether it was about pollution in Cleveland, the Robert Manry – Tinkerbelle story, the Sam Shepherd case, or others.”
Rebekah Jorgensen paid tribute to her father’s influence, acknowledging his role in shaping her own journey in the media landscape as a filmmaker focused on nature conservation.
“He was my first mentor in not giving up and finding the real story, from the time he first let me stay up to attend one of his nighttime broadcasts at the age of five. His ‘never-give-up’ spirit lasted until his end of life, and I just hope to be able to follow his example as long as possible… Thank you, Dad, forever.”
Recruited to WNEW in 1967, Jorgensen had already made his mark as a prominent media figure in Cleveland, Ohio, serving as the lead anchor for the city’s NBC affiliate news station. His 10 p.m. slot in New York became synonymous not only with hard-hitting coverage of city affairs but also with its family-centric commercial break segment, delivered by fellow anchor Thomas Gregory: “It’s 10 P.M. Do you know where your children are?”
After a dozen years at the helm of WNEW, later known as Fox 5 News, Jorgensen took his talents to WPIX and its Independent Network News program, where he tackled national and international issues from 1980 to 1985. During this tenure, he partnered with co-anchors Steve Bosh and Pat Harper until they were succeeded by Morton Dean in an arrangement with Tribune News Broadcasting. Jorgensen bid farewell to the industry two years later, retiring to North Carolina.
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According to his daughter, Jorgensen’s career highlights include an exposé on the pollution plaguing Cleveland in the 1960s and coverage of the infamous Dr. Sam Sheppard case, whose murder trial inspired the 1993 movie “The Fugitive” starring Harrison Ford.