WNBC’s Chuck Scarborough says goodbye

WNBC’s Chuck Scarborough says goodbye

In an emotional farewell that capped a historic 50-year tenure at a New York institution, WNBC/4 anchor Chuck Scarborough concluded his final broadcast behind the anchor desk with a tribute to viewers, colleagues and New York.

“The pace of new news dissemination has been unrelenting over the past fifty years in office,” he concluded, but “equally important have been the stories of forgiveness, kindness, recovery and resilience.” He added that if there was “an overarching lesson.” of his career as a top presenter in the top city in the country, “then the fact that we are more resilient than we realize. We get knocked down again and come back stronger.”

And so ended an unparalleled tenure that began on March 25, 1974, when Scarborough arrived from Boston. He subsequently anchored or co-hosted all of the station’s major newscasts, particularly the weekday 6 and 11 p.m. shows. He resigned from the latter in 2016.

No single person – anchor or reporter – has appeared on a New York television news program longer than Scarborough, who turned 81 on November 4th. And no one has represented such a large part of New York’s turbulent history in the past fifty years.

Scarborough has anchored Ch. 4 covers 9/11, the COVID pandemic, AIDS, Superstorm Sandy, five major plane crashes, three power outages, a few Wall Street crashes and seven mayors, starting with Abe Beame. There was Son of Sam, a city on the verge of bankruptcy, John Gotti and Donald Trump.

His final broadcast and farewell message reflected some of that, but there were surprises too, notably the appearance of his two grandchildren, Campbell and Grace Brett, who told viewers of a grandfather who was “a great skier” and “gives the best hugs.” . (Scarborough called her performance “fabulous…a complete surprise.”)

There was also an unusual tribute from onlookers thanking him for this historic run, including Susan Winding, a former Rocky Point resident who recalled writing a letter to Scarborough as a little girl 40 years ago complained that their marching band (specifically the Rocky Point Golden Eagles marching band) had not been featured on his program during a sports broadcast. She remembered Scarborough writing back apologizing. She thanked him for this long-ago recognition. (Scarbrough laughed and said, “It took us 42 years to get her in.”)

And of course there were tributes from colleagues, some of whom spent decades with him, like Janice Huff, Ch. 4 chief meteorologist, who said, “There are not enough words to express how we feel about you.” Then – their feelings caught up with her – adding, “I think I’m done.”

It is believed that there are only two anchors in the United States who have held the job longer than Scarborough – Dave Ward of KTRK/13 in Houston (who retired in 2017 after 51 years) and Don Alhart of WHAM/ 13 from Rochester, who celebrated his 50th anniversary in 2016 and retired last June. A somewhat obvious perspective: New York City is the largest and most important market in the country, while television competition for news is the fiercest.

In 1980, Scarborough was paired with Sue Simmons on the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts and over time became the most prominent anchor team in New York television news. Of Simmons, who retired in 2012, Scarborough said in an interview with Newsday last March that he “probably” wouldn’t have lasted those 50 years without her. In an interview with Newsday earlier this year to mark his 50th speaking anniversary, Simmons said: “I’m not very eloquent, but we were so opposites and somehow we fit together.” He was much more serious than I was when I first saw him but I slacked off over the years and he became such a funny guy. He had a wicked sense of humor, but he couldn’t show humor most of the time on the show, so viewers always saw him as an honest guy.”

Scarborough – who has described this as a “retirement with an asterisk” as he will continue to contribute to the station’s various shows – will be replaced by Ch. on the 6th. 4 veteran David Ushery, who was introduced during the broadcast on Monday’s program and said that Scarborough “entered this building today the same way he entered it fifty years ago” – fully engaged as he led the station’s coverage led a busy news day.

In the final program on Thursday, Scarborough tried to explain the sources of that professionalism over these many years: “I felt the weight of this (Chapter 4) story and the weight of our responsibility to get it right.”

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