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| courtesy: New York Post Bill Jorgensen is the man you see here on the left, in a photo from his days at WPIX in New York City. Jorgensen died last week at the age of 96. He came over to WPIX after helping establish the news operation at cross town WNEW, now WNYW. Let me back up a bit, and do what I usually do here-- inflict myself in to the story. WPIX revamped its news in the mid 70's. New title: "Action News." Great theme. Fantastic set. Solid anchors-- Pat Harper in the center and Steve Bosh on the right. It was a perfect mix of reporters-- Kamen, Bloom, Casey, Witker, Ferer, Malloy, Scott... Some were great at features. The others were intrepid investigators. You can't forget about Jerry Girard on sports. Jeffrey Lyons did movie and Broadway reviews. I had occasional access to WNEW, but I couldn't see the major network affiliates on my cable system, so this is likely an unfair judgement, but I loved Action News and thought it was the best newscast in the city. It was informative, visual, fun, interesting... My joy was only amplified when they added a 7:30 pm version to the 10 pm edition. There are a handful of major influences on my television "career, " and many minor ones. The two biggest are WNEP and WPIX of the 1970's. Okay, foundation established. Harper and Bosh handled most of the anchoring chores, until 1979, when Bill Jorgensen joined the crew. Jorgensen was just about the perfect anchor-- great voice and delivery, tight writer. The man dripped gravitas. If Bill Jorgensen said something, you believed it. Unfortunately... there was no chemistry with Bosh and Harper. The three anchor arrangement just didn't work and the newscast lost its luster. It just seemed awkward and uncomfortable. You can sense something was amiss. Let me branch off for a moment, and how much I hate talking about "chemistry." It's television. If the chemistry is a little off, no one dies. On the other hand, a newscast is much more watchable and easier to handle if the people on the screen like and respect each other. You can't teach that. You can't fake that, and I have been so fortunate over the last several years. One day, I will tell "the rest of the story." Harper eventually defected for WNBC. Bosh made a couple of other stops, including Dallas and San Diego. You might find this story semi humorous. I had a friend working at Bosh's San Diego TV station. We were messaging one day, and I said "Tell Steve Bosh I said he is a God." My friend replied "He's standing right here." I nearly dropped my phone. Jorgensen stayed at WPIX for eight years, until his retirement. I'm searching for a clever way to wrap this up, and looking for the moral of the story. Bill Jorgensen was a great anchor, but I never thought WPIX was a good fit. He informed millions for decades, and I hope his contributions to journalism are never forgotten. |
