Leon Bibb: a Pioneer in Ohio Broadcast Journalism a Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of O

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Leon Bibb: A Pioneer in Ohio Broadcast Journalism

A thesis presented to

the faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University

In partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree

Master of Science

Brianna L. Savoca

June 2010

This thesis titled

Leon Bibb: A Pioneer in Ohio Broadcast Journalism

BRIANNA L. SAVOCA

has been approved for

the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism

and the Scripps College of Communication by

Mary T. Rogus

Associate Professor of Journalism

Gregory J. Shepherd

Dean, Scripps College of Communication

ii Abstract

SAVOCA, BRIANNA L., M.S., June 2010, Journalism

Leon Bibb: A Pioneer in Ohio Broadcast Journalism (117 pp.)

Director of Thesis: Mary T. Rogus

Leon Bibb became Ohio’s first black primetime anchor in 1976 when he was promoted at WCMH-TV in Columbus, Ohio. He was also one of the first ten black primetime anchors in the country. Almost a decade later, he broke new ground again as the first black primetime anchor in Ohio’s largest television market when Cleveland’s

WKYC-TV promoted him to the anchor desk in 1985. With this promotion, he became the seventh black primetime anchor in a top 20 market in the country. Bibb entered the journalism field during an era when there were very few blacks in the newsroom. A true trailblazer, Bibb opened the doors for many of Ohio’s black television journalists, and he continues to keep those doors open as a veteran television news anchor for WEWS-TV in

Cleveland, Ohio. An iconic figure in Northeast Ohio, Bibb’s deep, low voice and exemplary storytelling abilities have set him apart from his peers in the business. An award-winning anchor, Leon Bibb sets an example for journalists by adapting to the ever- changing field of broadcast journalism. This thesis examines his life and career, his struggles and successes, and uncovers unique anecdotes to insightfully reveal the personality and unique history of one of Cleveland’s most beloved broadcast journalists.

Approved: ______

Mary T. Rogus

Associate Professor of Journalism

iii Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my committee, Dr. Patrick Washburn and Dr. Aimee

Edmondson for their wonderful historical insight and support. Thank you for taking an interest in my topic and pointing me in the right direction for research.

A very special thanks to my chair, Professor Mary Rogus. You have served as an exemplary advisor who has become an inspiring role model and friend during the course of my studies. Thank you for guiding and supporting me through this process.

I would like to thank my Gramma and Grampa. Gramma, thanks for serving as my “unofficial editor” during the many phases of my writing and taking the time to read and critique my work. Also, a big thank you goes to my Grampa for driving me to and from OU when I didn’t have a car, and for your endless encouragement. Without either of you, I would not have made it through my four years at OU.

This thesis never could have been completed without the time and patience of

Leon and Marguerite Bibb, who kindly answered all of my questions and gave me wonderful, first-hand narratives of their public and private experiences. It was a pleasure getting to know you and learn about your lives.

Dedication

For my Papito, Charles J. Savoca, Jr.

Broadcasting was your dream, but you encouraged me to follow mine.

Thanks for driving me every week to smARTS, and thanks for making sure I made it here.

v Table of Contents

Page

Abstract...... iii Acknowledgements...... iv Dedication...... v List of Tables ...... vii List of Figures...... viii Chapter 1: Introduction...... 1 The Storyteller ...... 1 Ohio’s First Black Anchor...... 2 Chapter 2: The Beginning of Bibb...... 7 Chapter 3: Bibb’s Battles Begin Victories and Defeats During College ...... 15 Chapter 4: Welcome to the Real World...... 34 Chapter 5: Making History ...... 40 Chapter 6: Cleveland Calling...... 57 Chapter 7: The Battlefield at Home...... 69 Chapter 8: Changing Channels ...... 77 Chapter 9: Award-Winning Anchor ...... 88 Chapter 10: Conclusion ...... 96 Bibliography ...... 103

vi List of Tables

Page

Table 1: First Black Anchors in the U.S...... 42

Table 2: Leon Bibb’s Awards…………………………………………………………..88

vii

List of Figures

Page

Figure 1: Leon Bibb anchoring for WCMH-TV in Columbus, Ohio in late 1976...……...2

Figure 2: Leon Bibb for a WKYC-TV promotion in Cleveland, Ohio...……………….…3

Figure 3: Photograph of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taken by Bibb………....…………20

Figure 4: Bibb’s staff picture for the Plain Dealer in 1966...…….……………….…….23

Figure 5: Photograph of Bibb in Vietnam………………………………………….……24

Figure 6: Bibb and WCMH-TV News Director and Anchor Hugh De Moss……….…..38

Figure 7: Bibb at WCMH NBC-4 in Columbus during the 1970s…………………...….40

Figure 8: Bibb walking the halls of WCMH-TV in Columbus, Ohio……..……….…....41

Figure 9: Bibb before an interview at WCMH-TV………..…..…………..………...... 45

Figure 10: Bibb reporting at WKYC-TV in Cleveland, Ohio in 1979………………...... 57

Figure 11: Bibb reporting in downtown Cleveland in the early 1980’s…………………59

Figure 12: Bibb anchoring the primetime newscast for WKYC-TV…………………....60

Figure 13: Bibb anchoring the NBC-3 newscast………………………………….....…..62

Figure 14: Bibb anchoring WKYC’s “Action 3 News”.…………………………….…..63

Figure 15: Bibb with co-anchor Jill Beach and Tom Brokaw…………………………...64

Figure 16: Bibb reporting live from the field for WKYC-TV.………………………...... 65

Figure 17: Bibb hosting “Kaleidoscope” on WEWS TV-5 ………………..……………79

Figure 18: Bibb anchoring “Kaleidoscope” in 2007……………….…………………….81

Figure 19: Photograph from a feature story about Bibb in the Plain Dealer……….…...84

Figure 20: Bibb’s headshot for WEWS in 2010………………………….……………...91

viii

Chapter 1: Introduction

The Storyteller

It was a snowy, freezing cold day at the beginning of January 2010 in Cleveland,

Ohio. Leon Bibb pulled his Lexus into the parking lot of the Shaker Heights Public

Library, right around the corner from his house. Heavy snowflakes fell as he trudged through the thick layer of slush that already coated the ground. The large brick building, full of books and words beckoned him to come inside. With more than forty years experience in journalism, Bibb learned to appreciate words. He appreciated good writing.

However, on that day he was not reading or borrowing the nostalgic 1940s movies he adored.1 Bibb was telling a story.

He strolled in the door, courteously removed the black felt bowler from his head, and delicately brushed the snow off the shoulders of his dark winter overcoat. Librarians perked their heads up from their work, instantly recognizing the local celebrity and active community member in the doorway. They waved and bid him, “Good morning, Leon!” as he walked in. He curtly nodded his head and smoothly replied, “Good morning. How are you?” His deep, resonating voice echoed off the low ceiling of the entry chamber. Even the library goers who had not looked up from their books could now recognize who had just walked in. Bibb’s unique, rich voice instantaneously linked him to the iconic voice

Northeast Ohioans hear on the news every night. As reporter Brian McIntyre said, colleagues refer to Bibb as “The Voice,”2 and have compared him to the narrators who portray the voice of God. It was in this same rich voice, Bibb proceeded to tell a story in a corner of the library. Ordinarily, he told Northeast Ohio news stories every night on

TV. But on that cold day at the library, Bibb told a story viewers never hear. Bibb was telling his story.

Figure 1. Leon Bibb anchoring for WCMH-TV in Columbus, Ohio in late 1976. Still shot taken from

YouTube.com

Ohio’s First Black Anchor

Leon Bibb, a veteran television news anchor and journalist since 1966, was the first black primetime anchor in Ohio and one of the first ten in the country.3 He was the first black to sit at the anchor desk for Columbus in 1976 and then in Cleveland in 1985.

Bibb’s warm, baritone voice has entered the living rooms of Ohio households for more than forty years starting at WBGU radio and television news as a student at Bowling

Green State University in 1962.4 With a combination of hard work, perseverance, and fate, Bibb overcame racial barriers and succeeded in what was a white, male dominated industry. He is a prominent figure for Ohio’s black community, whose face is

2 synonymous with Cleveland news. Bibb became well known for reading the news and for playing an active role in the community he covers.

Figure 2. Leon Bibb for a WKYC-TV promotion in Cleveland, Ohio in the late 1980s. Still shot taken from YouTube.com

While Bibb achieved much success throughout his career, he faced many obstacles during the course of his lifetime. He attended a predominantly white college and was one of the first blacks to enter the broadcast journalism field in Ohio. In many situations during his education and career, he was the only black person in the newsroom. This thesis will show he responded to difficult situations well and worked extremely hard to prove himself.5

Bibb’s race played a central role in his broadcast journalism career. He graduated from college in 1966 when newsrooms were looking to hire blacks.6 When he finally became an anchor, he represented part of the population of Columbus and Cleveland that

3 had never before been represented as an authority figure on television news. For black viewers, it was new, refreshing, and positive to have Bibb represent their community and perspective on the news.7 Over the course of his lifetime, Bibb encountered racism, preferential treatment, and struggled with balancing his race and career. One of these struggles occurred when Federal Communications Commission (FCC) deregulation and a federal court decision led to a decrease in affirmative action programs in the 1990s. Thus, the number of minorities in the newsroom dropped.8 Affirmative action programs and

Equal Employment Opportunity standards were under less scrutiny, “as a result of a federal court striking down the FCC’s Equal Employment Opportunity regulations,” according to the National Association of Black Journalists.9 WKYC-TV dropped Bibb from the anchor desk at this time, demoting him back to street reporting in 1992.10

The goal of this thesis is to present the details of Leon Bibb’s personal and professional life to portray the man and journalist which he has become. This thesis will provide a descriptive narrative of his past, with facts and historical details of the time period he lived and worked. Through interviews with Bibb, his family, colleagues, and peers, and finding relevant data in newspapers, books, and scholarly articles, this is the story of a television news pioneer who led the way for minorities in the broadcast industry in Ohio. From the very beginning of his career, Bibb blazed the trail for other minority journalists while encountering many racial barriers along the way.

Additionally, this thesis seeks to uncover personal details of Bibb’s life and monumental events from his journalism career during a time in history when most of his accomplishments were unique for blacks. It begins with his childhood, when he delivered

4 newspapers for the Plain Dealer in 1957 and ends with his current role as a veteran anchor for WEWS Channel 5 News in 2010.11 This thesis examines the highlights and lowlights of Bibb’s career. As a trailblazer for minority journalists and broadcasters, he became one of the most acclaimed news anchors in Ohio.

1 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 2 Interview, Television news reporter Brian McIntyre, January 22, 2010. 3 WEWS, “Leon Bibb,” at http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_us/staff/Leon- Bibb (accessed January 6, 2010). 4 Ibid. 5 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010; and Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010. 6 The Kerner Commission recommended the mainstream press integrate their newsrooms in 1968. See National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1968); and National Association of Black Journalists, “Founders,” at http://www.nabj.org/30/factoids/index.php (accessed March 30, 2010); and the Civil Rights Act forbade discrimination on the basis of race in hiring, promoting, and firing. See National Archives and Records Administration, “The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,” at http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/ (accessed January 20, 2010). 7 Interview, Brian McIntyre, January 22, 2010; and Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 8 Dwight E. Brooks, George L. Daniels, & C. Ann Hollifield, “Television in living color: Racial diversity in the local commercial television industry,” The Howard Journal of Communications, 2003, 123-146. 9 Kathy Y. Times, et. al., “Comments of the National Assocation of Black Journalists on the Future of Journalism,” NABJ, November 18, 2009. 10 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010; and Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010. 11 WEWS, “Leon Bibb,” at http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_us/staff/Leon- Bibb (accessed January 6, 2010).

Chapter 2: The Beginning of Bibb

Leon Douglas Bibb, Jr. was born on October 5, 1944 in the small town of Butler,

Alabama, to Leon and Georgia Bibb.1 His father had become a teacher and was a World

War II Army veteran. Without a lot of options in teaching, his father took a job as a postal worker in Cleveland, Ohio.2 Leon came to Cleveland in diapers when he was just thirteen months old. The family looked for a home in the Glenville neighborhood in the eastern section of Cleveland. Since the 1940s, Glenville has been predominantly African-

American, and one of Cleveland's most well-known yet troubled sections of the city, dealing with racial rioting, urban decay, and poverty.3 The family moved into a modest home on Parkgate Avenue.4 This was the house where Bibb spent his formative years, a few blocks away from the schools he attended. Miles Standish Elementary School was right across the street from his home, and Empire Junior High and Glenville Senior High

School were only a few blocks away.5

Bibb first realized he wanted to become a journalist when he was eleven years old. His sixth grade teacher, Robert Taylor, helped him write a graduation play. Bibb wrote about a time machine that returned to the signing of the Declaration of

Independence, and other significant events in American history.6 Taylor, also a neighbor who lived a few blocks from Bibb in Glenville, was impressed with Bibb’s writing ability. “He saw something in me that I did not see in myself,” Bibb said. Taylor encouraged Bibb to pursue a career where he could use his writing skills. The career that

Bibb chose was journalism. Since the play in sixth grade, Taylor kept close tabs on his

7 prodigy, having a hunch that Bibb was not an ordinary student. Plus, Taylor viewed Bibb as a son for the rest of his life.7

Since Taylor had planted the seed of a journalism career in Bibb’s brain, he started listening to the radio every chance he got. Bibb stayed awake at night, lying in bed with a little transistor radio under his pillow and an earphone running into his ear when he was supposed to be asleep. From his bed, Bibb listened to late night newscasts from

Cleveland, as well as around the country. He tuned into Detroit stations, KMOX in St.

Louis, WWL in New Orleans, and WHAM in Rochester, New York. A student of journalism before ever taking a single journalism course, Bibb recalled listening to the newscasts and paying close attention to disc jockeys. “I’d listen to how they talked, and I always said, ‘God, I want to be a part of this. I want my voice to go out into the ether, to go into space. I want people to tune me in as well. I want to be a part of this big communication thing,’” Bibb said.8

A year later, Bibb got his chance. His first job in the journalism industry was in

1957, when he was 12 years old:

The [Plain Dealer] district manager drove by and saw me step off my front porch right on Parkgate Avenue. Had it been ten seconds earlier, I’d have missed him. Had it been ten seconds later, I’d have missed him. He said, “Hey Kid! You wanna be a newspaper delivery boy? The guy who works this street just quit. I need a kid!” . . . .That’s when I started delivering the newspaper. I did that for about a year, through weather like this [a very snowy day], heavy weather, seven days a week. It’s a brutal job. It’s seven days a week. There are no off days, and it’s 5:30 in the morning. But I enjoyed it for what it was, and I began to read the newspaper then. . .so I knew what was going on in the world.9

Bibb’s job as a Plain Dealer newspaper delivery boy not only developed his news savvy, but also prepared him for the long hours ahead in the non-stop news industry.

While he gained a sense of print journalism reading the paper, Bibb’s true interest was in broadcasting. After seeing “The Ten Commandments” with his mother and father at the movie theater, Bibb said he really started to understand the power of one’s voice.

He recalled the scene where Moses goes up to Mount Sinai with the burning bush, and

God speaks to Moses. “Cecil B. DeMille who directed the movie, ‘The Ten

Commandments,’ he gave God a bass baritone voice,” Bibb explained. In the movie, God says in a very deep, low voice, “Moses, Moses. You go down and tell pharaoh to let my people go.”10 Bibb said he was very impressed with the actor’s voice, relishing the memory of his rich, cavernous tone. Back home, Bibb figured out a way to give his voice this same effect:

By this time, I’m going into puberty at the age of twelve or thirteen somewhere in that time period, and I’m thinking of the voice of God. Boys that go through puberty go through so much. . .I’m calling girls on the phone to talk to them, and I wanted an authoritative voice. True story. I took this wastebasket my parents had. . .big one, aluminum with Roman coins all around it. As I talked to girls, I would stick my head down into the bottom of that wastebasket just to get that authoritative sound, and that reverberation came back. Girls would say, “Where are you? Are you in a well somewhere?” But I thought it gave that sense of romance, sense of theater to the sound of whatever I was saying.11

Recognizing the power of a well-developed voice, Bibb delivered ad lib broadcasts to his teammates on the baseball team, though without the trashcan. In junior high, he would mimic play-by-play announcers while playing baseball. “If it wasn’t a crucial game, just a pick up game, I’d do a play-by-play from my position at third base,”

Bibb said. He quickly got back into character, recalling his sports announcer practice from his adolescence:

“Here’s the pitch. It’s low and away. Ball one on the outside. Great day for baseball  why don’t you come on down to the playground and see the kids

play!” I’m just talking, and it’s just patter, and the kids are laughing at me. The guys I’m playing with saying, “There goes Leon. He’s on the air again.” It’s patter. And at the end of the game I’d say, “What do you think about that? You caught that ball  was it a fastball or a curveball that you caught?” [I was] pretending to be on the air.12

In high school, Bibb continued pretending be on the air at his part-time job after school. When Bibb washed dishes at the age of sixteen for the Huron Road Hospital in

East Cleveland, he remembered being buried in pots and pans filled with crusted-on macaroni and cheese. “Hospitals cook a lot of food,” Bibb explained. “When you deal with the dishes you say, ‘My God! They’re feeding them again! Here come more dishes.

And here come more dishes!’’ Having to clean all those pots and pans on a daily basis,

Bibb knew exactly what to do to make the time pass faster. He would pretend to be on the air and make up news stories in his little room filled with soapsuds and dirty dishes.13

In order to understand the racial divide in journalism as Bibb was growing up, it is important to review the history of journalism during his youth. For the first half of the twentieth century, there were two forms of press in the United States: the black press and the white press. The white, mainstream press was openly pervasive in cities and all regions of the country, while the black press was more underground, though well-known and respected throughout the black community.14 The black press documented life for millions of people who were otherwise ignored by the white press. Editors, writers, cartoonists, and photographers for the black press were heroes within the black community. As journalist Abie Robinson explained in the PBS documentary Soldiers

Without Swords, “[black journalists] were the only ones able to write and crusade for the things that were in the hearts of black people.” However, there was little room for growth

10 or improvement for black journalists working for the black press, as Percival Prattis complained to the Phylon in 1947. “If our student of journalism elects to take his chance on a Negro newspaper, he has the opportunity for restricted growth in a restricted, segregated field. He can rise, just like the white boy, but instead of rising to the top. . . he rises merely to the top of accumulated experience in Negro journalism during the last one hundred years.”15 It was extremely rare for a black man to work for the mainstream press in the 1950s.16 However, the black press encountered a shift, with many reporters moving to the mainstream press as a result of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.17 With new legislation such as the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and new federal mandates triggered by the Kerner Commission in 1968, the mainstream press had a legal responsibility to hire black journalists, and at the same time, white newsrooms needed black reporters and their sources to properly cover current events tied to the Civil Rights Movement.18 As explained in the book The African American Newspaper: Voice of Freedom, the mainstream press paid educated, talented black journalists higher salaries and offered black writers a larger audience, enticing them to leave the black press and thus, depleted the black press of its best writers.19 Bibb graduated from high school in 1962 during this transitional period of the black and white press.

Despite the shifts in newspaper, television news still was strictly a white man's field at this time. Jackie Robinson, the first black baseball player of the modern major leagues, complained to TV executives that there were not any black news reporters, so

ABC News hired its first black news reporter, Mal Goode.20 Goode worked for ABC for eleven years as a correspondent and covered the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Before joining ABC, he was the news director at WHOD radio in Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvania, and he became the first black member of the National Association of Radio and Television News Directors (now the Radio Television Digital News Association or

RTDNA). According to the National Association of Black Journalists, “His precedent- setting act was a strong step in the fight for equal rights and opened the door for future black reporters on television. Many followed his example and found courage to follow their dreams.”21

Bibb was one of those people, following the dream he had first developed in Mr.

Taylor’s class. When he graduated from Glenville Senior High School in 1962, he applied to the journalism programs at both Bowling Green State University and Ohio

University. “Bowling Green answered the letter first, so I filled out the application and went to Bowling Green,” Bibb said.22

Notes

1 Ibid; and Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 2 Alana Baranick, “Leon Bibb Sr., retired postal clerk,” Plain Dealer, December 20, 2002. 3 The Glenville neighborhood is moderately depressed, and showing signs of becoming severely so…These neighborhoods have relatively low family incomes, high unemployment rates, and high vacancy rates for the commercial structure of the area. See William E. Cox, “A Commercial Structure Model for Depressed Neighborhoods,” The Journal of Marketing, 1969. 4 “9122 Parkgate Avenue…” See “Stork Talk,” Cleveland Call and Post, April 26, 1952. 5 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010; and Crump, Sarah, “News anchor Leon Bibb has deep Cleveland roots: Sarah Crump’s My Cleveland,” Plain Dealer, March 21, 2010; and and Google Maps, “Directions from Michael R. White Elementary to 9122 Parkgate Avenue,” at http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&source=hp&q=9122+Parkgate+Avenue+Cleveland +Ohio&oq=&um=1&ie=UTF- 8&hq=&hnear=9122+Parkgate+Ave,+Cleveland,+OH+44108&gl=us&ei=WwSHS_ewK 4yd8Aat19nEDw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CAcQ8gEwA A (accessed January 25, 2010). 6 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010; and WEWS, “Leon Bibb,” at http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_us/staff/Leon-Bibb (accessed January 6, 2010); and Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 7 “Many years later, after I’d gotten into journalism and was working in television, Mr. Taylor retired…and I was one of the students invited back to speak about his 40-year-long career,” Bibb said. A few years later at Taylor’s funeral, Bibb honored the Taylor family’s request that he sit with them, as Taylor considered Bibb to be a member of the family. Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 Stanley, Nelson, Soldiers without Swords, Documentary, United States: PBS, 1999. 15 Percival L. Prattis, “Racial Segregation and Negro Journalism,” Phylon, Fourth Quarter 1947, pg 305-314. 16 PBS, “The black press: Soldiers without swords,” at http://www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/index.html (accessed March 30, 2010). 17 Stanley, Nelson, Soldiers without Swords, Documentary, United States: PBS, 1999.

18 Patrick S. Washburn, The African American Newspaper: Voice of Freedom, Northwestern University Press, 2006. 19 Ibid. 20 “[Mal Goode] served as inspiration for the civil rights movement of the 60's.” From National Association of Black Journalists, “Mal Goode,” http://www.nabj.org/awards/hall/inductees2004/index.php (accessed on April 20, 2010). 21 Ibid. 22 Ibid.

Chapter 3: Bibb’s Battles Begin  Victories and Defeats During College

In the early 1960s, blacks were just starting to enter many white colleges around the country. To provide context of the difficulty blacks faced attending these white institutions, James Meredith’s court case serves as an excellent example. After serving in the Air Force, he repeatedly applied to the University of Mississippi and was denied solely on the basis of his race, according to the final ruling of his 1961–62 court battle, which was won on appeal with the legal assistance of the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP. In the fall of 1962 when Meredith’s first semester approached and he needed to register for classes, U.S. Attorney General Robert

F. Kennedy called in federal protection, as mob violence seemed imminent. Meredith's tenure at Mississippi was brief since he transferred college credit from Jackson State

College, and was able to graduate a year later in 1963.1

While Bibb did not need the National Guard to ensure his safety when he attended

Bowling Green State University, there were 125 black students out of 10,000 on campus.2

So only one in 100 students were black on the campus of Bowling Green at a time when one in ten Ohioans were minorities.3 For Bibb, who had grown up in a black neighborhood in Cleveland and attended all-black schools his entire life, college was a complete white-out and a learning environment which he had never been in before.

Though he encountered issues along the way, entering college at the time he did (1962-

1966), amidst court cases such as the Meredith case, was one of many advantageous intersections with the Civil Rights Movement and progress of blacks into mainstream journalism, which Bibb was able to leverage in his career4

He left Cleveland to attend college at Bowling Green State University in the fall of 1962. Bibb met his college sweetheart, Marguerite Bryant, his first week in the student union. “It was a pep rally,” Marguerite said of their first meeting. “We learned school songs and a couple of cheers. It was in the grand ballroom. I was sitting with a group of freshman girls, and he was sitting near us. He was nice. We didn’t really have time to talk right then, but we got to know each other later.”5 Marguerite and Leon became an item before the end of their first year at Bowling Green. "We've been holding hands ever since," he said.6

Bibb became an active member of the journalism program at Bowling Green, working as a reporter for the BG News student newspaper and as a newscaster at WBGU-

FM, the campus radio station. “When he was on [the] radio, he would tell me when he was doing something,” Marguerite said, who tuned in to hear his first broadcasts. Even as a novice, she said Bibb spoke in his same deep voice.7

Bibb was one of two black students in Bowling Green’s journalism program in the mid-sixties. He became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, a black fraternity on campus.8 Attending college from 1962 to 1966 amidst the Civil Rights Movement, Bibb remembered the movement playing a large role in the news and atmosphere on the BGSU campus. He actively participated in the Civil Rights Movement on campus in panel discussions, demonstrations, and protests. “I wasn’t a full-fledged journalist [yet]. . . I was nineteen years old,” Bibb said, explaining why he participated in the protests he might also have to cover. “There were a lot of people who had protested for me, otherwise I wouldn’t even have been allowed in at Bowling Green,” he added.9 One

16 significant protest Bibb participated in started during homecoming, while he was working in the campus newsroom:

Don Fuller, one of the students there, came in [to the newsroom] and said listen, that parade that’s going on, you should see what they’re doing. . . . It was a big parade, and one of the fraternities and sororities decided that they were going to pose as black American slaves. They black-faced their bodies and put on head rags and tattered clothes and walked down the street portraying black Americans in the 1800s, and we just thought that was not appropriate. . . So a bunch of us ran out, and we stopped that parade. We stopped it. We held hands across the street and stopped a parade.10

During this same period of time, Congress passed the controversial Civil Rights

Act in 1964, which intended to end discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin.11 It is one of the most important U.S. laws on civil rights. It guaranteed equal voting rights, prohibited segregation and discrimination in public places, desegregated schools, and banned discrimination in the workplace and schools. The Civil

Rights Act established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, to enforce these changes.12 Specifically applicable to minorities, Title VII of the Civil

Rights Act requires that “recruiting, hiring, and job requirements must be uniformly and consistently applied to persons of all races and colors. Even if a job requirement is applied consistently, if it is not important for job performance or business needs, the requirement may be found unlawful if it excludes persons of a certain racial group or color significantly more than others.”13 Since most mainstream newsrooms were all white, the Civil Rights Act impacted them directly, and newsrooms started to integrate to abide with the law, but also because they realized they needed black reporters to cover the Civil Rights Movement from the inside, just as Bibb was doing in college.14

But there was one newsroom that was not ready to integrate, as Bibb learned his junior year at BGSU. His greatest struggle in college was fulfilling his mandatory internship requirement the summer before his senior year in 1965. “Without [the internship] I was not going to graduate. You had to do a whole report on it, the professors had to look at it and the people you worked for had to sign off on it, saying you did all these things,” he said.15 “It was worth three credits, and it had to be in journalism in order to graduate.”

Bibb’s advisor, Dr. Raymond Durr, suggested an internship with a friend in journalism who had taken his Bowling Green students in the past. Durr called his friend on the telephone while Bibb anxiously waited in his office, knowing his diploma depended on the internship. Bibb remembers the conversation well, starting off with pleasant banter back and forth between the two men. Durr spoke highly of Bibb, reviewing his journalistic accomplishments and involvement at the campus newspaper and radio station. Durr’s friend agreed to take him on as an intern. Then, the tone of the conversation drastically changed. Durr mentioned Bibb was black. Suddenly, the man on the other end of the phone refused to have Bibb as an intern. Durr tried to change the man’s mind, but eventually accepted his answer. Durr apologized, but the news was devastating to Bibb. The color of his skin was keeping him from getting an internship, and therefore, preventing him from graduating. Bibb felt defeated.16

“You put yourself in that twenty-year-old period. What would you think? What would you feel? Who would you talk to? Everybody around [you] is white,” Bibb said.17

“Dr. Durr, he could have done more, but he didn’t. He tried. He got the job, but he felt

18 obligated to tell them I was black,” Bibb said. He pointed out the internship sponsor would have found out anyway. “I probably would have got the job and I’d not have even been allowed in there after [the first day].” It seemed no one wanted to give Bibb a shot.

He had written to every TV and radio station in Cleveland, and most did not even answer his letters. “It was devastating,” he said.18

Still, Bibb kept applying until legendary black press publisher W.O. Walker from the Cleveland Call and Post answered.19 The 1928 merger of two newspapers, both of which had been struggling to serve the black community of Cleveland since 1920, formed

Ohio’s most successful black newspaper, the Cleveland Call and Post. William O.

Walker became the managing editor in 1932, and the paper flourished under his direction to become an influential voice in black journalism across the nation.20 “I will sing

Walker’s praises until I’m dead,” Bibb said. “I got my internship and I probably got more than I would have gotten at the other place.”21

What Bibb got was the opportunity to write dozens of hard news articles. “Leon seized opportunities to interview the governor and cover a Ku Klux Klan rally in Medina, and he zealously reported neighborhood news. He built a portfolio of stories that would open doors for his career,” former president of the Cleveland Press Club Richard

Osbourne recalled.22 Bibb’s most notable story included a photograph of Martin Luther

King, which the Cleveland Call and Post published on the front page of the paper when

King came to Cleveland in 1965.23 Bibb recalled, “[King] looked at me, and I looked at him. I waved and said, ‘Hi Dr. King!’ And he just winked back.” In addition to his illustrious portfolio, Bibb credits Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and anyone who participated

19 in the Civil Rights Movement with making his career in journalism possible. 24

Figure 3. Photograph of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taken by Bibb that appeared on the front page of the Call and Post in the summer of 1965. Courtesy of the Cleveland Call and Post archives.

On June 4, 1966, Bibb graduated from BGSU with a bachelor of science in journalism, specializing in both broadcast and print journalism. He sat in his cap and gown contemplating three job offers. “Doors were beginning to swing open for people like me. When I started [college] in 1962 there was very little hope of finding a job in mainstream journalism in America. But by the time I graduated in 1966, the world had turned upside down.25 The world was upside down, and they came looking for me,” Bibb said.

During the late 1960s, newsrooms were looking for black journalists. With the Civil

Rights Act and the Kerner Commission report, 26 newsrooms sought out educated blacks, and opportunities for blacks suddenly opened up. In 1968, the federal government’s

National Advisory on Civil Disorders Commission released the Kerner report, named after its chair, Illinois Governor Otto Kerner. The commission investigated urban riots in the United States and the underlying racial tensions throughout the country. The report stated that racism was deeply embedded in American society, 27 and it was difficult for minorities to overcome racism when being held back socioeconomically, as, “The burden of unemployment… falls most heavily on minority groups, and especially, the younger members of such groups.”28 As the New York Times explained, the Kerner Commission warned that the United States was in danger of becoming two nations, one black and one white.29 Since the nation’s press was already clearly divided into black and white, the commission recommended that the press “integrate the news.” In Chapter 15 of the

Kerner report, the commission suggested newsrooms “recruit more Negroes into journalism and broadcasting, and promote those who are qualified to positions of significant responsibility. Recruitment should begin in high schools and continue through college; where necessary, aid for training should be provided.”30 The report also said the press should integrate news about African-Americans into “ the news, society and club pages to the comic strips,” and show that black Americans “read the newspapers, watch television, give birth, marry, die, and go to PTA meetings” just like white Americans.31

To bring about this integration, the National Advisory Committee on Civil

Disorders recommended a private institute of urban communications that would recruit, train, and place blacks into the news media,32 and bring about accurate minority

21 representation in the mainstream media.33 Thus, many affirmative action programs were enacted and minorities entered white newsrooms. As the first black broadcast journalist in Louisville, Kentucky in 1968, Britt Arrington Jr. said, “In 1968 the door was wide open. . .They were looking for blacks who were qualified. . . If there had been no riots, I probably would never have gotten in.”34

Thus, once again, timing was everything when it came to Leon Bibb’s career. He graduated from college in 1966 in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement with three job offers. The first was with the Cleveland Call and Post, the black weekly newspaper he had interned with; the second was with Booth Newspapers in Michigan; and the third was with the Cleveland Plain Dealer. While he had an offer to continue working for the black press, he was one of the black journalists who the mainstream press recruited in the late

1960s, and he switched from the Cleveland Call and Post to the Plain Dealer, the mainstream, white press. 35 A year later, Cleveland was one of the first major cities in the country to elect a black mayor.36 The once designated black and white press and society of Northeast Ohio began to progressively blend to shades of gray. Bibb was on the forefront of this progression.

So in the spring of 1966, he returned to the Plain Dealer not as a delivery boy, but as a reporter. “I was working on obituaries at that time. New reporters work on obituaries,” he said. While working on obituaries, he remembered writing an obituary for his cousin who was hit by a car. This was the first time, but certainly not the last, that

Bibb covered a story close to home.

Shortly afterwards, the Plain Dealer assigned Bibb to cover a new beat. “Once somebody else new comes in, you get rotated out. I ended up in the suburban department,” Bibb said. On this beat he covered government and political stories, allowing him to better understand the city in which he grew up and would later cover nightly on the news.37

Bibb wrote for the Plain Dealer for less than ten months before he was drafted in the Vietnam War. Before he left for Vietnam, Bibb married his college sweetheart,

Marguerite Bryant. He had been stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, and received a furlough to come home for ten days during the Christmas holidays.

Figure 4. Bibb’s staff picture for the Plain Dealer in 1966. Courtesy of Cleveland.com.

He called Marguerite and said, “I got [sic] ten days at home, and we can get married.”

Marguerite replied, “Well I already got the dress.”38

Bibb chuckled when he remembered this phone call. He said he knew they were going to get married, they just had not set a date, but it was like Marguerite to plan ahead.

“She had three weeks, and she pulled [our wedding] together in three weeks,” Bibb remembered.39 Their wedding ceremony took place just two days before Christmas, on

December 23, 1966.40 He left to finish training in Oklahoma, and went to the Vietnam battlefields the summer of 1967.

Figure 5. Photograph of Bibb while serving in the Vietnam War from 1966-1969. Courtesy of

WEWS.com.

While other branches of the military had successfully integrated by 1950,

Vietnam was the first fully integrated war for the U.S. Army.41 Despite efforts to desegregate the military in practice, incidents of racism occurred overseas after Martin 24

Luther King's assassination. According to the New York Times, “Confederate flags appeared at some of the base huts. When black soldiers complained, the flags were promptly taken down.”42 When Bibb entered the war in 1966 about 10 percent of men in combat were black, but 20 percent of combat deaths were black soldiers. “After 1968, the

Army actively worked to lower the percentage of African American causalities. By the end of the war in 1973, African American causalities reflected the percentage of blacks in combat — about 10 percent.”43 So at the time Bibb entered the army, he had a greater risk of dying than his white army buddies. “I didn’t see myself as a ‘black’ soldier. I was just a soldier in the United States Army,” he said.44

Bibb served in the fourth infantry division in Vietnam and battled in the TET offensive. He came under fire many times while standing guard and patrolling the jungle.

He said the men he served alongside were friends, and he watched many fellow soldiers die fighting next to him. He also saw how some of his comrades were deeply affected by the war:45

One soldier, Rodriguez, I can’t remember his first name, transferred into my unit. He ended up defending me, and I defended him. One night he was trying to kill himself by jabbing a piece of metal in his stomach. I stopped him, asking him what was wrong, and he said the reason he was transferred was so many of his friends died. It [seriously] affected him, but they didn’t send him home. I held him in my arms like he was a baby because he was crying and wanted to know why God spared him. Why was he alive when so many of his friends were dead? Things like that change your perspective on life.46

Since Bibb was the only soldier in his unit with a journalism degree, the Army also designed a special role for him. He worked as a writer, combat photographer, clerk, and stenographer who handled court martial reports.47 He also watched military television news broadcasts. A sergeant gave the news in uniform for the troops, and another soldier

25 did the weather in front of a map of Vietnam. Bibb said to himself, I can do that. I did radio in college. Maybe I need to go back to school and major in radio and television.

So, inspired by his fellow soldiers, he applied for graduate school at Bowling Green.48

“I applied for Bowling Green while I was in uniform, while I was ducking bullets in Vietnam. The acceptance letter came to Vietnam. . . all I had to do was survive the war for two years,” he said. In 1969, Bibb finished his service in Vietnam, receiving a Bronze

Star for his service.49 In the fall, he went to graduate school along with his wife,

Marguerite.50

“I knew he wanted to be in television,” Marguerite said, “but there were no blacks on television like there are now, so it was kind of hard to imagine.”51 During the 1960s, only five television markets had promoted a black to an anchor position in the United

States, and not one of them was in Ohio.52 As Marguerite added, “When we were undergraduates he was in print journalism. He was planning on working for a newspaper.

I related to that because there was a family friend who was a very prominent newspaperman with the Toledo Blade. . . . He was also black, so I knew that was feasible, but as far as being on television, that was not heard of.”53

While stations began hiring more blacks as reporters in the early 1970s, most did not last very long and were rarely promoted.54 If a black made it to the coveted anchor desk, it was not for the primetime newscasts. Most black anchors at this time were hired as weekend anchors. In the 1960’s, only four black journalists were promoted as anchors, and one, Max Robinson, had to read the news behind a curtain with the station’s logo.

Robinson anchored in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1959, and he was fired for pulling down

26 the curtain one night.55 He anchored ten years later for WTOP-TV in Washington, D.C.56

Also on the east coast, Wiley Daniels became Maryland’s first black anchor in 1965 for

WJZ-TV in Baltimore.57 In 1968, WWJ-TV in Detroit, Michigan hired Jerry Blocker to anchor the weekend news.58 That same year, Reynelda Muse became the first black and first woman to anchor the news in Colorado at KCNC-TV.59 These were the first four black anchors in the country.

Marguerite remembered her family being concerned about Bibb’s career choice.

“My parents thought that Leon had very high hopes. . . I remember they asked him if they thought he’d be able to get a job. They didn’t want to say, ‘You probably never will get a job in that field,’ but they wondered if he thought he could get a job in [TV].” But

Margurite said she believed in him, and Bibb pursued his dream of becoming a television journalist during graduate school at BGSU.60 He did not let anyone else’s doubts get in the way of his dreams.61

Working as a graduate assistant at WBGU television at Bowling Green, Bibb produced a half-hour 5:30 p.m. newscast and oversaw undergraduate students in a television news writing course. His wife worked as a residence hall director in a dormitory with 400 freshmen women.62

“Well, I was her husband, so I lived there [with 400 women] too,” Bibb explained, laughing at the fact he was the only man who lived in the building. “We did not have to pay rent, we did not have to pay utilities, and we didn’t even have to buy food because they gave us both meal tickets that came with the job. . . . I was getting paid at the TV station, $40 a week, and Uncle Sam was paying for my education, so I was

27 actually making money going to school. . . . [Grad school] didn’t cost me anything,” Bibb said.63

While working as an instructor for undergraduate journalism courses, Bibb reported on television for the first time. “One day I was producing and they said, ‘Our sports guy didn’t show up. Can you do sports?’” Bibb jumped at the opportunity, writing a sportscast and going live on the air. “I did the same thing I’d done on radio, except periodically I’d look into the lens of the camera,” he said.64 At this time for television broadcasters there were only scripts, no teleprompters. Still, Bibb read well and naturally connected with the camera. WBGU-TV began asking him to fill in more frequently. He always accepted the offer to be on the news, and continued excelling on camera. At this stage in his life, Bibb said he felt like he was beating the odds ordinarily stacked against blacks, thanks again to good timing.65

Bibb completed all his coursework, but never finished his thesis in order to graduate with his master’s degree because Marguerite and Leon discovered they were expecting their first baby. “We had to move out of the residence hall. [Marguerite] couldn’t do the job and be pregnant, so we had to get an apartment and start paying for it,” Bibb explained. “I had to get a job.” 66

Notes

1 Encyclopedia Britannica, “James Meredith,” Guide to Black History, at http://search.eb.com/blackhistory/article-9399796 (Accessed April 19, 2010). 2 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 3 795,928 non-whites out of the total population of 9,707,136 lived in Ohio according to the 1960 U.S. Census. From U.S. Census Bureau, “1960 Census of the Population: Advance Reports- Ohio,” February 26, 1962. 4 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 5 Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010. 6 Leon met Marguerite his first day at Bowling Green State University in the student union. "We've been holding hands ever since," he said. See Barbara Hendel, “Spotlight,” The Blade, April 29, 2002; and No byline, “Engagement Announcement,” Cleveland Call and Post, December 10, 1966. 7 Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010. 8 Bibb shared details about Horace Coleman, black classmate and fraternity brother. See Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 11 “Civil Rights Act of 1964,” The National Archives, at http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/images/act-01.jpg; and Encyclopedia Britannica, “Civil Rights Act 1964,” Guide to Black History, at http://search.eb.com/blackhistory/article-9082762 (Accessed April 19, 2010). 12 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “Facts about Race/Color Discrimination,” at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/fs-race.cfm (accessed on April 19, 2010). 13 “The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information. The agency began its work in 1965. More than 40 years later, the public continues to rely on the Commission to carry out its responsibility to bring justice and equal opportunity to the workplace.” From Ibid. 14 “The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission requires periodic reports from public and private employers, and unions and labor organizations which indicate the composition of their work forces by sex and by race/ethnic category.” From U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “Job Patterns for Minorities and Women in Private Industry,” at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/employment/jobpat- eeo1/index.cfm (accessed on April 19, 2010). 15 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 16 Bibb would not reveal the name of the internship, but he mentioned it is located in Northeast Ohio around the Cleveland area, as he occasionally drives by it. Bibb said he never forgets the feeling of being rejected, and he thinks about that phone call that day every time he drives by. See Ibid.

17 While he attended Bowling Green, he said there were only 125 black students out of 10,000. See Ibid. 18 Ibid. 19 See Jim Crow Press, “Cleveland Call and Post,” at http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/scripts/jimcrow/press.cgi?state=Ohio (accessed February 1, 2010); and “The Call and Post (or Call & Post) is an African American newspaper, based in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1928 as a merger between the Cleveland Call and the Cleveland Post, two newspapers which had been serving the African American community since 1920.” See Wikipedia, “Call and Post,” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_and_post (accessed February 1, 2010). 20 Jim Crow Press, “Cleveland Call and Post,” at http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/scripts/jimcrow/press.cgi?state=Ohio (accessed February 1, 2010). 21 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 22 Osbourne was a past president of the Cleveland Press Club and serves on the Hall of Fame Committee. He currently is the publisher and editor of Ohio Magazine. See email Interview, Richard Osbourne, February 18, 2010. 23 Photograph, Cleveland Call and Post, July 31, 1965. 24 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 25 In 1964 Congress passed Public Law 82-352 (78 Stat. 241). The provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of race in hiring, promoting, and firing. See National Archives and Records Administration, “The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,” at http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/ (accessed January 20, 2010). 26 The National Advisory Committee on Civil Disorders’ Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders is also known as the Kerner Commission, since Illinois Governor Otto Kerner chaired the commission. From Africana Online, “Kerner Report,” at http://www.africanaonline.com/reports_kerner.htm (accessed April 19, 2010). 27 National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1968). 28 National Advisory Committee on Civil Disorder, “Employment and manpower problems in cities, implications of report of National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders,” September 16, 1968. 29 New York Times, “Race in America,” New York Times, June 4, 2000. 30 National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1968); and “National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (The Kerner Report),1967,” at http://www.blackpast.org/?q=primary/national-advisory-commission-civil-disorders- kerner-report-1967 (accessed April 19, 2010). 31 Ibid. 32 National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1968).

33 Harris, Fred R., “The 1967 riots and the Kerner Commission,” Quiet Riots: race and poverty in the United States. The Kerner Report twenty years later, Westminster, MD: Random House, 1988. 34 Bonner, Alice, “Minorities in Broadcasting: More and More, Blacks are Shunning the Glamorous, On-Camera Jobs for Behind the Scenes Management; Few Black Work in Management in D.C. Media Market,” Washington Post, March 24, 1982. 35 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 36 Carl Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1967. “He was an American lawyer and politician, who became the first African American to serve as mayor of a major U.S. city, having been elected to that office in Cleveland, Ohio (1967–71). . . Narrowly defeated in his 1965 bid for Cleveland's mayorship, he won the post in 1967. As mayor, Stokes sought to improve Cleveland's declining economy and to create racial unity. His efforts were undermined in 1968 by the Glenville riots, in which a shoot-out between police officers and African Americans led to several deaths and sparked looting and arson. He was reelected in 1969 but retired from politics in 1971. Stokes then moved to New York City to become a television news anchor and later won an Emmy Award for his broadcast work.” Encyclopedia Britannica, “Carl Stokes,” at http://search.eb.com/blackhistory/article-9399737 (accessed April 20, 2010). 37 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid. 40 Email Interview, Leon Bibb, February 15, 2010. 41 “Although the Navy and Air Force accomplished integration by 1950, the Army, with the vast majority of African American servicemen, did not achieve desegregation until after the Korean conflict.” See Spencer C. Tucker, Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History, Oxford, 2000. On the racial front, it was also America's first fully integrated war. Blacks and whites, Native Americans, Hispanics and Asian Americans fought side by side. They saved each other's lives and died in each other's arms. See Daniel Sagalyn and Marguerite Arnold, “Race Relations in the Vietnam War,” American’s Defense Monitor, September 13, 1992; and Milton J. Bates, et al., Reporting Vietnam: American Journalism 1959-1969, Penguin Putnam, 1998. 42 Walter Goodman, “Black Soldiers in Vietnam,” New York Times, May 20, 1986. 43 Sharon Raynor, “A soldier’s experience in Vietnam,” Learn NC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2001. 44 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 45 Interview, Leon Bibb, May 21, 2010. 46 Ibid. 47 Ibid. 48 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010.

49 Bibb said he was given the Bronze Star for no specific reason but for an accumulation of all his accomplishments and overall service while in Vietnam. Interview, Leon Bibb, May 21, 2010. 50 Ibid. 51 Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010. 52 See figure “First Black Anchors in the United States.” 53 Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010. 54 Ibid; and Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010; and Kathy Y. Times, et al., “Comments of the National Assocation of Black Journalists on the Future of Journalism,” NABJ, November 18, 2009. Kathy Y. Times, et. al., “Comments of the National Assocation of Black Journalists on the Future of Journalism,” NABJ, November 18, 2009. 55 In 1958, at the age of 19, Robinson answered an ad in Portsmouth, Virginia for the position of a television announcer, and, to the surprise of many, got the job. He was, in that year, one of the first black newsmen in the country to appear on television, or “be heard” on TV. Robinson described the experience: There would be this slide on the screen, this slide with the news logo on it and I would stand behind it, reading the news. No one ever got to see me. After a while, well, I figured I had relatives and all who wanted to see me on TV, so one night I took the slide down and appeared on screen. The owner called me in the next day and apologized but said some bigots had called in and he would have to fire me. Which he did. I have always said that in 1958, Portsmouth Virginia was not ready for color on TV. See Dhyana Ziegler, “Max Robinson, Jr. Turbulent Life of a Media Prophet,” Journal of Black Studies, Volume 20, Issue 1, September 1989. 56 “Max Robinson (posthumously), NABJ co-founder and first black journalist to anchor nightly network newscast and likewise first to anchor local newscast in Washington. Helped launch ABCs World News Tonight with co-anchors Frank Reynolds and Peter Jennings.” NABJ Communications, “NABJ Selects 2005 Hall of Fame Inductees,” NABJ, April 26, 2005, at http://www.nabj.org/newsroom/news_releases/2005/story/15218p-14793c.php (accessed April 16, 2010). 57 In 1965—shortly after it adopted the Eyewitness News format – Wiley Daniels became the first African-American anchor in Baltimore. See New America Media, at http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=c0c4aa13f651058d 86dbf03b79840fc2 (accessed May 5, 2010); and WBAL-TV, “Lisa Robinson,” at http://www.wbaltv.com/station/736096/detail.html (accessed April 30, 2010). 58 Steve Holsey, “Jerry Blocker, television pioneer, dies,” Michigan Chronicle, November 13, 2001. 59 Debra Puchalla, “Denver’s Muse No More,” American Journalism Review, Issue 89, December 1997. 60 Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010 61 Ibid; and Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 62 Ibid. 63 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010.

64 Ibid. 65 Ibid. 66 Ibid.

Chapter 4: Welcome to the Real World

For Bibb’s new job, he migrated from print to broadcast journalism in 1970. This was right at the time when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, began monitoring racial diversity in newsrooms.1 Also starting in the early 1970s, the

Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, required all broadcast media outlets to file annual employment reports, listing the racial diversity of employees as a result of the

Kerner Commission.2 Once again, Bibb said timing was on his side when he searched for his first television job.3 Wanting to stay in Northwest Ohio where Marguerite’s family lived, he landed a position reporting for WTOL-TV, the CBS affiliate in Toledo, Ohio, in

June of 1970.4 Their first daughter, Jennifer, was born four months later on September

28, 1970.5

While working for WTOL, Bibb remembered being one of the only minorities in the newsroom. “When I walked in television stations, there were not a whole lot of other blacks around. Usually there were no other blacks in the news department. Maybe a photographer,” Bibb recalled. “When I started at WTOL I might have been the first or second black reporter at WTOL in 1971,” Bibb said.6 For the early 1970s, this would have been somewhat commonplace not to see an integrated newsroom in a smaller market.

Bibb noted that a change was on the brink of occurring, “Newspapers, television and radio were saying, ‘We [sic] gotta have some black staff to at least find out what’s going on in the black community.’”7

“With the Civil Rights Movement and the laws changed, opportunities started to open up in TV. They just weren’t there before,” Marguerite said. “We [blacks] just kind of accepted that, just like other professions. . . .In most professions, you just never thought [a black could work there.] People still had the dreams,” she added. She said she knew her husband’s dream was finally possible after he was hired by WTOL. “Before there were race issues and gender issues, and that kept people of color and women from being able to really dream much further,” she said.8 But now Bibb’s dream was coming true with his first job in commercial television.

During his nine-month career as a general assignment reporter for WTOL, Bibb encountered racial discrimination in Toledo. On the night of the station Christmas party, he arrived late after finishing the evening newscast. An agitated hostess greeted him at the banquet hall door.

“I'm here for the TV station party,” Bibb told her.

“You're late!” She said sharply. The hostess guided him down a hallway, ushering him through double doors into the kitchen.

“Take your jacket off,” the hostess ordered. “You'll find an apron over there on that rack. Then report to the dining room to bus some tables. They've already started serving dinner.”

The woman automatically assumed since Bibb was black he could not be working for the news station. Bibb explained to the hostess that her assumption was wrong. He was a there as guest to the Christmas party, not to work the Christmas party. “I do remember she was very embarrassed,” Bibb said.9

Bibb’s former colleague Dick Feagler used this story for his column in the Plain

Dealer. “We both laughed [at the story],” Feagler said. “But we were laughing from different directions. I understood the story. I understood its implications... But it was not a story that could have happened to me. When I walk into a party center, nobody assumes

I'm a waiter. Leon's America and my America have not been the same America.”10 As

Feagler points out in many of his columns, this story illustrates one of the countless times throughout Bibb’s life when he was misunderstood based on skin color and judged only at face value.11

Even though his skin color was different from practically all of his colleagues,

Bibb fit in at the Toledo station. He worked hard as a reporter, and he developed his reporting skills. He developed a persona. As he explained to the Plain Dealer, he wore a deep-brown, full-length leather coat while reporting in the cold winter months in

Northwest Ohio, modeled after Richard Roundtree’s character in the popular

Blaxploitation film Shaft.12 The Blaxploitation film genre emerged in the United States in the early 1970s when many exploitation films were made that targeted an audience of urban black people. Bibb attempted to embody Roundtree’s character Shaft (a strong, streetwise detective) as a reporter. Thus, he was working to develop his smooth style, attention to detail, and sophisticated delivery even at his first television job. People began to take notice.

One of the people who took notice of Bibb was a woman who worked for a television station in Columbus. And after spending nine months at WTOL, from June

1970 through February 1971, Bibb was lucky she had noticed him. Bibb lost his job

36 because he picked up a hitchhiker in a station vehicle, which he was told afterward was against station policy.13 He seemed to be facing another defeat. However, in a strange twist of fate, the hitchhiker who cost him his job in Toledo actually led him to his next job opportunity:

It was a cold day. Very cold, and I was out with a camera. I drove down this street and this guy was hitchhiking. I passed him, but I recognized him. I’d seen him socially at parties. A voice told me, Pick him up. I ignored the voice and kept going to my assignment, but about half a mile down the road the voice kept telling me, Pick him up. So I made a U-turn, and I went back. I picked him up on a cold day, and as soon as he got in the car he saw the camera and he recognized me.

He said, “You’re Leon Bibb. My girlfriend’s mother wondered whatever happened to you.”

I said, “Who’s your girlfriend’s mother?”

And he said, “She’s the public affairs director for the NBC station in Columbus, and you had applied. . . but there was nothing open at the time. . . she’s familiar with you, and she was wondering what ever happened to you.”14

The hitchhiker gave Bibb her telephone number. He called the next day, and she set up an interview with Hugh De Moss, the news director at WCMH-TV, the NBC-4 station in Columbus.15 A blizzard hit Ohio the night before the interview, and in Toledo the thermometer dropped to -7 degrees. According to the almanac, February 1, 1971 still holds the record for the coldest temperature on that date in Ohio.16

Despite the subzero temperatures and a dead car battery, Bibb refused to reschedule the interview and took a Greyhound bus to Columbus. He remembered his interview well. “[De Moss] said, ‘You’re willing to take bus in ten below zero weather

[in] a blizzard?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ And he said, ‘Kid, you got character, and I like that.’ I

37 came back on the bus that night, and he called me the next day and gave me the job over the telephone.”17

On February 14, 1971, Bibb started in Columbus at WCMH. Bibb specifically remembered the date because it was Valentine’s Day. Expecting to just be a reporter, De

Moss surprised Bibb his first day on the job. Bibb remembers De Moss said, “We have a strange situation here. I need you as a reporter of course, but I also need you as a co- anchor on the weekend, and I want you to do that. You’ll co-anchor just the eleven o’clock.”

“And my career took off,” Bibb said.18

Figure 6. Bibb and WCMH-TV News Director and Anchor Hugh De Moss in late 1976. Still shot taken from YouTube.com.

Notes

1 From U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, “Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,”at http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/titlevii.cfm (accessed April 19, 2010). 2 While the Kerner Commission had recommended the mainstream press integrate their newsrooms in 1968, many blacks needed to get a journalism degree or necessary training to be hired by newsrooms, so starting in 1972 (four years after Kerner) more blacks would have been qualified to take mainstream journalism positions. Also, blacks were not yet organized professionally in journalism or broadcast. NABJ did not have its first convention until 1976. See National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1968); and National Association of Black Journalists, “Founders,” at http://www.nabj.org/30/factoids/index.php (accessed March 30, 2010). 3 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 4 “Engagement Announcement,” Cleveland Call and Post, December 10, 1966. 5 Email Interview, Leon Bibb, February 15, 2010. 6 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 7 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 8 Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010. 9 Dick Feagler, “Softening the Rhetoric to Hear the Other Guy,” Plain Dealer, December 3, 1997. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid. 12 Joanna Connors, “Mr. Cool; Impact of Black Hero; Recalled by Clevelanders,” Plain Dealer, June 11, 2000. Shaft was a part of the Blaxploitation film genre. “Blaxploitation is a film genre that emerged in the United States in the early 1970s when many exploitation films were made that targeted an audience of urban black people.” See Wikipedia, “Blaxploitation,” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaxploitation (accessed February 20, 2010). 13 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 Almanac temperatures, record low February 1, 1971. See Weather Underground, “Almanac for Toledo Metcalf, OH,” at http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KTDZ/1971/2/1/DailyHistory.html?req_ci ty=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA (accessed January 20, 2010). 17 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 18 Ibid.

Chapter 5: Making History

Hugh De Moss was the news director and an anchor at WCMH. Eventually, Bibb became the senior anchor on the weekends, and did four shows on the weekend at 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. and was a reporter the rest of the time. Bibb settled into Columbus, purchasing a modest home in the Framingham neighborhood on the Northeast side of the city in 1974. “We built the house for $29,000, and I was struggling to do that. We were struggling, but we were happy,” he remembered.1 The house became a home for his growing family. Marguerite gave birth to another girl, Allison, on January 8, 1977.2

Figure 7. Bibb at WCMH NBC-4 in Columbus during the 1970s. Courtesy of Leon Bibb.

While Marguerite was pregnant, WCMH promoted Bibb to Monday through

Friday. So in 1976, he sat at the anchor desk with De Moss and delivered the 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. news on NBC 4.3 “He was the veteran, and I was the young whippersnapper,” Bibb said.4

This marked the historic event of Bibb’s career. For the first time, Columbus watched a black man deliver the evening news every weeknight. Bibb sat at an anchor desk where no other black man in Ohio had sat before. “He made history,” former president of the Cleveland Press Club and Hall of Fame Committee member Richard

Osbourne said.5 As shown in Table 1, Bibb was the ninth black primetime anchor in the

United States. 6 Only sixteen other news markets had black anchors before him, and only eight of these anchors were weeknight, primetime anchors. While becoming the first black anchor in Ohio was a distinctive accomplishment, Bibb sits on an elite list as one of the first ten blacks in the country to be promoted to a Monday-through-Friday primetime anchor position.7

Figure 8. Photo from the Cleveland Call and Post of Bibb walking the halls of WCMH-TV in Columbus, Ohio in the late 1970s. Courtesy of the Cleveland Call and Post archives.

Table 1.

First Black Anchors in the United States YEAR ANCHOR STATION CITY, STATE MARKET8 POSITION 1959 Max Robinson*9 Portsmouth, VA 43 PT 1965 Wiley Daniels10 WJZ‐TV Baltimore, MD 27 PT 1967 Jerry Blocker11 WWJ‐TV Detroit, MI 11 WKND 1968 Reynelda Muse12 KOA‐TV Denver, CO 16 PT 1969 Max Robinson13 WTOP‐TV Washington, D.C. 9 PT Oak Hill/Beckley/Bluefield Arnell Church14 WOAY‐TV , WV 156 PT 1970 Barbara Boyd15 WRTV‐TV Indianapolis, IN 25 WKND Dick Bogle16 KATU‐TV Portland, OR 22 PT 1971 Randall Pinkston17 WLBT‐TV Jackson, MS 90 WKND New York City, NY; NJ 1972 John Johnson*18 WABC‐TV market 1 WKND, PT Iola Johnson19 KVOA‐TV Tucson, AZ 66 WKND 1973 Oprah Winfrey20 WTVF‐TV Nashville, TN 29 PT Gene McIntyre21 WFAA‐TV Dallas‐Fort Worth, TX 5 WKND Jocelyn Dorsey22 WSB‐TV Atlanta, GA 8 NOON Adrienne Baughns‐ 1974 Wallace23 WFSB‐TV Hartford, CT 30 PT 1975 Lauretta Harris24 WKYT‐TV Lexington, KY 62 WKND 1976 Leon Bibb*25 WCHM‐TV Columbus, OH 34 PT Philadelphia, PA; DE Jack Jones*26 WCAU‐TV market 4 WKND, AM Delores Handy‐ Brown27 KATV‐TV Little Rock, AR 56 WKND Mid‐ Late Ben Tipton28 KOCO‐TV Tulsa, OK 61 WKND 1970s John Blount29 WBTV Charlotte, NC 24 WKND John Raye30 KING‐TV Seattle, WA 13 WKND Maggie Linton31 KAKE‐TV Wichita, KS 69 SPRT 1977 Belva Davis32 KPIX‐TV San Francisco, CA 6 PT 1978 Robin Smith33 KMOV‐TV St. Louis, MO 21 AM, NOON East‐Central AL, 1979 Brenda Blackmun34 WRBL‐TV Columbus, GA 128 PT Boston, MA; NH 1981 Liz Walker*35 WBZ‐TV market 7 PT 1982 Maxine Crump36 WAFB‐TV Baton Rouge, LA 95 PT 1983 Max Robinson*37 WMAQ‐TV Chicago 3 PT Dwight Fort Lauderdale‐ 1985 Lauderdale38 WPLG‐TV Miami, FL 17 PT

Table 1. continued

YEAR ANCHOR STATION CITY MARKET POSITION 1989 Rene Syler39 KOLO‐TV Reno, NV 108 WKND Minneapolis‐St. Paul, 1995 Robyne Robinson40 KMSP‐TV MN 15 PT Judi Gatson41 WIS‐TV Columbia, SC 79 PT Bob Moore42 WLUK‐TV Green Bay, WI 70 WKND Mike McKinney43 WMTV‐TV Madison, WI 85 PT 2000 Marcus McIntosh44 KCCI‐TV Des Moines, IA 72 AM Bryan Salmond45 KPAX‐TV Missoula, MT 166 WKND Lewiston, ID; 2000s Myranda Stevens46 KLEW‐TV Spokane, WA 75 PT 2005 Devon Patton47 KMTV‐TV Omaha, NE 76 WKND Note 1. Nine states have no record of ever having a black anchor. These states are: Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, 2007 Miri Marshall48 KFOX‐TV El Paso, TX and NM 98 WKND North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Wyoming.

Note 2. Key for Table 1:

ANCHOR POSITION ABBREVIATION Primetime PT Weekend WKND Morning AM Sports SPRT Noon NOON First black anchor in multiple markets/states *

Bibb remembered De Moss’ reaction to his historic first night at the anchor desk in Columbus:

I do know the first night I went on with Hugh. . .he was nervous about this, about me being on the air. I don’t know if he was nervous that I couldn’t handle it. He just said he was nervous. But I did it, and he said, “I feel a lot better that that’s over with now Leon. You’re going to be okay. You weren’t nervous?” I said, “No, it’s what I’ve been doing all along. Wherever I am, I just do the best job I can. I don’t get nervous.” . . . . He helped me over a couple of rough spots, and just told me to be myself and do the news.49

Gaining recognition in the city, Bibb interviewed the movers and shakers of

Columbus, including Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler, the pornographic magazine.

“We all knew Larry. Larry was in the TV station all the time because he was always in controversy, in trouble with the law,” Bibb said.50

Flynt and Bibb developed a friendship, and in 1978, Flynt offered him an opportunity he could not refuse  an interview with James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. Flynt was working on a series for his magazine, and he offered to take Bibb into the Knoxville Penitentiary with his press credentials. James

Earl Ray would not talk to just anyone, but Flynt liked Bibb, so he would get Bibb the interview. Flynt flew Bibb to Knoxville on his private plane, Godforce One,51 so Bibb worked on a feature story on Flynt while traveling to interview Ray.52

Inside the prison, Bibb recalled Ray being calm, collected, and very courteous.

“He stuck out his hand and said, ‘Hi, I’m James Earl Ray.’ I wasn’t prepared for that. I didn’t think we’d be shaking hands,” Bibb said.53

As a black man, Bibb was well aware of Ray’s prejudice and racist attitude. But standing tall and unfazed, Bibb shook his hand, cordially introduced himself in return, and conducted the interview. Ray denied shooting King, but admitted to running guns in

Memphis at the time of the assassination for a man name Raoul. Ray said Raoul killed

King. “That was new information that came out in 1978. I broke that story,” Bibb said.54

Bibb dealt with strong emotions when interviewing James Earl Ray. A black man was interviewing the convicted assassin of the leader of the Civil Rights Movement. Ray had previously referred to King as “Martin Lucifer King” or “Martin Luther Coon,” so he

44 was not disguising his racism. Besides the obvious that Bibb was black, it is important to consider how highly he respected King.55 King headed the Civil Rights Movement that

Bibb firmly believed provided the opportunities he now claimed as a black man, working in an environment dominated by whites. Plus, King’s photograph was the highlight of

Bibb’s undergraduate news clippings.56

So Bibb discussed the significance of this interview in his life. “To have been with Martin Luther King, and to have been with James Earl Ray, I’m one of the few people who have probably been with both,” Bibb said.57

Figure 9. Photo from the Call and Post of Bibb before an interview at WCMH-TV in Columbus, Ohio in the late 1970s. Courtesy of the Cleveland Call and Post archives.

Once Bibb returned to Columbus and produced his piece, WCMH aired a half- hour special on James Earl Ray with Bibb’s interview, tying in Ray’s relationship with 45

Larry Flynt. Less than two weeks later, there was an assassination attempt on Flynt in

Georgia, which left him paralyzed from the waist down.58 Bibb’s feature story was even more significant, as it was the last interview with Flynt before he was paralyzed.

Had Bibb not gone with Flynt when he did, he would have missed the opportunity to ever interview Ray or Flynt. Bibb continued to chalk his success up to good luck and great timing. He felt this victory and much of his career success came because he was in the right newsroom at the right time.59 But clearly Bibb had a knack for taking full advantage of his luck and timing.

Notes

1 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 2 Email Interview, Leon Bibb, February 15, 2010. 3 To watch a short clip of Bibb from his early years at the anchor desk, see Daily Motion, “WCMH-NBC 4 Columbus- Hugh DeMoss, Leon Bibb,” at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3xtvh_wcmhtv4-columbus-oh-hugh-demoss- leo_shortfilms (accessed January 20, 2010). 4 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 5 Email Interview, Richard Osbourne, February 18, 2010. 6 See Table 1. 7 Ibid. 8 Based on 2010 Nielsen TV news marking rankings. See TV Job, “Nielsen Media 2009-2010 Local Market Estimates,” Nielsen Media Research, at http://www.tvjobs.cm/cgi-bin/markets/market2.cgi (accessed March 30, 2010). 9 “The late Max Robinson’s career in television began behind the television screen, literally, instead of in front of it. In 1958, at the age of 19, Robinson answered an ad in Portsmouth, Virginia for the position of a television announcer, and, to the surprise of many, got the job. He was, in that year, one of the first African American newsmen in the country to appear on television, or “be heard” on the tube. Robinson described the experience: There would be this slide on the screen, this slide with the news logo on it and I would stand behind it, reading the news. No one ever got to see me. After a while, well, I figured I had relatives and all who wanted to see me on TV, so one night I took the slide down and appeared on screen. The owner called me in the next day and apologized but said some bigots had called in and he would have to fire me. Which he did. I have always said that in 1958, Portsmouth VA was not ready for color on TV.” See Dhyana Ziegler, “Max Robinson, Jr. Turbulent Life of a Media Prophet,” Journal of Black Studies, September 1989. 10 “In 1965—shortly after it adopted the Eyewitness News format – Wiley Daniels became the first African-American anchor in Baltimore.” See New America Media, at http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=c0c4aa13f651058d 86dbf03b79840fc2 (accessed May 5, 2010); and WBAL-TV, “Lisa Robinson,” at http://www.wbaltv.com/station/736096/detail.html (accessed April 30, 2010). 11 “Prior to Jerry Blocker being hired by WWJ/Channel 4 to anchor the station's weekend news in 1967, there were no Black Detroit news anchors… With a low-keyed, amiable style that made viewers comfortable, Blocker anchored the Channel 4 weekend news until 1975.” Steve Holsey, “Jerry Blocker, television pioneer dies,” Michigan Chronicle, November 13, 2001. “A pioneer African-American journalist in Detroit, who died Oct. 31 at age 70, Jerry Blocker’s characteristic low-key and matter-of-fact-style made him a model and mentor for many television journalists. He was hired by Channel 4 after the 1967 Detroit riots and anchored weekend newscasts until 1975. He retired from broadcast work in the early 1990s and established his own public relations firm, Jerry Blocker Enterprises, in Farmington Hills.” See SPJ, “Lifetime Achievement Awards,” Detroit SPJ, 2002, at

http://www.spjdetroit.org/Lifetime_Achievement_Winners__citations_2003__.pdf (accessed April 20, 2010). 12 “[Reynelda Muse] started in Denver in 1968, fresh out of Ohio State University where she earned a B.A. in English. Less than a year after joining the station (Then KOA-TV), Reynelda became the first woman and the first African-American to anchor a television newscast in Colorado. She was lured away by Ted Turner in 1980 to become one of the founding anchors at CNN, and returned to News4 in 1984.” See National Television Academy Heartland Chapter, “Reynelda Muse,” at http://www.emmyawards.tv/silver_circle/reynelda_muse.php (accessed April 29, 2010). When Muse, 50, started as Colorado's first female and first black anchor at KCNC (then KOA-TV ) in 1968, she was following, locally, the path of the networks' female trailblazers: Nancy Dickerson , Pauline Frederick and Barbara Walters. See Debra Puchalla, “Denver’s Muse No More,” American Journalism Review, December 1997. 13 “Max Robinson (posthumously), NABJ co-founder and first black journalist to anchor nightly network newscast and likewise first to anchor local newscast in Washington. Helped launch ABCs World News Tonight with co-anchors Frank Reynolds and Peter Jennings.” NABJ Communications, “NABJ Selects 2005 Hall of Fame Inductees,” NABJ, April 26, 2005, at http://www.nabj.org/newsroom/news_releases/2005/story/15218p-14793c.php (accessed April 16, 2010). 14 “The Rev. Arnell Church was the first black television news anchor in the state’s history at WOAY in Oak Hill… Church was the first black television news director in the state at WOAY… Church also served as president of the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association…” See Fred Pace, “Black schools alumni say heritage learning missing,” The Register-Herald, February 22, 2009. “Church-well left WJBE in 1969, spent six months with a radio station in Welch, then accepted a job in television with WOAY-TV in Oak Hill…” See Bill Archer, “Local pastor recalls time in company of 'Godfather of Soul',” The Register-Herald, December 28, 2006. 15 “Barbara Boyd has been a trailblazer for four decades, but she didn’t regard what she was doing as anything special. When she joined WFBM-TV (now WRTV Channel 6) in February 1969, she was the first black female television journalist in Indianapolis, and only the second black TV journalist (Carl Stubblefield started a year earlier). She later became the first black woman to anchor a local news show.” See Christopher Lloyd, “Q&A with Barbara Boyd, Indy’s first African-American female television journalist,” Indy Star, September 7, 2008. 16 “Bogle, the first black television news anchor on the West Coast… Bogle was an officer with the Portland Police Bureau from 1959 to 1968 before shifting to television, working as a reporter and anchor at KATU (2) for 15 years.” See Kimberly A.C. Wilson, “Dick Bogle, pioneering African American journalist and Portland commissioner, dead at 79,” The Oregonian, February 25, 2010; and “In 1968, Bogle launched a 15-year career as a reporter and news anchor at KATU News.” See Marissa Harshman, “Pioneering TV journalist Dick Bogle dies,” The Columbian, February 25, 2010.

17 “When he returned to Mississippi, his father's minister suggested that he work as a reporter at the local television station, WBLT-TV. Pinkston got the job, but race was secretly a factor. WLBT was in danger of losing its license due to having discriminatory broadcasts and in an effort to keep the license, the station tried to diversify its staff. As such, they were looking for black people to join them. Pinkston was, of course, one of those people.” See Bradley Donaldson, “Randall Pinkston Kicks Off Black History Month,” The Statesman, February 4, 2008. Pinkston worked as an “anchor and reporter, WLBT-TV, 1971-74.” See Alison Carb Sussman, “Randall Pinkston,” at http://www.answers.com/topic/w-randall-pinkston (accessed April 29, 2010). 18 “In the late 1980s, he served as a rotating anchor of the 6 p.m. newscast... One of Johnson's last assignments at WABC was his reporting at the O.J. Simpson murder trial in 1994-95.” See “John Johnson,” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Johnson_(reporter) (accessed April 27, 2010). 19 People who have witnessed significant periods of Dallas history may remember the electric excitement that gripped the city when newswoman Iola Johnson debuted as weekend news anchor for WFAA-TV (Channel 8) in May 1973…Ms. Johnson, whom many admirers today fondly call "Miss I," became the first black female news anchor in the Southwest when she came to Dallas as an anchor/reporter from KVOI-TV in Tucson, Ariz. See N. Wade, “Dallas-Fort Worth TV newswoman Iola Johnson to be honored as trailblazer,” Dallas Morning News, February 20, 2008; and “Johnson was the first woman and the first African American to write for the ten o'clock news for the NBC affiliate KBOA in Tucson, Arizona.” See “Iola Johnson Biography,” at http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=1270&category= MediaMakers (accessed April 26, 2010); and “Many people refer to Ms. Johnson as the first black news anchor in this region. But she would be the first to correct that description by pointing to her lesser-known WFAA-TV news predecessor, the late Gene McIntyre, Channel 8's first black anchor/reporter, who Ms. Johnson has said encouraged her to take the Dallas TV job nearly 35 years ago.” See N. Wade, “Dallas-Fort Worth TV newswoman Iola Johnson to be honored as trailblazer,” Dallas Morning News, February 20, 2008. 20 “At 19, she becomes anchor of Nashville's WTVF-TV station and leaves Tennessee State University to be the first female African-American news anchor in Nashville.” See “Oprah Winfrey,” People Magazine, at http://www.people.com/people/oprah_winfrey (accessed April 22, 2010); and “Oprah began her broadcasting career at WVOL radio in Nashville while still in high school. At the age of 19 [in 1973], she became the youngest person and the first African-American woman to anchor the news at Nashville's WTVF-TV.” See “Oprah Winfrey’s Official Biography: Television Pioneer,” October 6, 2008 at http://www.oprah.com/pressroom/Oprah-Winfreys-Official-Biography/2 (accessed April 22, 2010). 21 “Many people refer to Ms. Johnson as the first black news anchor in this region. But she would be the first to correct that description by pointing to her lesser-known WFAA-TV news predecessor, the late Gene McIntyre, Channel 8's first black

anchor/reporter, who Ms. Johnson has said encouraged her to take the Dallas TV job nearly 35 years ago.” See N. Wade, “Dallas-Fort Worth TV newswoman Iola Johnson to be honored as trailblazer,” Dallas Morning News, February 20, 2008. 22 “From 1973-83, Jocelyn was an anchor/reporter/producer and assignment editor for WSB-TV’s Channel 2 Action News. In fact, she was the first African-American anchor of a Channel 2 newscast as well as the first African-American news anchor in the Atlanta market.” WSB-TV, “Jocelyn Dorsey,” at http://www.wsbtv.com/station/11604718/detail.html (accessed April 26, 2010). “She was the first African American inducted into the NATAS Silver Circle. She was also the first woman and first African American to receive the Georgia Association of Broadcasters Citizen of the Year Award. Dorsey has been inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Region IV Hall of Fame and has been named National Media Woman of the Year by the National Association of Media Women.” See History Makers, “Jocelyn Dorsey Biography,” at http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=835&category=M ediamakers&occupation=Television%20Executive&name=Jocelyn%20Dorsey (accessed April 26, 2010). “Jocelyn Dorsey joined WSB-TV (ABC) in Atlanta in 1973, after working as a reporter/photographer in Cincinnati. She anchors the weekday noon news.” Marilyn Marshall, “Black Anchorwomen: Making it In,” Ebony, November 1981. 23 “Baughns-Wallace was the first female broadcast journalist in Connecticut as well as the first African American female to anchor TV news in all of New England. Interestingly, according to the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, Baughns-Wallace wasn’t looking for a career in journalism when she took her first on-air job; she was trying to overcome her fear of public speaking. She went on to win an Emmy nomination and the title, “most watched woman in Connecticut.”” See Julia Shea, “Important Women in Connecticut History,” Connecticut Women Making a Difference, May 19, 2009; and Television News Anchor, Producer, Reporter WFSB-TV3, Hartford, CT August 1974 — June 1982 (7 years 11 months). See LinkedIn, “Adrienne Baughns-Wallace,” at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/adrianne-baughns-wallace/12/87a/863 (accessed April 26, 2010). 24 “Harris was the first African American to be hired full-time in Lexington televised news broadcasting, and she was the first African American anchor. She was at Kentucky State University when she was hired by Buzz Riggins, the WKYT News Director [prior to 1975]. Harris later moved on to WAVE and WDRB in Louisville, KY, and then to Nashville, Tennessee.” See University Kentucky Libraries, “Lauretta Harris,” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, at http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/NKAA/subject.php?sub_id=93 (accessed April 29, 2010). 25 “Leon became the first African-American anchor in the state of Ohio and the rest, as they say, is journalism history.” See WEWS, “Leon Bibb,” at http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_us/staff/Leon-Bibb (accessed January 6, 2010). 26 “Jones, a truly hometown icon who died in 1991 of pancreatic cancer, was the first African American anchor in Philadelphia. Born, raised and educated in the city, he spent most of his 20-year career here, beginning as a reporter at WCAU-TV (now

NBC10) in 1971. Jones later switched to KWY-TV, briefly worked in Chicago and returned to KWY-TV (now CBS3), where he remained until his death. Friends describe him as a true gentleman and a profile in courage as he battled his illness with a strong will to keep reporting the news. In 2004, he was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame.” See NAJB Communications, “PABJ Honors Region’s Outstanding Journalists & Community Leaders,” NAJB, May 28, 2008, at http://www.nabj.org/newsroom/news_releases/2009/newsrel052809pabj.php (accessed April 27, 2010); and “In May of 1971, he started full-time at Channel 10 as a reporter and later anchor. First, mornings, then weekends and finally the daily 11 pm newscast. However, he continued his education and in 1973 received his Master's Degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.” See Gerry Wilkinson, “Jack Jones,” Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia, 2010; and “Jones, a truly hometown icon who died in 1991 of pancreatic cancer, was the first African American anchor in Philadelphia. Born, raised and educated in the city, he spent most of his 20-year career here, beginning as a reporter at WCAU-TV (now NBC10) in 1971. Jones later switched to KWY-TV, briefly worked in Chicago and returned to KWY-TV (now CBS3), where he remained until his death. Friends describe him as a true gentleman and a profile in courage as he battled his illness with a strong will to keep reporting the news. In 2004, he was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame.” See NABJ Communications, “PABJ Honors Region’s Outstanding Journalists & Community Leaders,” NABJ, May 28, 2009. 27 “Ms Delores Handy-Brown, an Emmy award winning journalist and the first African American news anchor.” See Craig O’Neill, “Arkansas Black Hall of Fame 2009 Inductees,” THV, September 9, 2009, at http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=90599 (accessed April 26, 2010); and Handy-Brown was inducted to the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in October 2009. See KARK, “Arkansas Black Hall of Fame Inductees,” at http://arkansasmatters.com/content/news/fulltext?cid=253821 (accessed April 26, 2010). 28 “All of this talk of KOCO anchors makes me think of Ben Tipton, who I believe was the first African-American anchor in OKC. This was back in the 70s, and I remember he hosted some show on Saturday mornings I think. Anyway, I remember hearing about him passing away in the late 70s or early 80s I guess… Erick: Ben Tipton was partially responsible for me getting my first TV job at KOCO. He hosted a Saturday morning show called "Black Review" and was an anchor/reporter. Prior to that, he was a popular disc jockey at KBYE-AM, where the "Big Ben Tipton Show" (he was 6'5") was extremely popular. He had a low, smooth voice that made the transition to TV easy in those days.” See Tony Sellars, “Ben Tipton,” Tulsa TV Memories, August 3, 1999, at http://tulsatvmemories.com/gb081799.html (accessed April 29, 2010). “The legendary Ben Tipton, later a fixture at KOCO-TV and eventually an Oklahoma City Councilman — just in case you thought Mick Cornett did it first — was arguably the first black…” See “Negroes in the News,” Dustbury, January 28, 2007, at http://www.dustbury.com/archives/1078 (accessed April 29, 2010).

29 In the dynamic 70s, “John Blount became the first Afro-American news anchorman in Charlotte.” See Vivian Trawick Harris, “Press Release for 50th Anniversary,” WBTV, June 1, 1999. 30 “In addition, KING-TV also appointed Seattle's first African-American evening news anchor, John Raye, who co-anchored with Enersen for several years in the mid- 1970s.” See “KING-TV,” Wikipedia, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KING-TV (accessed April 29, 2010). “The year is 1972…I was hired (with no previous broadcast experience but an infinite amount of curiousity and willingness to learn) into a newsroom filled with characters and fearless groundbreakers…John Raye the first African-American anchor of the weekend newscast…” See Julie Blacklow, “TV,” Marketing Immortals, May 2009. 31 “In the mid-'70s she moved to TV and became the first female sports anchor in Wichita, KS; St. Louis, MO; and Washington, DC.” See SIRIUS Satellite Radio, “The Power Personalities,” at http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/Page&c=Channel&cid=1 239671927673&s=person (accessed April 28, 2010); and Black Media, “The Godfather In Sports Talk and the Community Tackling Childhood Obesity,” at http://bmia.wordpress.com/2008/06/ 32 “Belva Davis - Broadcast journalist (San Francisco) Davis began her career as a freelance writer for JET magazine and later became the first African-American woman news reporter/broadcaster on the West Coast at KPIX-TV in 1966. While there, she created and hosted “All Together Now,” one of the country’s first primetime public affairs TV programs. In 1977, she joined PBS affiliate KQED-TV where she anchored and produced news programs.” NABJ Communications, “National Association of Black Journalists Announces 2008 Hall of Fame Inductees,” NABJ, May 1, 2008, at http://www.nabj.org/newsroom/news_releases/2008/story/newsrel043008fame.php (accessed April 26, 2010.) 33 “She joined KMOV Channel 4 as an Anchor and Reporter on June 1, 1978. Born and raised in St. Louisan, Smith brings special insight to reporting and anchoring the news in the area, having worked in the market since 1973. Smith is currently one of the Anchors of "Awake with News 4" between 5:00am and 7am weekdays, bringing you the top news topics and instant traffic reports. Smith also Anchors "News 4 St. Louis at Noon" Monday through Friday. Smith, a veteran anchor and reporter, will celebrate 37 consecutive years in the St. Louis television market in 2010. She believes in giving back to the community in which she was born and raised.” See KMOV, “Robin Smith,” at http://www.kmov.com/on-tv/bios/67690367.html (accessed April 26, 2010). 34 “Blackmon’s first news job was at WRBL-TV in Columbus, where she became the city’s first African-American anchor. At the time there was a statue of “a rebel soldier on the front of the building,” says Blackmon, who also remembers being called “the N word” by a woman she approached for an interview about a robbery.” See Virginia Rohan, “WWOR’s Brenda Blackmon celebrates milestone,” The Record, January 31, 2010; and “Growing up in Columbus, Georgia, in the waning days of Jim Crow, Blackmon endured the humiliation of riding in the backs of buses and sitting in designated sections of restaurants because of the color of her skin. In 1970, she became a

member of the second group of African-American students admitted into the University of Georgia, where she studied broadcasting. She began her journalism career at a television station in her hometown, where some sources refused to talk to her, and a statue of a Confederate soldier stood in front of the network building…In 1973, after six years of paying her dues as a reporter, Blackmon became the first black anchor in Columbus.” See Alicia Staffa, “Making Her Own News,” New Jersey Monthly, July 13, 2009. 35 “Liz Walker co-anchors the 11 p.m. news at WBZ-TV in Boston. A native of Little Rock, Ark., she says she had to “work harder than I ever have in my life” to become Boston’s first black weeknight anchorwoman.” Marilyn Marshall, “Black Anchorwomen: Making it In,” Ebony, November 1981. “Liz Walker is leaving WBZ-TV in December for good after nearly three decades years at the station, the latest of several high-profile personalities to depart Channel 4, the station confirmed today. Walker, an ordained minister, anchored Channel 4’s news for 25 years before she stepped down in 2005 to focus on her ministry and host “Sunday With Liz Walker.”” See Jessica Heslam, “Liz Walker is the first woman of color to anchor the news on a Boston television station. Her on-air skills, distinguished humanitarian work, and personal integrity have made her a community leader in eastern Massachusetts. 2010 marks her 30th year as a broadcast journalist in Boston…Liz walks: Liz Walker is leaving WBZ-TV,” Boston Herald, October 1, 2008. “She moved to Boston to join the staff of WBZ-TV in April 1980 and went on to anchor the station’s evening newscasts for almost 20 years.” See Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame, “Liz Walker,” 2007, at http://www.massbroadcastershof.org/hof_liz_walker.htm (accessed April 20, 2010). 36 “Maxine was the first black woman to reside in the LSU dormitories. She was also the first black anchor on WAFB television.” See Joyce Robinson, “Baton Rouge Council on Human Relations,” President’s Report, 2004-2005. “Maxine was the first African American female anchor on Baton Rouge’s oldest television station, WAFB.” See Baton Rouge Kiwanis, “Program This Week Maxine Crump, Community Activist,” Downtown BR Builder-Upper, July 17, 2008. “She has more than 25 years experience in radio and television broadcast.” Based on this number in 2007, she would have started in 1982. See Charles G. Cook, “Making Progress,” Louisiana Spirit, March 4, 2007. 37 Max Robinson, on July 10, 1978, becomes one of three co-anchors of ABC’s new “World News Tonight,” and thus first black journalist to serve as a nightly network news anchor. Robinson held the job until 1983, when ABC switched him to weekend anchor. He soon left to work at WMAQ-TV in Chicago. See NAJB, “30 Moments in Journalism,” NAJB, February 27, 2008, at http://www.nabj.org/30/moments/thirty/index.php (accessed April 29, 2010). “Max Robinson, who served as the national anchor of ABC's ''World News Tonight'' for five years, will leave ABC to be a co-anchor at the NBC-owned television station in Chicago, a spokesman for the station said yesterday. According to Lissa Eichenberger of WMAQ- TV in Chicago, Mr. Robinson will become a co-anchor of the station's 10 p.m. newscast on March 12. Between 1978 and 1983, Mr. Robinson served in Chicago as part of ABC's three-anchor format with Peter Jennings and Frank Reynold.” See “Max Robinson of

ABC Leaving for Chicago Job,” New York Times, February 22, 1984. 38 “Dwight continued to work at the station through high school and while he attended college at Ohio University, where he graduated with a communications degree in 1973…Dwight joined Local 10 in 1976 and has been a fixture in South Florida ever since.” See WPLG, “Dwight Lauderdale Signing Off After 32 Years,” at http://www.justnews.com/station/15982514/detail.html (accessed April 27, 2010). “In 1976, Dwight joined WPLG as a reporter before becoming co-anchor of "Channel 10 Eyewitness News" with Ann Bishop in 1985, forming one of the most formidable local news anchor teams in the country.” See WPLG, “Dwight Lauderdale: 30 years at Local 10,” at http://www.justnews.com/news/9147877/detail.html (accessed April 27, 2010). “Lauderdale, who came to South Florida in 1973 to report for the station that's now WSVN-Fox 7, moved to WPLG in 1976 and started anchoring the main newscasts in 1985…” See Glen Garvin, “Dwight Lauderdale signs off at WPLG,” Miami Herald, May 22, 2008. 39 “Syler earned just $15,000 during her first year at Reno's KTVN-TV, and later said she kept a sack of potatoes in her desk drawer that served as her daily microwaved lunch. In 1989 she became the weekend news anchor at another Reno station.” See Carol Brennan, “Rene Syler,” at http://www.answers.com/topic/rene-syler (accessed April 29, 2010); and “Syler was the weekend anchor at WVTM-TV in Birmingham, Ala. (1990-92) and at KOLO-TV in Reno, Nev. (1989-90), and was a weekend reporter at KTVN-TV, also in Reno,from 1987-89.” See CBS, “Rene Syler,” at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/14/earlyshow/bios/main525459.shtml (accessed April 29, 2010). 40 “She is the co-anchor for Fox affiliate KMSP in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. She is known as the first African-American anchor in the state of Minnesota. and has worked with KMSP-TV since 1995, when KMSP was independent Minnesota 9.” See “Robyne Robinson,” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyne_Robinson (accessed April 26, 2010); and “Robyne has the distinction of being the first African-American to anchor a local prime-time newscast, and the first black woman appointed senior anchor at a Twin Cities news organization.” See KMSP FOX9, “Robyne Robinson,” at http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/about_us/personalities/Robyne_Robinson_Bio (accessed April 26, 2010); and “Robinson is well-known due to her longtime presence on KMSP-TV Channel 9.” See John Vomhof, Jr., “Macy's North picks up Robyne Robinson's jewelry line,” Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, September 8, 2006. 41 “Judi Gatson is anchor of WIS News Live at 5, WIS News at 6 and WIS Nightcast at 11. Since joining WIS News in November of 1995 she has reported on and anchored from some of the biggest stories around the state. She also anchored and produced a documentary exploring the controversy and eventual compromise reached to remove the Confederate Flag from the Statehouse dome. As co-anchor or WIS News at 6 Judi has won three Emmy awards for best newscast.” See WIS, “Judi Gatson,” at http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=64466 (accessed April 27, 2010). 42 “Weather Anchor and News Co-Anchor / Reporter, WLUK-TV, Fox 11, Green Bay (Public Company; 501-1000 employees; Broadcast Media industry) December 1995

— November 1997 (2 years ).” See LinkedIn, “Bob Moore,” at http://www.linkedin.com/in/thatnewsguy (accessed April 29, 2010); and Before landing in Milwaukee, Bob worked as an anchor and reporter in Green Bay. See WITI, “Bob Moore,” at http://www.fox6now.com/about/station/newsteam/witi-bob-moore- bio,0,5639977.story (accessed April 29, 2010). 43 “Mike moved to Madison in December, 1995. It didn't take long for him to leave a lasting impact on the community…” See WMTV, “Mike McKinney Bio,” at http://www.nbc15.com/station/bios/news/1319526.html (accessed April 29, 2010); and “Mike McKinney was not afraid to take on challenging things. Actually, he thrived on doing the unexpected in a community where an African American was not, and has not been since, the weekday anchor of one of the three major network television stations. WMTV Channel 15 dared to hire him and make him someone people would see two times a night, five days a week. No other major network television station had taken that bold step. And it paid off…” See Steve Braunginn, “Mike McKinney: A Man Determined To Make A Difference,” The Madison Times, October 2006. 44 Marcus McIntosh anchors NewsChannel 8's This Morning news from 5 to 8 a.m. and the NewsChannel 8 News at Noon. He joined the KCCI team in 2000. See KCCI, “Marcus McIntosh,” at http://www.kcci.com/kcci/545253/detail.html (accessed April 26, 2010). 45 “Bryan Salmond, a weekend sports anchor and news reporter for KPAX, worked in production at CNN in Atlanta for three years before coming to Montana. He said he was concerned about being a black man in a small Montana community like Missoula.” See Erika Kirsch, “Start spreading the news,” Montana Journalism Review, Issue 33, Summer 2002. 46 “Previously, Myranda worked at WHP-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Virginia and KLEW-TV in Lewiston, Idaho. She even made history at KLEW-TV, becoming the station's first African-American news anchor. Myranda was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio.” See WBFF, “Myrand Stephens,” at http://www.foxbaltimore.com/sections/station/news_team/index.shtml (accessed April 26, 2010). 47 “Devon Patton joined the Action 3 News team in January of 2005… Devon graduated from one of the top communications schools in America, Syracuse University, with a degree in Communications. While studying at Syracuse University he was captain of the Track and Field Team. In 1996 he was invited to the U.S. Olympic Trials…” See KMTV, “Devon Patton,” at http://www.kmtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6067950 (accessed April 20, 2010); and “The Nebraska State Patrol trooper who is embroiled in controversy over his membership in a white supremacist group once had a complaint filed against him by KMTV (Cox Channel 5) weekend news anchor Devon Patton.” See Sean Y. D., “KMTV Weekend Anchor Devon Patton Filed Complaint Against Embattled State Trooper,” Media Notes, August 25, 2006, at http://thereadersmedianotes.blogspot.com/2006/08/kmtv-weekend-anchor-devon- pattonfiled.html (accessed April 29, 2010). 48 “Miri Marshall Weekend Anchor/Weathercaster/News Reporter, Hired:

October 2007,” See KFOX, “Miri Marshall,” at http://www.kfoxtv.com/station/14399806/detail.html (accessed April 29, 2010). 49 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 50 Ibid. 51 Dan Brannan, “Ray’s ex-wife paints portrait of killer,” at http://www.thetelegraph.com/articles/james-16600-anna-prison.html (accessed February 12, 2010). 52 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 53 Ibid. 54 Ibid. 55 “[King] looked at me, and I looked at him. I waved and said, ‘Hi Dr. King!’ And he just winked back,” Bibb recalls. Bibb took a picture of King that ran on the front page. Bibb covered a meeting when King came to Cleveland back in 1965, during his internship at the Cleveland Call and Post. See Photograph, Cleveland Call and Post, July 31, 1965; and Al Sweeny, “Ailing Dr. King Tries To Stir Local Voters,” Cleveland Call and Post, July 31, 1965; and Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010; and Email Interview, Richard Osbourne, February 18, 2010. 56 During his internship at the Cleveland Call and Post, Bibb covered a meeting when King came to Cleveland back in 1965. Bibb recalled, “[King] looked at me, and I looked at him. I waved and said, ‘Hi Dr. King!’ And he just winked back.” After this encounter, Bibb took a picture of King that ran on the front page. Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010; and Email Interview, Richard Osbourne, February 18, 2010. 57 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 58 “I felt really awful about Flynt,” James Earl Ray’s wife Anna Sandhu Ray said. “I don't think it was any coincidence that he was shot [a few weeks after visiting Ray in prison with Bibb].” See Dan Brannan, “Ray’s ex-wife paints portrait of killer,” at http://www.thetelegraph.com/articles/james-16600-anna-prison.html (accessed February 12, 2010). 59 Toonari, “Kerner Report,” at http://www.africanaonline.com/reports_kerner.htm (accessed on January 20, 2010); and Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010.

Chapter 6: Cleveland Calling

By 1979, after almost eight years with WCMH, Bibb’s time was up in Columbus.

The news director from WKYC News Channel 3 in Cleveland, Ohio called Bibb and said, “We’ve been watching you.” Pre-Internet and YouTube days, Bibb suspected someone from the news station got a hotel room in Columbus, set up a VCR, and recorded a few of his newscasts. “They offered me a job, but it took a lot to get me out of

Columbus. Marguerite and the kids and I [had] become very comfortable in Columbus, but they made it worth my while,” Bibb said. “When I drove away it was time,” Bibb said.1

Figure 10. Bibb reporting at WKYC-TV in Cleveland, Ohio in 1979. Still shot taken from

YouTube.com.

Marguerite said it was a big deal when the family moved back to Cleveland. “You dreamed of coming to Cleveland because it was in the top ten market…You could not get a job in [Cleveland] television unless you had honed your skills somewhere else for a considerable amount of time,” she said. She felt her husband had reached that level of professionalism, experience, and knowledge that he was ready for the big time.2

So Bibb returned to his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. His family moved into the house that he has lived in for more than thirty years in Shaker Heights, Ohio. His new position at WKYC-TV, the NBC 3 station, was working as a weekend anchor and reporter alongside two other black men; Al Roker came from Washington D.C. to forecast the weather, and Paul Warfield, a retired Cleveland Browns player, joined the station as a sportscaster.3 With the bold move to broadcast a newscast with a black anchor, weather caster, and sports anchor, and one white anchorwoman, the press complimented WKYC on leading the way and “integrating primetime.”4

“I will tell you quite quickly that I am a product of affirmative action and a product of the civil rights movement,” Bibb told the Plain Dealer.5 Once again, Bibb gave more credit to sheer good luck, good timing, and affirmative action than his own talent.

In a “welcome home” interview with the Cleveland Call and Post, Bibb addressed his unique position as a black reporter. “I’m able to view a current event from a black man’s point of view, and if I feel it necessary I can report it that way. A reporter’s obligation is to all aspects of the community, so stories can’t be labeled black and white news,” he said. He felt it was more important to be a well-rounded journalist than simply

58 express a black man’s point of view.6 His approach worked, and he continued to gain respect and attention for his admirable work ethic. “At WKYC-TV, he earned a reputation as an outstanding newscaster,” former president of the Cleveland Press Club

Richard Osbourne observed.7

Figure 11. Bibb reporting in downtown Cleveland for WKYC-TV NBC-3 in the early 1980s. Still shot taken from YouTube.com

At home, Bibb earned a reputation as a good father with Marguerite by taking a very active role in childrearing. “We worked together,” she said, explaining how she was still able to work as a teacher despite his very time-consuming, prominent career:

I was able to work, and he was able to work. We really didn’t need babysitters during our workdays. He covered the first part of the day when he was working nights. The girls were able to stay at home with him in the mornings, and then he

would get them ready for school and preschool before he went to work. They had that time with him. After he went to work at three o’clock, then I was on my way home. . . It worked out because we worked different hours which wasn’t great [for us.] But with the kids and the way his schedule was, I was off when he worked on the weekends. When he worked weekends he was off until three o’clock at every station he worked at. He worked the night shift. So we had family time all during the day on the weekends. We ate dinner early, and then he’d have his off days during the week. . . I was willing to adjust meal times and that type of thing to fit whatever schedule he was on.8

When Marguerite got home, she would watch Bibb’s newscasts almost every evening with their daughters, Jennifer and Allison. “They grew up watching him [at night on TV].

To them it was normal.”9

In 1980, his family watched as Bibb interviewed Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.10 Bibb considers his interview with Armstrong to be one of the most memorable of his career. “We went down to Cincinnati for it,” Bibb said, and it was

Armstrong’s first interview after his walk on the moon.11

Figure 12: Bibb anchoring the primetime newscast for WKYC-TV in the late 1980s. Still shot taken from YouTube.com

After more than six years at WKYC, the station promoted Bibb to a weeknight anchor in 1985. Bibb enthusiastically promised the community in the Cleveland Call and

Post he would do his best to represent himself, his family, his race, and his employer well.12 So Bibb added another first as the first black primetime anchor in Cleveland history.

“When I got promoted to do the six o’clock and the eleven o’clock news, I was the second black [primetime anchor in Ohio]. There was nobody between me and me,”

Bibb said.

At this time, only fourteen other blacks had been primetime anchors in the country, and only six of these black primetime anchors besides Bibb were in the top- twenty markets. Therefore, Bibb was only the seventh black primetime anchor in the big time markets.13

It should be noted that not a single black anchor has ever taken a permanent position during the weekly primetime nightly newscasts on a national level, as Richard

Carter pointed out in his article “Why are there no black anchors on national TV news?” in 1997:

With the exception of Max Robinson, who co-anchored ABC-TV's national news from Chicago in the late 1970s and early '80s, no African-American has ever occupied the hallowed anchor chair for one of the big three networks on a nightly basis. I don't mean updates, holidays or daybreak. I don't mean ABC's talented Carole Simpson substituting for someone, CBS's superlative Ed Bradley doing features on "60 Minutes" or subbing for Dan Rather, or [CBS’s] announced teaming of Russ Mitchell and resigned U.S. Rep. Susan Molinari on Saturday mornings. I'm not talking about smoothly confident, ex-NBCer Bryant Gumbel orchestrating in- studio interviews on "The Today Show" or cool, calm, collected Charlayne Hunter- Gault on PBS, or workmanlike Bernard Shaw on CNN. I'm talking about Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for "World News Tonight" on ABC. "The CBS Evening News" and "The Nightly News" on NBC. I'm talking about the

"power hour."14

Additionally, women make up half the population, and the first woman, Katie Couric, took the solo anchor chair on the national level for CBS Evening News in 2006.15

Journalism organizations started recognizing Bibb’s accomplishments. “People started giving me awards just because I was the first,” Bibb said modestly. But most importantly to Bibb, the Cleveland community accepted him into their homes. “Older folks came up to me when I got promoted at Channel 3 and said, ‘Son, we’re so proud of you. You represent us well,’” he recalled.16

Figure 13: Bibb anchoring the NBC-3 newscast in the late 1980s. Still shot taken from YouTube.com.

Bibb took comments from the community seriously, especially when he was compared to the broadcast likes of Jackie Robinson. “[People have said] I represented more than just me. I carried a load on my back, and I do feel like I carried a load on my back,” he said.17 Bibb strived to make sure doors were open and stayed open for blacks and minorities. “I live in this community. It’s not that I just cover it. I’m a part of this 62 community,” he emphasized. On top of being a role model, he strived to be the best anchor he could be in his new position, keeping his black ancestry in mind:

I just try to do my best. All of us bring something, different experiences to whatever it is we do…We need all the voices to contribute. I’m an American citizen. My parents were American citizens, and are. My grandparents were Americans, and their parents, and their parents, and their parents. Long before, [since] the formation of this country, my family has been here in one way or another. We’ve all contributed. We may not all have gotten our rights. My grandparents never got the right to vote. They never lived long enough to get that right. I think about that when I go about doing what I do. I think about that every time I vote, and I call out my ancestors names, and I thank you for what you did and that I get to place an X by this person’s name or by this issue. We all bring something to the table, and we are a tapestry. We are a salad of this and that, and every one of us brings something. Whatever it is I bring, I bring. Not saying that I’m smarter or more brilliant than anybody else. I’m me, but I bring my experience and my understanding of certain issues to the table. If that’s good, then that’s good.18

Figure 14. Bibb anchoring WKYC’s “Action 3 News” in the late 1980s. Still shot taken from

YouTube.com

Three years after his promotion, Bibb attended a lunch in the East Room of the

White House and had the opportunity to interview President George H. W. Bush, in 1989.

“I know it was really a thrill for him to go to Washington,” Marguerite said, and noted that he kept the menu on the table at his place setting and framed it.19

Figure 15. Bibb with his co-anchor Jill Beach and NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw in 1989.

Still shot taken from YouTube.com.

A year later, in 1990, the United States was embroiled in the Persian Gulf Crisis.20

On November 13, 1990, the Cleveland Coast Guard Post Security Unit 302 received the call to duty. The unit mobilized as a Port Security Unit, receiving one week of training in

Camp Perry, Ohio and then flying to Manama, Bahrain on Thanksgiving Day.21 The unit’s primary duty was to provide security for U.S. and allied warships anchored in the port at Manama.22

Bibb joined the unit as an embedded reporter for a week. “We had total access. I was really embedded with them, long before that term became regularly used in the current Iraqi conflict,” he said.23 So two decades after Vietnam, Bibb was back overseas with the armed forces.

Figure 16. Bibb reporting with the U.S. Coast Guard for WKYC-TV in 1990. Still shot taken from

YouTube.com.

As a veteran, Bibb became a counselor to the soldiers he accompanied. “They were asking me, ‘How will it be in a war? What will I feel?’” Bibb recalled. With his video from the war, he produced twelve special reports and a half-hour special, which aired over the Christmas holidays. Following the broadcasts, Bibb became a conduit of information between the soldiers and their families in Cleveland. Families flooded the station phone lines, asking him questions about their husbands and sons. He passed along information and messages of love from the soldiers, who had become friends. “All [the 65 soldiers] were from Cleveland, so they recognized me and knew what I was doing. They felt comfortable with me,” he explained.24

Notes

1 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 2 Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010. 3 Al Roker became the popular weatherperson for NBC’s “Today Show,” as well as a weather correspondent for the Weather Channel, and the host of “Wake Up with Al.” See MSNBC, “Al Roker,” Today, at http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/4515729 (accessed May 2, 2010). 4 No byline, “Three For All: WKYC Shows the Way to Prime Time Integration,” Cleveland Call and Post, February 3, 1979. 5 “‘Soft bigotry’ or a necessary remedy? Affirmative action debated at city club,” Plain Dealer, April 23, 2003. 6 Ronnie Clark, “Leon Bibb is Glad to be Home,” Cleveland Call and Post, February 3, 1979. 7 Email Interview, Richard Osbourne, February 18, 2010. 8 Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010. 9 Ibid. 10 WEWS, “Leon Bibb,” at http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_us/staff/Leon- Bibb (accessed January 6, 2010). 11 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 12 No byline, “Journalist Leon Bibb to co-anchor TV-3 news,” Cleveland Call and Post, January 10, 1985. 13 See Table 1, page 38-39. 14 Carter, Richard G., “Why are there no black anchors on national TV news?,” New York Amsterdam News, August 28, 1997. With the U.S. Census Bureau calculating that in 2008 black people make up almost 13 percent of the population, and national news anchors do not reflect the current population. See U.S. Census Bureau, “State and Country Quick Facts,” at http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html (accessed April 20, 2010). 15 “Katie Couric is the anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric a 60 Minutes correspondent and anchor of CBS News primetime specials. When the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric debuted on Sept. 5, 2006, Couric became the first female solo anchor of a weekday network evening news broadcast. Since then, she has reported on and anchored from some of the biggest stories, domestically and internationally.” See CBS, “Katie Couric Bio,” CBS, at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/06/eveningnews/bios/main1781520.shtml (accessed May 5, 2010). 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid; and WEWS, “NewsChannel5 anchor Leon Bibb honored at Cavaliers game,” at http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_us/newschannel5-anchor-leon-bibb- honored-at-cavaliers-game (accessed on February 20, 2010).

18 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 19 Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010. 20 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 21 Google Maps, “American Naval Base, Manama Bahrain,” at http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&source=hp&ie=UTF8&q=manama+bahrain+naval +base&fb=1&gl=us&hq=naval+base&hnear=manama+bahrain&view=map&cid=606789 2309845692101&iwloc=A&ved=0CBQQpQY&sa=X&ei=C_CGS9X3Aqa2NJKiod0G (accessed January 25, 2010). 22 “In August 1990, Iraq invaded the country of Kuwait and the largest military build-up since Vietnam began. When allied shipping began to transport war materials to Saudi Arabia, the need to protect the ships became a major concern. All of the training and exercises conducted during the 1980's by Reserve Unit Cleveland resulted in the unit's name change to Port Security Unit 302 (PSU 302). On November 13, 1990, the unit's members received the call: "You have been involuntarily called to active duty." The men and women of the unit quickly left their civilian jobs and mobilized as a Port Security Unit. For one week members received last minute training at Camp Perry, Ohio and then flew to Manama, Bahrain on Thanksgiving Day. PSU 302's primary duty was to provide waterside security for U.S. and allied warships anchored in the port at Manama, Bahrain. On April 19, 1991, PSU 302 returned to U.S. soil.” See U.S. Coast Guard, “Port Security Unit 309,” at http://www.uscg.mil/LANTAREA/psu309/ (accessed on January 25, 2010). 23 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 24 Ibid.

Chapter 7: The Battlefield at Home

It was not only soldiers overseas who felt comfortable with Leon Bibb.

Thousands of viewers in Cleveland got comfortable with his friendly face and rich voice reading the news every evening. Thus, when WKYC took Bibb off the anchor desk in

November of 1991 after six years of primetime, the community highly disapproved.1 The same station that had once been applauded for integrating primetime seemed to be segregating the news with an all white anchor team.

“[WKYC] just said, ‘We think this will be better,’” Bibb said.2 TV ratings at the time were not bad, as the Big Three network stations in Cleveland were deadlocked, according to the Arbitron ratings system.3 Without any justification for knocking Bibb off the anchor desk and back down to a street reporter, a battle over the Cleveland news erupted.4

Though unspoken, many thought Bibb’s race played a factor in the demotion, as a white anchor quickly assumed his position.5 “I was angry about it. It was unfair,”

Marguerite said about the demotion. “People who had been promoted had nowhere near the talent that he had,” she added. Since WKYC did not give a reason for Bibb’s demotion, Marguerite came up with a reason that made the most sense to her: “It’s obvious that the reason was because he was black.”6

Marguerite felt institutionalized racism was the culprit for many of her husband’s struggles, including WKYC’s decision to cut him out of primetime:

At every station he’s worked for he has gotten promoted to Monday through Friday, much faster in Columbus than in Cleveland. He’s been told by general managers and superiors that he should have moved up, as hard as he works and as talented as he is. There should have been no question about him being able to be

promoted to the main anchor slot at any of the stations where he worked right away. . . . Everybody has in their minds how far a black person can go in a particular field or office or station. There’s sort of something unwritten, and they’re just not going to put you in that position. Whenever he finally got promoted, it had been after Caucasian men in that position, or when they’ve tried everything else he finally got what he should have gotten in the first place.7

One potential explanation for Bibb’s demotion is FCC deregulation in the 1990s.

The federal government’s monitoring of the diversity in newsrooms decreased, which lead to a decrease in affirmative action programs. Many news stations no longer felt the pressure to fill quotas. Thus, the percentage of minorities in the newsroom eroded, as it did in Cleveland, especially in managerial positions.8

Infuriated with WKYC’s decision, the community made sure their disapproval was heard. Viewers called the station to complain. Newspaper columnists vented frustrations.

As Akron Beacon Journal columnist Bob Dyer wrote:

If you are one of the half-million black people living in Northeast Ohio, you must be feeling pretty lonely when you turn on your television set. With the demotion of Leon Bibb. . .Northeast Ohio is left with only one black9 among the twelve major anchors. . . . The face of television news has gotten considerably whiter in just two months. . . . So what are we to make of all this? Well, if you’re a black viewer, you’re not pleased. You relate better to black faces. It’s not racist; it’s simple human nature. People tend to gravitate toward people who are like themselves. But should we say that the number of black anchors ought to be directly proportional to the number of blacks in a community? If that’s the case, here’s the math: Blacks account for 14 percent of the Northeast Ohio population. Black anchors now account for 8 percent of the anchors. 10

Dyer’s words rang true throughout the black community in Cleveland. Many felt hurt by the loss of Bibb as an anchor. After Bibb’s demotion, no blacks anchored news, weather, or sports on three of Cleveland’s major network affiliates.11 The only black

70 anchor was Romona Robinson who continued to anchor the 10:00 p.m. news on the fourth affiliate station, WUAB, the station with the lowest ratings.

Outraged, the Cleveland chapter of National Association for the Advancement of

Colored People (NAACP) held a press conference. Chapter President Marvin A.

McMickle said, “All of these [Cleveland] stations have an all white anchor team. . . . We are truly misrepresented in the media.” McMickle felt WKYC and the other news stations all intentionally passed over promoting blacks to anchor positions. “Of the twenty-eight anchor positions on four stations producing news shows during primetime, only one out of those twenty-eight is African American. In a city that is fifty percent African

American, this is an insult that must be corrected,” McMickle pointed out.12

In response to the press conference, a war ensued. The NAACP organized protests, demonstrations, and boycotts.13 Protesters marched with picket signs. Viewers turned off Channel 3. One thousand blacks gathered at a Cleveland church to protest

WKYC. Other black churches around Cleveland joined in the boycotts and protests, all supporting Bibb and fighting for representation.

Cleveland native and WEWS-TV Meteorologist Jason Nicholas said, “If [there’s] one thing Cleveland is, it’s diverse. People embrace the diversity that we have here and that we’re blessed to have in this community. Black, white, whatever it may be we serve our community.”14 And Nicholas knew the community felt a reciprocal relationship with

Bibb. He attributes the intense uproar to the diverse population when Bibb was taken off the anchor desk. “There are a lot of African Americans in Cleveland and in the

71 surrounding suburbs,” he said.15 The black community especially disliked Bibb’s demotion.

Black journalist and Cleveland native Brian McIntyre explains what Bibb’s demotion meant to Cleveland’s black community:

It was a big deal. You have to understand what Leon represents to the black community here. Leon’s the whole deal. He’s well spoken. He’s successful. He’s well respected. He had this high profile profession that he earned on the primetime spot on Channel 3 as an anchor. To take him off the anchor desk suddenly and unexpectedly and replace him with a white guy, who a lot of people didn’t think fit the job as well as Leon, it was a slap in the face. The black community felt like something had been taken away from them, and we didn’t know why. A lot of black people stopped watching Channel 3. We were not happy about it. 16

Meanwhile, Bibb remained silent. “He handled the whole thing with class, that’s what Leon does,” McIntyre added. “Leon didn’t badmouth anyone.”17 In fact, Bibb even signed another two-year contract in 1992 to keep his job.

“[WKYC] continued to pay me a very good salary. I took a slight bump down, but it was okay,” Bibb explained. Still, every time he randomly filled in for an anchor on the weekends, the station’s phone lines would start ringing off the hook. Viewers pleaded with the station to keep him on the anchor desk, but WKYC never reinstated Bibb as an anchor. 18

“We didn’t dwell on it a long time,” Marguerite said. “I just believed something else would come along.” She said the entire family stood by Bibb and kept encouraging him to do what he loved.19

Journalism organizations also provided encouragement at this time, by taking notice of his broadcasting achievements. In 1991, the Cleveland Chapter of the Society of

Professional Journalists honored him with a Distinguished Journalist Award for his lifetime achievements in broadcasting at the relatively young age of forty-seven.

According to the SPJ website, “Each year, the Cleveland Chapter honors one or more journalists with the Distinguished Service Award, which is the highest honor the Chapter can bestow for service. Journalists are nominated by the Board, and then chosen by a vote of SPJ members. In exceptional cases, the Board may choose a journalist to receive a

Lifetime Achievement Award - the highest honor SPJ Cleveland can bestow upon a professional to recognize a career of accomplishments.” Bibb received this highest honor, and he would continue to receive awards.20

Just one year later, the Broadcasters Hall of Fame inducted Bibb in 1992, despite his demotion from the anchor desk. According to the Broadcasters Hall of Fame website,

“The purpose of the Broadcasters Hall of Fame is to memorialize the Golden Age of broadcasting and to promote furtherance of the art of broadcasting. . . .To be eligible for induction into the Broadcasters Hall of Fame, the candidate must have made a significant contribution to the radio or television industry as a performer, station owner, manager, producer or other distinguished personnel. Inductees must have fifteen or more years tenure.”21 At this point in his career, Bibb had been working in the television industry for more than two decades.

The awards continued to pour in. Kaleidoscope, a Northeast Ohio black magazine, featured him for his professional achievements and service to the community as a member of the media.22 Bibb also received the Silver Circle Emmy Award from the

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1994 during his final full year at

WKYC. “The Silver Circle recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to television for twenty-five years or more. The broadcast pioneers who become part of this distinguished group have had significant careers in many different aspects of the industry - engineering, management, on-air, technical, production, administration, talent,” the NATAS guidelines read.23 Once again, Bibb’s talent and contribution to the broadcasting industry were recognized despite his demotion. Many journalism and broadcast organizations wanted to commend Bibb for his contributions to the industry before the potential end of his contract, and what many might have suspected to be the end of his career as a television anchor.24

Note

1 Charisse Ausbrook, “NAACP demands Black representation on Cleveland’s prime time newscasts,” Cleveland Call and Post, November 21, 1991. 2 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 3 “Among Cleveland TV outlets, its Big 3 network stations were virtually deadlocked for first place in Arbitron's January ratings report for sign-on-to-sign-off viewership. ABC affiliate WEWS-TV and the CBS outlet, WJW-TV, tied for first place, and NBC's owned and operated WKYC-TV was only one rating point behind in third.” See Stan Bullard, “Ad media, gateway to Cleveland consumers, sharpen offerings; Media companies invest in new titles, designs and formats, seek more 'visibility,'” Advertising Age, March 12, 1990, 10. 4 Interview, Brian McIntyre, January 22, 2010; and One-thousand blacks gathered at a Cleveland church to protest WKYC. See Debbi Snook, “Relations Strained For Media, Blacks,” Plain Dealer, November 30, 1992. 5 Ibid. 6 Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010. 7 Ibid. 8 Minorities is managerial positions dropped by 1 percent from 1981 until 1991. Also in the 1990’s, overall minority growth in broadcast newsrooms came to a halt. The percentage of black representation in newsrooms was only .2 of a percent higher in 1991 (10.4 percent) than a decade earlier in 1981 (10.2 percent) whereas in industries around the country, black representation in the workforce was higher than in television at 12.5 percent in 1991. See Dwight E. Brooks, George L. Daniels, & C. Ann Hollifield, “Television in living color: Racial diversity in the local commercial television industry,” The Howard Journal of Communications, 2003, 123-146. 9 Ramona Robinson, a black woman, anchored the news on Ch 43 WUAB at 10:00 p.m. See Charisse Ausbrook, “NAACP demands Black representation on Cleveland’s prime time newscasts,” Cleveland Call and Post, November 21, 1991. 10 Bob Dyer, “One Black Anchor Left in Area TV Ratings Cost Bibb Major Job, But Some Diversity is Lost, too,” Akron Beacon Journal, November 3, 1991. 11 WKYC, WEWS, and WJW had all white anchor newscasts following Bibb’s demotion. Charisse Ausbrook, “NAACP demands Black representation on Cleveland’s prime time newscasts,” Cleveland Call & Post, November 21, 1991. 12 Ibid. 13 One-thousand blacks gathered at a Cleveland church to protest WKYC. See Debbi Snook, “Relations Strained For Media, Blacks,” Plain Dealer, November 30, 1992. 14 Interview, WEWS Meteorologist Jason Nicholas, April 26, 2010. 15 Ibid. 16 Interview, Brian McIntyre, January 22, 2010. 17 Ibid. 18 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 19 Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010.

20 SPJ Cleveland, “SPJ Cleveland Distinguished Service & Lifetime Achievement Awards,” at http://www.spjchapters.org/cleveland/awards.htm (accessed January 30, 2010). 21 Broadcasters Hall of Fame, “Leon Bibb,” and “About Us,” at http://www.broadcastershalloffame.com/ (accessed on January 11, 2010) 22 Metro Section Beat, “African American Magazine Honors Members of Media,” Plain Dealer, April 6, 1993. 23 NATAS Lower Great Lakes Chapter, “Gold and Silver Circle Awards,” at http://www.nataslgl.org/awards_circles.php (accessed February 15, 2010). 24 Tom Feran, “Area Newscasting Veterans Getting Channel 19 Feelers,” Plain Dealer, October 28, 1994; and R.D. Heldenfels, “WKYC Newsman Leon Bibb Says Goodbye, Reporter Says Its Time For Change After 16 Years at the Cleveland Station,” Akron Beacon Journal, March 4, 1995.

Chapter 8: Changing Channels

At the beginning of March 1995, Bibb left WKYC after more than sixteen years as a reporter and anchor. “Leon has contributed tremendously to his Channel 3 news family. We made every effort to retain his services,” former WKYC General Manager

Bill Scaffide told the Plain Dealer, referring to the contract extension the station offered him. WKYC offered Bibb a multiyear contract as general assignment reporter and fill-in anchor, but Bibb turned it down. “I liked Leon, and thank him for his many years of service,” Scaffide said.1

Bibb confessed he would miss working with the people at Channel 3, and assured the press leaving WKYC had nothing to do with money. In an Akron Beacon Journal article, Bibb said, “I’m running the vacuum sweeper in the next room, and that’s what

I’m looking at right now.”2 What appeared to be a vague comment actually carried more meaning.

Little did WKYC know, the vacuum sweeper figuratively running next door was

WEWS-TV, Channel 5 News in Cleveland. A month after turning down his contract extension with Channel 3, Bibb signed a multiyear contract with competitor WEWS

Channel 5. This contract had been in the works for months, ever since a Channel 5 versus

Channel 3 softball game. It was a game that Bibb almost did not attend.3

“I did not want to go to the ball game. I didn’t want to put on the Channel 3 shirt,”

Bibb said, still feeling hurt over his demotion. However, Marguerite insisted he play in the game, since he always loved baseball, and not worry about the controversy. He admits his wife was right. “There was nobody I truly saw as an enemy,“ Bibb said. So

Bibb went to the game, and he played for Channel 3 against Channel 5. It was a hot day.

After the game, both teams hung around State Road Park in Parma, Ohio, cracking open beers and soda pop while socializing under the shady trees of the park. 4

Bibb wiped the sweat from his brow as a man approached him. He was Jim

LeMay, assistant news director at Channel 5. LeMay introduced himself to Bibb, and

Bibb quickly wiped the perspiration off his hand to avoid a wet handshake. LeMay got down to business, and asked him if he ever thought of leaving Channel 3. Bibb replied,

“If I had some place to go.” Jim LeMay called Bibb the next day, followed by the news director, Paul Steuber. A call from Gary Robinson, the general manager, followed. “We

[all] talked, and when my contract ended, I walked. I took a pay cut and left Channel 3. I took a pay cut and went to 5,” Bibb said.5

General Manager Gary Robinson was thrilled to have Bibb join Channel 5 News, and said the following to the Plain Dealer:

Leon is a great reporter and storyteller and someone I have respected for a long time. He was raised here, might as well as have been born here, and has practiced most of his career here. He brings a great depth of understanding and knowledge of the community. . . . That kind of perspective is one of the kinds of things television stations around the country don’t normally have, but I've got [someone] who has that. He makes a terrific addition to the team.6

On May 5, 1995, Bibb officially started working at WEWS.7 He would anchor the new Saturday morning “Weekend Exchange” program, a ninety-minute, in-depth news show and was rotated in to the 5:00 p.m. evening newscast. The “Weekend Exchange” premiered two weeks later on May 20, 1995 and quickly appealed to viewers, focusing on issues around the Cleveland area and interviewing local experts.8 Bibb handled the live interviews for the program, demonstrating his well-honed interview skills.9

Figure 17. Bibb hosting “Kaleidoscope” on WEWS TV-5 in Cleveland, Ohio in 2008. Still shot taken from YouTube.com

“The best thing to happen to television in Cleveland [in 1995 was] Leon coming back, especially on this type of program,” said Plain Dealer columnist Dick Feagler.10

Plain Dealer television critic Tom Feran could not deny the numbers. Channel 5 again ranked first in news ratings in the months right after Bibb made the switch to

WEWS in the spring of 1995.11 Feran said, “Nielsen measures each broadcast day in 96 quarter-hour segments. Channel 5 won 65 of them [that spring].”12 Later that year, ratings still remained high for WEWS, specifically the “Live on Five” evening newscast that

Bibb anchored at 5:00 p.m. “The aftershocks from all the past year's changes in

Cleveland television [were] still rippling…Newschannel 5 gained and was the clear winner with "Live on Five,”” Feran said.13 It seemed Bibb achieved another victory, and this one was long lasting.

The ratings for “Live on Five” continued to remain consistently high. “WEWS

Channel 5 remained the city's No. 1 station in news,” Feran wrote in 1996. “"Live on

Five" [with a rating share of] 12/24 continued its dominance at 5 p.m.”14 Channel 5 stayed at number one in 1997.15 Two years later Feran wrote, “TV-5's "Live on 5" held steady from a year ago and. . . lead with a 7.5 rating [and] 18 share.” He continued by saying, “WEWS Channel 5 was Cleveland's most-watched station,” and “Live on Five” was still number one in the ratings, almost five years after Bibb took the spot on the anchor desk.16

The high ratings did not end in the 1990s, but continued into the 2000s, according to Feran and the Nielsen ratings. “The news was good for WEWS Channel 5. . .

Newschannel 5 nearly swept the news race in household ratings [in 2001],” Feran reported. “Perennial leader WEWS topped news at 5 p.m. with a 7.5 rating/16 share. . .

WEWS was [still] the most-watched station.”17 The majority of viewers seemed attracted to the station where Bibb anchored. While TV-5’s slogan was “Five On Your Side,” it seemed Northeast Ohio’s viewers had certainly sided with Bibb, as “Live on Five’s” continued to lead ratings.

Viewers not only expressed their approval for Bibb by tuning into his newscasts.

Many viewers commented about him on Internet blogs or the Plain Dealer website,

Cleveland.com, forums.18 On another blog, Ohio Media Watch, many readers complained to the writers that an article on the blog about WEWS gave only a mild reference to Bibb and did not give him the credit he was due. Ohio Media Watch responded with an article dedicated entirely to Bibb, “Our Apologies to Leon Bibb.” The article complimented him

80 in many ways, stating, “[Bibb]'s indeed a fixture as far as being one of "Cleveland's

Own" on television. . . . He's displayed a wide range of journalistic talents, and flexibility over the years. . . Leon Bibb is perhaps the most literate and creative (and poetic) of

Cleveland's TV news anchors and reporters.” 19

Figure 18. Bibb anchoring “Kaleidoscope” on WEWS News Channel 5 in 2008. Still shot taken from

YouTube.com.

In response to the complimentary article, readers left comments. Mike Golch said,

“I actually got to meet Mr.Bibb in person this year [he] is a man whom I would call a class act.”20 Vice President of Rubber City Radio Group and former RTDNA

Chairperson Ed Esposito commented, “Leon Bibb is one of the most gracious, talented and genuine there is in the business.21 His copy sings and should serve as testament to younger writers as well as us old geezers that broadcast journalism is still about the art.”22

In a 2010 My Cleveland editorial piece for the Plain Dealer, Sarah Crump featured Bibb and his ties to Northeast Ohio.23 On the Plain Dealer website, twenty 81 people commented on the story, and none had a negative thing to say about Bibb.24 Here are two of the Cleveland readers’ comments about him:

A real class act with the best voice in local broadcasting and the brains behind it to keep you tuned in. He spoke at a Memorial Day service in a cemetery in Chagrin Falls a few years ago and everyone in attendance was spellbound by his oratory skills. Looking for a great role model for urban kids? Cleveland has one in Leon Bibb.

Class act is absolutely correct. I remember running into him at the Cleveland airport in the early 90s. He greeted us (total strangers) with a smile, and knelt down to show our young daughter his flashing Christmas tie. Leon is a Cleveland treasure. 25

Marguerite can confirm her husband’s iconic status within the community.

“Almost every time we go out people recognize him,” she said. “People are really nice and complimentary. Ninety-nine percent of the time people are very genuinely complimentary and go out of their way to come and say hello and to introduce themselves and compliment him any time we go out anywhere,” she explained. “To me, I think it’s a great achievement for him to have a career that he really excels at and has been so well received by the public.”26

It is not just the public who has a good impression of Bibb. Compliments for the veteran anchor resonate within 3001 Euclid Avenue, the WEWS Scripps Howard News

Station. Bibb’s colleagues have nothing but kind words for him. Like the comments online, Reporter Brian McIntyre also used the word classy to describe Bibb. “He somehow manages to be classy and sort of regal, yet still humble at the same time.”27

Meteorologist Jason Nicholas said, “He just epitomizes class and being trustworthy.”

Nicholas said he understood why Bibb has been in the business for more than forty years.

“When he says something people listen. That’s why he’s been so well received here,

82 respected, and has the longevity.” Nicholas said no one in the business has the rapport and trusting relationship with viewers that Bibb has, “If Leon said the sky is green, you’d actually take a second just to look up and see if it was… You want the viewer to trust you, and really believe what’s coming out of your mouth. Leon’s really been able to do that in his career.”28

Another one of Bibb’s talents is his storytelling ability, said WEWS Sports

Anchor Andy Baskin. “Leon is one of the greatest storytellers I have ever met. His smooth delivery and passion for his stories are what make him standout.”29 McIntyre agrees, “He’s the best storyteller in this town.”30 Plus, he delivers his stories in the “The

Voice.”

It was the first thing Nicholas mentioned. “Leon’s voice. [Shudders]. He’s amazing. You don’t even have to be watching. You just have to have your TV on, and it echoes, and it’s deep,” he said. “I don’t know how he got it. It’s God given. His voice and delivery definitely separates him from everyone else.”31

But the characteristic that really separates Bibb from his other well-accomplished peers, is his modest and jovial personality. Sports Anchor Andy Baskin experienced

Bibb’s friendliness his first day at WEWS:

I was very nervous the first day I walked in to Channel 5. I had a very bad experience at my last station. I didn't trust many people in television. In the first ten minutes I was at Channel 5, Leon walked over to me, welcomed me, and asked me if I needed anything. I asked him what kind of plug I needed for my earpiece. Most people would have said, "'I'm not sure." Not Leon. He walked me back into the engineers shop. He then introduced me to three engineers and said, “Take care of him, he's a good man.” In less than five minutes, Leon made me feel at home, comfortable, and made me realize why I wanted to be in TV. He changed my career. It made me want to work at Channel 5 full-time.32

Nicholas also agrees it is a pleasure to work with Bibb. “He always tries to make you look good as an anchor and me being a meteorologist. He always gives me good lines, and we get along well on the set.”33

Bibb is also known for adding humor to the newsroom. “He did give me one piece of advice  he’d always say, ‘You don’t have to shoot nobody, just show ‘em your gun.’

He’s funny,” McIntyre said, laughing.34

Figure 19. A photograph from a feature story about Bibb in the Plain Dealer in 2010. Courtesy of

Cleveland.com

And just like during his youth, Bibb has not stopped his play-by-plays, according to Nicholas. “I’ll walk by and hear, ‘Two two pitch, fastball to the side, ball three.’ And

I’ll go, ‘What are you talking about?’ And he goes, ‘I’m just doing a game.’ He’ll be in his own little world, but he’s funny though.”35

Notes

1 R.D. Heldenfels, “WKYC Newsman Leon Bibb Says Goodbye, Reporter Says Its Time For Change After 16 Years at the Cleveland Station,” Akron Beacon Journal, March 4, 1995; and Tom Feran, “Bibb Makes Tough Decision to Leave TV-3,” Plain Dealer, March 7, 1995. 2 R.D. Heldenfels, “WKYC Newsman Leon Bibb Says Goodbye, Reporter Says Its Time For Change After 16 Years at the Cleveland Station,” Akron Beacon Journal, March 4, 1995. 3 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. 6 Tom Feran, “Bibb Goes to TV-5 for New Show,” Plain Dealer, April 13, 1995. 7 Ibid. 8 Tom Feran, “Channel 5 Slows the Pace in New Weekend Exchange,” Plain Dealer, May 19, 1995. 9 Interview, Brian McIntyre, January 22, 2010. 10 Dick Feagler, “Conned Americans Beg to Buy More,” Plain Dealer, May 18, 2003. 11 Feran, Tom, “Channels 3, 5 Clean Up in Sweeps,” Plain Dealer, June 3, 1995. 12 Ibid. 13 Feran, Tom, “Channel 3 Tops Local Ratings,” Plain Dealer, November 2, 1995. 14 Feran, Tom, “TV-5 Still No. 1 With Local News,” Plain Dealer, December 5, 1996. 15 Feran, Tom, “TV-5 Still Tops Ratings for News,” Plain Dealer, March 1, 1997; and Feran, Tom, “WEWS Stay Atop Local TV Ratings,” Plain Dealer, May 27, 1997. 16 Feran, Tom, “TV-5 is No. 1 in Ratings Sweep,” Plain Dealer, December 4, 1999. 17 Feran, Tom, “Channels 8 and 5 Stand Out in February Ratings Sweep,” Plain Dealer, March 5, 2001. 18 The Internet has grown exponentially popular, 50-percent of American households had Internet in 2001, and those numbers increased to 69-percent of households having Internet in 2009 “69 percent: The percentage of American households with Internet access in 2009, according to new data released by the Census Bureau. This is up from 18 percent in 1997, the first year for which the estimates are available. It was 42 percent in 2000, 50 percent in 2001, 55 percent in 2003 and 62 percent in 2007.” From Exner, Rich, “Sunday’s Numbers: Internet now used in 69 percent of homes, mostly via broadband connections,” Plain Dealer, February 21, 2010; The U.S. Census Bureau reported almost 77-percent of Americans use the Internet at home or another location in 2009. Therefore, a vast majority of viewers had Internet access by the end of the 2000s, many viewers contributed their opinions and added comments to web content about Bibb.See U.S. Census Bureau, “Internet Use in the United States: October 2009,” U.S.

Census Bureau, February 2010, at http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/computer/2009.html (accessed April 24, 2010). 19 Ohio Media Watch, “Our Apologies to Leon Bibb,” Ohio Media Watch, May 20, 2009, at http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com/2009/05/our-apologies-to-leon-bibb.html (accessed March 30, 2010). 20 Ibid. 21 Ed Esposito is vice president of information media for Rubber City Radio Group. Esposito's previous broadcast experience includes radio and television stations in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and West Virginia. “He is a former president of the Ohio Associated Press Broadcasters Association, [and he] represents broadcasters on the Ohio Newspaper Association's Ohio Coalition for Open Government.” See RTDNA Bios, “Ed Esposito,” RTDNA, at http://www.rtdna.org/pages/media_items/edward-esposito1021.php (accessed May 6, 2010). 22 Ibid. 23 Crump, Sarah, “News anchor Leon Bibb has deep Cleveland roots: Sarah Crump’s My Cleveland,” Plain Dealer, March 21, 2010. 24 Crump, Sarah, “News anchor Leon Bibb has deep Cleveland roots: Sarah Crump’s My Cleveland,” Plain Dealer, March 21, 2010 at http://www.cleveland.com/mycleveland/index.ssf/2010/03/news_anchor_leon_bibb_has_ deep.html (accessed March 30, 2010). 25 Other comments include: “Leon Bibb is TOTAL CLASS. I have nothing but utmost adoration for this man. Class, class, class. That one word sums him up totally,” and “Bibb is a fine talent, citizen, and a great role model. He's a man who has proven himself in many walks of life. Student, soldier, newsperson, husband, father, and one of our area's finest all-around human beings,” and “Leon Bibb is a man's man. And he deserves the 1st chair of the nightly news on WEWS, or anywhere else in town for that matter. Thanks Leon -- you're the best!” as well as, “I've always enjoyed Leon Bibb. He is classy, and very professional. He is the epitome of a great newsman. He is always in control and informative, and he has that uniqueness that great news personalities have. He is a great asset for Cleveland.” See Ibid; Other comments on Cleveland.com also compliment Bibb and use him as an example of a role model for the community. See Tobin, Mike, “Cleveland shooting has long juvenile record,” Plain Dealer, February 25, 2009, at http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/02/teen_accused_in_fatal_shooting.html#comment s (accessed March 30, 2010). These comments allude to the fact that not only is Bibb a role model, but he is vested in the community. As the examples show, comments often associated the word classy with Bibb, and call him a Cleveland icon. See Crump, Sarah, “News anchor Leon Bibb has deep Cleveland roots: Sarah Crump’s My Cleveland,” Plain Dealer, March 21, 2010 at http://www.cleveland.com/mycleveland/index.ssf/2010/03/news_anchor_leon_bibb_has_ deep.html (accessed March 30, 2010). 26 Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010.

27 Interview, Brian McIntyre, January 22, 2010. 28 Interview, Jason Nicholas, April 26, 2010. 29 Interview, WEWS Sports Anchor Andy Baskin, April 15, 2010. 30 Interview, Brian McIntyre, January 22, 2010. 31 Interview, Jason Nicholas, April 26, 2010. 32 Interview, Andy Baskin, April 15, 2010. 33 Interview, Jason Nicholas, April 26, 2010. 34 Interview, Brian McIntyre, January 22, 2010. 35 Interview, Jason Nicholas, April 26, 2010.

Chapter 9: Award-Winning Anchor

Bibb had won Emmys and multiple awards throughout the first three decades of his career.1 His first fifteen years at WEWS were no different, as Bibb continued accumulating awards, as documented in Table 2 below.

Table 2.

Leon Bibb’s Awards YEAR AWARD ORGANIZATION 1969 Bronze Star Medal2 U.S. Army 1983 Emmy3 NATAS Lifetime Achievement Award, 1991 Distinguished Journalist Award4 Cleveland SPJ Hall of Fame Induction5 Sigma Delta Chi Hall of Fame 6 1992 Hall of Fame Induction Broadcasters' Hall of Fame 7 1993 Members of Media Honor Kaleidoscope Magazine 8 1994 Silver Circle Emmy NATAS Black Achievers Award9 Black Achievers Voices of Cleveland 10 1995 Emmy NATAS 11 1996 Board of Trustees Bowling Green State University Hall of Fame Induction BGSU School of Communication 12 1997 Media Legacy Glenville High School 13 Hall of Fame Induction Glenville Hall of Fame 14 Featured Storyteller Award National Association of Black Storytellers 15 1999 Emmy NATAS 16 Hall of Fame Induction Cleveland Press Club 17 2003 Emmy NATAS 18 Hall of Fame Induction Ohio AP Broadcast Hall of Fame Combat Distinction as embedded 19 reporter U.S. Coast Guard 2005 Special Resolution Honor20 BGSU 21 2006 Hall of Fame Induction Cleveland Association of Broadcasters 22 2007 Gem of Cleveland Award Spectrum of Supportive Services 23 2010 Black History Month Honoree NBA‐ Cleveland Cavaliers

Ohio Governor George Voinovich appointed Bibb as a BGSU Board of Trustee on

May 17, 1996. Bibb served nine years as chairman on the BGSU Board of Trustees, from 88

1996 until 2005. 24 This strong tie to Bowling Green State University led to one of Bibb’s most heartfelt moments of his career, which occurred in 2007.

For a Veteran’s Day feature package, Bibb traveled to a nursing home in Northwest

Ohio to interview the third oldest World War I veteran, a 108-year-old man. The man got drafted in 1917, went off to war, came home, and was one of the only three surviving vets of World War I. Bibb was especially interested in interviewing this World War I veteran because he was the only one in Ohio.

In this interview I asked him, “What were you doing before you got drafted?” He said, “I was studying to be a teacher.” He spoke very slowly. I had to speak loudly so he could understand. “What did you do when you came home from the war?” [He said,] “Well I began teaching at Bowling Green as a professor.” I said, “I went to Bowling Green, when were you there?” He said, “1930-1969.” I said, “What did you teach?” He said, “I was physical education, and my specialty was I was the swimming teacher.” I said, “I took swimming!” He said, “I was your teacher then.” I looked in the records, and I got my old yearbook out and yeah, he was my instructor. I put that part in the middle of my story. The turn of the story. I’m telling this story, but I say while we were talking I found out he was the swimming instructor on the campus for forty years, and he was my swimming instructor too. 25

Bibb got the ordinarily quiet and subdued man to open up, enough for them to sing a song together. “The nurses there at the nursing home, they cried, because they’d never seen him respond as he’d responded to me,” Bibb recalled.

“I said, ‘Do you remember that World War I song, the song you doughboys marched off to? ‘Over there?’” The man began singing, “Over there, over there. We will fight for what’s right, over there.” Leon joined in singing, “Tell ‘em the yanks are coming, the yanks are coming, the yanks are coming, over there.” At this point in his story Bibb choked up, remembering this precious moment of his career.

We had connected from two different worlds. But that opened him up. Then, he trusted me. . . . To take him back, he said, “It’s been decades since I sung that song.” He’d forgotten a lot, but he didn’t forget that. But the nurses began to cry and said, “He’s never done that. Only with you Mr. Bibb.” That was the key to him. When you’re doing interviews sometimes like you do, you let ‘em talk. They’ll even forget their being interviewed. They’ll tell you things they never expected.26

Even with interviews like the one described above and all his success, Bibb remains rather modest about his awards:

I just do what I do, and sometimes I’m surprised. Someone will say we want to honor you with something special. I’m sometimes flabbergasted. I just accept the honor. It’s nice to have people say nice things about you. I guess it’s better than being run out of town.27

Marguerite also noted the great deal of recognition her husband has received for his outstanding work, saying he has so many awards she cannot even remember them all.

“Even if he never got promoted at the stations right away to the top spot, others have recognized his hard work,” she said. “He’s proud of that, but he doesn’t go around looking to be awarded or anything. He’s very humble about that. Mainly he’s doing what he set out to do, and to do the best job and really make a difference.”28

“People have been telling him his entire career how awesome and how wonderful he is. . . but deservedly so. Yet somehow [Bibb] manages to be classy and sort of regal, yet still humble at the same time,” McIntyre said.29

Despite all of his awards and accolades, Bibb still sees room for improvement.

“My professional goals, I’m still working on those,” Bibb said that day in 2010 at the

Shaker Heights Library. He certainly would be considered a perfectionist because despite all of his awards and experience, he continued, “I’m still working on being a good

90 reporter. I want to be a damn good reporter and damn good anchor. I still polish that stone.”30

At the age of sixty-five, most people would consider retirement, but Bibb insisted retirement is not in his near future. He said his mother Georgia is still alive and well in her nineties. He followed with a quote from baseball legend Willie Mays. “You’ll know when it’s time to leave,” Bibb quoted. 31

Figure 20. Bibb’s headshot for WEWS News Channel 5 in Cleveland, Ohio in 2010. Courtesy of Leon

Bibb.

“The way my life has been, the next phase of my life will come that way. I’ll just know. It will come when I’m least expecting it. It will come out of nowhere,” he explains. Just like when Channel 5 assistant news director Jim LeMay approached him at 91 the ball game. Or when Bibb picked up the hitchhiker on that cold winter day in Toledo.

“I think God sends people [like that]. I’ll let God lead me where He wants me to be,”

Bibb said.32

Notes

1 NATAS Lower Great Lakes Chapter, “Gold and Silver Circle Awards,” at http://www.nataslgl.org/awards_circles.php (accessed February 15, 2010). 2 WEWS, “Leon Bibb,” at http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_us/staff/Leon- Bibb (accessed January 6, 2010). 3 Northeast Ohio TV Memories, “Coleman and Bibb at 1983 Awards Show,” at http://neohiotvmemories.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/bulletin-board-11/vlcsnap-72268/ (accessed May 6, 2010). 4 “Each year, the Cleveland Chapter honors one or more journalists with the Distinguished Service Award, which is the highest honor the Chapter can bestow for service. Journalists are nominated by the Board, and then chosen by a vote of SPJ members. In exceptional cases, the Board may choose a journalist to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award - the highest honor SPJ Cleveland can bestow upon a professional to recognize a career of accomplishments.” See SPJ Cleveland, “SPJ Cleveland's Distinguished Service & Lifetime Achievement Awards,” at http://www.spjchapters.org/cleveland/awards.htm (accessed March 30, 2010). 5 Society of Professional Journalists, “Sigma Delta Chi,”at http://www.spj.org/sdxabout.asp (accessed March 30, 2010); and WEWS, “Leon Bibb,” at http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_us/staff/Leon-Bibb (accessed January 6, 2010). 6 Broadcasters Hall of Fame, “Leon Bibb,” and “About Us,” at http://www.broadcastershalloffame.com/ (accessed on January 11, 2010) 7 Metro Section Beat, “African American Magazine Honors Members of Media,” Plain Dealer, April 6, 1993. 8 NATAS Lower Great Lakes Chapter, “Gold and Silver Circle Awards,” at http://www.nataslgl.org/awards_circles.php (accessed February 15, 2010). 9 Metro, “Art and Music Help Celebrate Black History,” Plain Dealer, February 14, 1994. 10 Bibb won for his public affairs piece, “Out of Sight, Out of Mind.” See Tom Feran, “Channel 8 Leads Pack with Regional Emmys,” Plain Dealer, June 18, 1995. 11 Ohio Governor George Voinovich appointed Bibb as a BGSU Board of Trustee on May 17, 1996. See Nation Master, “Leon Bibb,” http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Leon-Bibb (accessed January 12, 2010); and Metro Beat, “TV’s Bibb Becomes Trustee,” Plain Dealer, May 9, 1996. 12 Janet Beighle French, “Recalling Glenville; Rich History Enshrined in New Hall of Fame,” Plain Dealer, October 2, 1997; and Susan Zimmerman, “Art Association in Willoughby to Celebrate 40th,” Plain Dealer, September 21, 1997. 13 Ibid; and WEWS, “Leon Bibb,” at http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_us/staff/Leon-Bibb (accessed January 6, 2010). 14 Susan Zimmerman, “Story Hour Returns: Gift and Craft of Spinning Tales is Making a Comeback,” Plain Dealer, November 17, 1997. 15 Bibb won for writing "The Wooden Street," for WEWS. See Metro Beat, “Indianapolis Station Dominates Emmys,” Plain Dealer, June 13, 1999.

16 Business Wire, “Martin Savidge to Deliver Keynote Address at Journalism Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony,” at http://www.allbusiness.com/crime-law/controlled- substances-cocaine/6718033-1.html (accessed on February 15, 2010); and Cleveland Press Club, “Leon Bibb,” at http://www.pressclubcleveland.com (accessed on February 15, 2010); and Metro Beat, “Press Club to Put 7 into Journalism Hall of Fame,” Plain Dealer, November 15, 1999. 17 NATAS Lower Great Lakes Chapter, “35th Annual Cleveland Regional Emmy Awards Winners List (for Broadcast Year 2003),” at http://www.nataslgl.org/emmy/2003_Awards_Recipient.htm (accessed on February 15, 2010). 18 Bibb prided himself on upholding the integrity of journalism, and the AP took notice as one of only five members inducted per year. “Up to five people, living or dead, who served with exceptional distinction and honor in the field of broadcast journalism will be inducted into the OAPB Hall of Fame each year. Honorees in the Hall of Fame must have been in radio or TV news for at least 20 years at an AP member station. Honorees must show through their work outstanding ability, integrity and character.” See Associated Press, “OAPB Award Recipients Hall of Fame Members,” http://www.ap.org/ohio/oapbhof.html (accessed February 10, 2010). 19 Sarah Crump, “No rest for Cleveland judge as she retires from the bench,” Plain Dealer, September 9, 2003. 20 BGSU, “Board of Trustees Actions,” Office of the President, April 1, 2005, http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/president/page12111.html (accessed May 9, 2010). 21 The Cleveland Association of Broadcasters inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2006. Bibb met the following guidelines as outlined on the CAB website that inductees to the Cleveland Association of Broadcast Hall of Fame must “1) Promote the quality of broadcasting in the Cleveland area; 2) Provide a forum for issues concerning all segments of the Cleveland broadcasting community; 3) Foster greater understanding between those in the broadcasting sales, advertising and business communities; 4) Increase the level of professionalism among those in the Cleveland broadcast community.” See Cleveland Association of Broadcasters, “Hall of Fame,” and “CAB Objectives,” http://cabcleveland.com/CAb_Cleveland/Hall_of_Fame.html (accessed on February 12, 2010). 22 Deborah Hillyer, “Going Places,” Crain’s Cleveland Business, January 14, 2008, 10. 23 WEWS, “NewsChannel5 anchor Leon Bibb honored at Cavaliers game,” at http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_us/newschannel5-anchor-leon-bibb-honored-at- cavaliers-game (accessed on February 20, 2010). 24 Ohio Governor George Voinovich appointed Bibb as a Bowling Green State University Board of Trustee on May 17, 1996. See Nation Master, “Leon Bibb,” http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Leon-Bibb (accessed January 12, 2010); and Metro Beat, “TV’s Bibb Becomes Trustee,” Plain Dealer, May 9, 1996. 25 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 26 Ibid.

27 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 28 Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010. 29 Interview, Brian McIntyre, January 22, 2010. 30 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid.

Chapter 10: Conclusion

In reviewing the progression of Leon Bibb’s life and career, it is evident that he has overcome many of the barriers facing his race. As a young, black journalist in the tumultuous 1960s, Bibb entered predominantly white newsrooms, and he became very successful. He became the first black primetime anchor in Ohio, in Columbus in 1976, and then the first black anchor in his hometown of Cleveland in 1985.1 Furthermore, he was the ninth black primetime anchor in the country, and the seventh black primetime anchor in a top-twenty news market.2

Even today, considering the longevity of Bibb’s career in comparison with national statistics speaks volumes. He has maintained a presence in mainstream newsrooms for more than forty-four years. A study conducted by the National

Association of Black Journalists in 2006 found that the overall representation of minorities in radio newsrooms plummeted by more than 8 percent in the past decade.

“Journalists of color represent 22.2 percent of the TV news workforce,” compared to the

33.6 percent minority population in the U.S.”3 According to an RTDNA study in 2007, only 10 percent of the overall TV workforce was black.4 But Bibb has held steady in his position in the television newsroom as a representative of the black community for over four decades. His hometown rallied behind him following his demotion at Channel 3.5

And today, he still sits at the anchor desk every night as a beloved Cleveland media personality.6

Bibb attributes some of his success to his strong ties to the community that he covers. “I live in this community. It’s not that I just cover it. I’m a part of this

96 community. I grew up here. Half the people in town I know because we went to school together,” Bibb said. “People who are newsmakers at my age, some of them I’ve known since kindergarten. It’s no wonder I know how to talk to people. I’ve known them all my life.”7

Recently, Bibb has had to deal with a news story about something that has been a part of him his entire life. The church he and Marguerite attended on the Eastside of

Cleveland burned to the ground after being struck by lightening. He covered the fire. “He goes to church every Sunday,” WEWS Meteorologist Jason Nicholas said.8 “He’s been a member of that church for a long time. . . and it’s his job to report on it.” While some reporters might have made their personal experiences the centerpiece of the story,

Nicholas said Bibb instinctively knew that was not the best way to tell this story.

He was really able to masterfully combine his ability to tell the story by saying what happened and providing a little bit of a side note that he was a member of the parish. He blended it so well, and it was really incredible for me to see the way he did that. This was a personal story. He almost started crying on the set. For him to be able to do that was pretty amazing. . . . He gave the facts, but he was also able to add a little bit of emotion in only Leon fashion. . . he did it very well and was able to marry his experiences and his stories of the church with the event.9

Bibb was able to do this well over the course of his forty-four year long career.

He interviewed notable, influential people, including Martin Luther King Jr., James Earl

Ray, the elder President Bush, Larry Flynt, and Neil Armstrong.10 But much more often he interviewed ordinary people, like a couple taking home their newborn triplets from the

Cleveland Clinic.11 He turned these small stories about ordinary people into some of the most remarkable, heartfelt stories to hit the Cleveland airwaves. He has told compelling stories that hit close to home, such as his cousin’s death when he was an obituary writer

97 for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a former teacher and war veteran, or his own church burning down.12

He holds his place in Ohio history as the first black anchor, and his long list of accomplishments, awards, notable interviews, and career highlights clearly demonstrate his talent as a journalist. His victories certainly outweigh his defeats. “He has done what he aspired to do,” Marguerite said.13

Bibb is a multi-talented journalist who has adapted to changes in newsrooms, anchor desks, teleprompters, and technology throughout the four decades of his career.14

However, his “old journalism” roots still show, as he consistently fights to uphold the integrity of journalism.

I think [journalism] keeps us honest. If we didn’t have a free press, where would we be? The free press allows us to serve as a watchdog for the people. To report on what’s going on, and to be unfettered for the government not to say, “You can’t print that.” For us to have access to the public officials’ work is vital to any democracy, there must be a free press. That’s how I view it. That’s how I see it. 15

But that focus on core values does not affect Bibb’s adaptability to the ever- evolving changes in the field of journalism. “We’re entering a time in our careers that is challenging,” WEWS Meteorologist Jason Nicholas explained. “A lot of anchors are having to shoot their own material, a new way of doing things. We’ve become multi- media journalists.” But Nicholas said Bibb has stepped up and into his new role. “As a leader in the newsroom he has taken it head on. He’s shown a lot of initiative. It can’t be easy for him. He’s done it as a leader, and people have followed.”16

“Now, Leon's biggest challenge is figuring out how to survive in a world where ethics are decaying and companies don't feel like investing in people. It's sad,” WEWS

Sports Anchor Andy Baskin said.17 “Most guys [with] his age and experience, they come in, and they read the news. That’s it. Then they go home. But he’s proven he can do a lot more,” Nicholas added. “He’s adapted to the change really well. He goes out and turns a story in a day.”18

The former obituary writer has evolved from a radio announcer, to a news reporter, primetime anchor, actor, poet, television personality, and now a novelist. A self- professed wordsmith, Bibb continually hones his craft of writing, speaking, and storytelling in and out of the newsroom through theater, poetry, and novel writing.

Currently Bibb is working on his first novel, a dramatic love story that takes place in

Cleveland.19

“He’s the best storyteller in this town,” Brian McIntyre said. “He embodies this concept of not just knowing how to talk, but having a command for the language.

Knowing how to take and manipulate words to make them mean what you want them to mean. He has mastered words to an amazing level. Incredible what this cat does with normal every day words.”20

And telling stories is what Bibb does best. Put simply, Bibb is a storyteller. Here he explains his storytelling method:

I’m gonna tell you, I’m gonna take you there because I want to remove you from where you are and take you to where I am. I want to take you to the story that I’m going to tell you. I want you to be so immersed in it that you forget you’re hearing a story and you become immersed in the scene yourself. . . Sometimes in the journalism world I will still do that, but it’s to take you there. I want you to feel it. I want you to feel what’s going on. When I tell you the story of the Ku Klux Klan rally that I covered in the mid 70s, I’ll tell you where I was and what happened and why it turned violent, and how I got caught between the Klan and the anti- Klan protestors. When they converged and fought, we reporters were caught in the middle and actually got beat up ourselves, pulling ourselves out of the middle

from the fists of the Klansmens who swung baseball bats, and how some of us got very hurt that day, as our cameras continued to roll. I want to take you there so you understand exactly what happened. That’s the power of words. It’s the power of the pictures. When you blend the picture with the word together, you’ve got something. That’s telling the story, as truthful as you know it to be, from “The Voice.”21

He excels at telling stories, proven to this researcher by his ability to tell his own story that cold January day in the library.

Still, he knows all stories must come to an end. Even though his story still continues to be written, it is appropriate to end his story in the way he began as a journalist, with obituaries. Although he has accomplished a great deal in his lifetime, and made history as a black journalist, when the time comes he would like his obituary to simply read:

Leon Bibb, he was the man who loved words.22

100

Notes

1 Ibid; and WEWS, “NewsChannel5 anchor Leon Bibb honored at Cavaliers game,” at http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_us/newschannel5-anchor-leon-bibb- honored-at-cavaliers-game (accessed on February 20, 2010); and WEWS, “Leon Bibb,” at http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_us/staff/Leon-Bibb (accessed January 6, 2010). 2 Ninth black primetime anchor for WCMH in Columbus in 1976. Fourth black primetime anchor in the top 20 markets while on WKYC in Cleveland in 1985. See Table 1, page 39-40. 3 National Association of Black Journalists, “Survey Shows Blacks continue to Decline in TV News Nationwide; NABJ Concerned About Trend,” at http://www.nabj.org/newsroom/story/49993p-76533c.php (accessed April 19, 2010); Additionally, In another study by NABJ in 2008 found that only 17% of the managers at stations owned and operated by ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC around the country were people of color, and over a third of the stations had no people of color at all in the managerial ranks. “At the general manager level, the highest-ranking position at a television news station, only three of the 57 general managers – 5.2% -- were non-white. All were [black] men and worked for ABC, Fox and NBC. CBS had no non-white general managers. There were no Hispanic or Asian general managers, nor were there any women of color.” See National Association of Black Journalists, “Network Television Station O&O Management Diversity Census,” at http://www.nabj.org/newsroom/special_reports/index.php (accessed April 19, 2010). 4 Papper, Bob,”Women and Minorities in the Newsroom,” Communicator, July 2007, at http://www.rtdna.org/media/pdfs/communicator/2007/julaug/20- 25_Survey_Communicator.pdf 5 Debbi Snook, “Relations Strained For Media, Blacks,” Plain Dealer, November 30, 1992; and Charisse Ausbrook, “NAACP demands Black representation on Cleveland’s prime time newscasts,” Call & Post, November 21, 1991; and Bob Dyer, “One Black Anchor Left in Area TV Ratings Cost Bibb Major Job, But Some Diversity is Lost, too,” Akron Beacon Journal, November 3, 1991. 6 The anchor position Bibb currently holds in 2010 is solo anchor at noon and co- anchor of the 6:00 evening news. Formerly, he anchored the “Live on Five” 5:00 evening news as well as weekend news and special local news shows, “Kaleidoscope” and “Our Town.” See Julie Washington, “Bibb goes ‘Five’ for 5,” Plain Dealer, February 4, 2005; and Ohio Media Watch, “Monday’s Pile,” at http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com/ (accessed February 18, 2010). 7 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 8 Interview, Jason Nicholas, April 26, 2010. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid; and WEWS, “Leon Bibb,” at http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_us/staff/Leon-Bibb (accessed January 6, 2010). 11 Interview, Brian McIntyre, January 22, 2010. 12 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010; and Interview, Jason Nicholas, April 26, 2010.

101

13 Interview, Marguerite Bibb, May 2, 2010. 14 Roger Brown, “Leon Bibb A Survivor of the Television Battles,” Plain Dealer, August 3, 1995. 15 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 16 Interview, Jason Nicholas, April 26, 2010. 17 Interview, Andy Baskin, April 15, 2010. 18 Interview, Jason Nicholas, April 26, 2010. 19 Ibid. 20 Interview, Brian McIntyre, January 22, 2010. 21 Interview, Leon Bibb, January 9, 2010. 22 Ibid.

102

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Interviews

Baskin, A. (April 15, 2010). Email Interview.

Bibb, L. (January 9, 2010). Interview at Shaker Heights Public Library. Recording available upon request.

Bibb, M. (May 2, 2010). Interview. Recording available upon request.

McIntyre, B. (January 22, 2010). Interview. Recording available upon request.

Nicholas, J. (April 26, 2010). Interview. Recording available upon request.

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