Lee McCarthy is probably remembered by many of us here in the Delaware Valley as an NBC news correspondent and Channel 29 News Anchor.

Lee became an adult by being raised in a house where everyone watched Chet Huntley and David Brinkley on NBC-TV. After receiving his college degree (in government) in 1965 from Notre Dame University, he went to his hometown, Youngstown, Ohio and WYTV-TV, Channel 33. There, he was their news director, anchor and reporter.

A couple years later, he moved to the nation's capitol and WTOP. There, he reported traffic in the AM and news in the PM. Then he moved over to WTOP's television station.

NBC News Correspondent Lee McCarthy

Later, in 1969, he went to work for NBC later becoming a network correspondent and reporter. He covered the Middle-East. the Pope, a South American revolution and Ronald Reagan's VP, George H. W. Bush and his trip to European cities.

Lee then came to Philadelphia and WTAF-TV's "Ten O'Clock Report." According to McCarthy in December 1985, WTAF offered him more money than the network.

Vice-President George Bush and Channel 29 anchor Lee McCarthy
early in 1986

On the very first broadcast (then a half-hour), McCarthy made the cast stand out with an exclusive one-on-one interview with Vice-President George Bush. The first Channel 29 newscast was on Monday, February 17, 1986 after weeks of rehearsals and dry runs.

He has won several Emmys and retired in 1993. However, he always liked to keep busy so he taught broadcast journalism at Villanova for a dozen years.

a young Lee McCarthy
at the Roman Forum
Rome, Italy

He received his Master's Degree in Liberal Arts from Villanova University in 2006. When he and his wife moved to West Chester, he kept active with community journalism and was TV program director for a local cable station.

He and his wife had five children; three sons and two daughters. He passed away at age 71 from cancer on Sunday, March 8, 2015. He was a member of the Broadcast Pioneers.

From the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
Bio written and researched by Broadcast Pioneers member Gerry Wilkinson
© 2015, Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
All Rights Reserved

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