George Jennings

[grantchester]

I'm surprised no one has posted this yet.
George Jennings died last Thursday. He was 67.
The obituary finally showed up in the Tuesday paper.
(I'm told former WOAI GM John Barger paid for it.)
George was news director at WOAI-AM for two stints, first in the mid to late 70's, then again in the mid 80's.
He stayed on as an anchor and reporter after Jim Forsythe took over in 1986.
George was old-school all the way. He was a top personality on KAAY-AM in Little Rock for two decades before WOAI.
He was gruff but true-blue. I learned more from him in one hour than I learned from years of schooling.
George told me last year he was doing overnight news on KKYX. His health worsened, he went into hospice care, and finally passed last week. We won't see the likes of him this way again.
g

 

[nuzchick]

:'(
George Jennings was the prototype gruff old bear newsman, but he was always a teddy bear to me. When it came to teaching new reporters, if he felt you had an honest interest in learning (and weren't just sucking up), George would move heaven and earth to help you (while always maintaining his I'm going to eat you Goldielocks demeanour).
Thank to George, I'm never without a back-up story in my rat hole file and so much less tolerant of 12-year-old reporters. Godspeed, George.