Golden Girl
Jessica Savitch was a popular news anchor in the late 70s-early 80s until her untimely death from being trapped in an over turned station wagon that had ended up in a canal in New Hope, PA. Personally, I can't go in that area without thinking about Philly's very own 'Golden Girl'.
The tv movie about Ms. Savitch (1995) starring Sela Ward was on Lifetime this morning. She really was a wonderful news anchor and I remember admiring her when she anchored in Philly and was not surprised when she went on to national fame.
I know of the house in Kennett Square where Ms. Savitch lived with her family before her father died and her mom moved the family to Margate, NJ. For some reason I thought she went to Kennett High School, so I guess I just forgot that she moved away from here when she was about 12. I am sure she used the same building as Sean if she didn't go to Catholic school. I'll have to look in her bio sometime. She's like one of this area's most famous residences, right up there with the Wyeths. I am sure she traveled down our road many a time.
Jessica Savitch-gone 22 yrs. It's hard to believe.
"A native of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Jessica Savitch began her broadcasting career at age 14, working on a radio rock show for teenagers. While earning her degree in the television-radio department at Ithaca College, she was an announcer for the College’s television station, WICB, and worked in radio at Rochester’s WBBF. After graduating in 1968, she joined WCBS radio in New York City. She moved to television at KHOU in Houston and in 1972 became the news anchor at KYW-TV in Philadelphia."
The tv movie about Ms. Savitch (1995) starring Sela Ward was on Lifetime this morning. She really was a wonderful news anchor and I remember admiring her when she anchored in Philly and was not surprised when she went on to national fame.
I know of the house in Kennett Square where Ms. Savitch lived with her family before her father died and her mom moved the family to Margate, NJ. For some reason I thought she went to Kennett High School, so I guess I just forgot that she moved away from here when she was about 12. I am sure she used the same building as Sean if she didn't go to Catholic school. I'll have to look in her bio sometime. She's like one of this area's most famous residences, right up there with the Wyeths. I am sure she traveled down our road many a time.
Jessica Savitch-gone 22 yrs. It's hard to believe.
posted by Dianne @ 2:30 PM
1comments:
At 3:06 AM,
gigitom said…
Why is it that I remember Jessica Savitch's updates so well--even her voice--to this day? Eight months pregnant in a new city, my husband working second shift for McDonnell-Douglas...I had TV. I remember watching Donna Peskow in "Angie", and I remember Jessica's sign-off, always with the same sort of reassurance Walter Cronkite had--but in a woman. I've seen the "meltdown", but only after the fact. Perhaps you had to see it live to get the full effect, because I didn't think it was the horror we've learned it to be in retrospect. (I've seen plenty of live network flubs. When viewing Jessica's for the first time, I sat my daughter down to watch it with me, as I expected something unusual that she would remember...a cautionary tale. But neither of us thought it particularly spectacular.)
Still, why do I remember Jessica Savitch so well, down to the timbre of her voice? It's as if she haunts me in some way. The only connection I have with her are those lonely nights, waiting for my first-born, alone with her voice.
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