I ‘ran’ for three offices: mayor, county executive and chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court,” says Stovall. “It was a weeklong program where class officers from across the state gathered and learned the process of running a mock state government to help us effectively run student governments at our high schools. He won the election and was sent that summer to be a delegate at the Arizona Boys’ State program. He knew he’d have to give a campaign speech and thought it would be a good exercise to help him overcome stage fright. In 1970, Stovall decided to run for class president for his upcoming high school senior year. A teenage Stovall found himself part of the first wave of African Americans to get their foot in the door.
NEWS ANCHOR RETIRES TV
“As communities across America started going up in flames, white reporters didn’t feel ‘safe’ going into the Black community to cover the stories, so stations recruited reporters from Black newspapers or radio stations to cover the story.” At that time, the Federal Communications Commission started requiring TV stations to diversify their staffs, with station owners facing hefty fines or loss of licenses if they didn’t comply. Stovall noticed a shift after King was assassinated in 1968.
Broadcasting in America was a ‘closed’ industry for Blacks and minorities.” There were no African Americans as well as no women, Hispanics, Asians or Native Americans. “As a Black child growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, all I saw on TV were white males: Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, John Chancellor. Even though he regularly watched the news in his youth, he did not envision himself working in broadcasting. Two years later, Stan broke the glass ceiling in Arizona broadcasting-a surprise even to him. A year later, his father joined the police academy and became one of the first Black officers in the area.
After picketing the store, she became the first Black clerk in downtown Phoenix. In 1967, racial prejudice denied his mother a job at Woolworths. Stovall’s family was active in trying to bring about social change as he was growing up in Arizona. “My Aunt Ruby taught Sunday school to the four little girls who were killed in the bombing.” “The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, that was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1963 was my father’s family church,” says Stovall. and the fight for civil rights,” recalls Stovall. I started watching newscasts when I was about 10 so I could keep up with what was going on with Dr. “My family transplanted to Phoenix, Arizona, when I was 8 years old. Stovall, 69, originally hails from Rochester, New York. All the while, the remarkable events of his own life-from youth to adulthood-could easily fill a book. For nearly 40 of those years, he’s brought Baltimore viewers the news they discuss at family tables and debate with co-workers. This year, Stan Stovall of WBAL-TV 11 News will retire after 52½ years in the industry.
The stories he’s told echo community and conversation, themes of triumph and tragedy. He’s made history and witnessed history being made across the nation and around the world. His career has taken him overseas to Burma and Ukraine and nationally from Phoenix to Philadelphia. Stan Stovall, WBAL-TV 11 News | Photo: David Stuck
0 kommentar(er)
