New York lost yet another of our great newscasters yesterday when Bill Beutel, host of WABC's nightly newscast for more than 30 years, passed away in his Pinehurst, N.C., house. He was 75.
A winner of several Emmy awards and a Peabody, Beutel worked his magic in radio and television, even hosting "AM America" the show which became "Good Morning America." After a stint as ABC's London bureau chief he took over the local anchor desk for ABC in 1970. He stepped down in 2001.
Gothamist always used to watch his newscasts when we still watched local newscasts and Beutel always seemed like a stand-up guy. Our condolences go out to his family.
