KYW EYEWITNESS NEWS TEAM

“Writing a book about creating the Eyewitness News concept was a great opportunity to look back over my fifty years working in Journalism.  It was also a chance to remember all the wonderful times I had with my family growing up in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Ohio, Philadelphia, PA and finally Old Greenwich, CT.  There were moments of great joy and also great sorrow.  Television news is an intense business and requires total concentration to advance.  Sometimes, your family suffers because you can not be there.  It’s fantastic to cover space shots or go to the MIddle East, Europe, Tokyo and other exotic places in the world but those are times that keep you away from family.  As I grow older, I realize family is the most important thing in life and steps should be taken to balance work and family time.  I wrote Eyewitness Newsman so the world would have a record of this important achievement which advanced journalism and made many more average people understand issues important to their lives.  A comfortable newscast to watch brought more people to television news and let them understand that other people have some of the same problems and successes they have.  Eyewitness News always focused on the human drama in a story.  We always tried to make sure the people had a voice on the newscast.  It was also important to me to have a good ethnic mix of reporters on the program.  This gave the audience a chance to see people from their own background reporting the news and being a part of the newsteam that brought important stories into their homes.  It has been a wonderful life and I hope to continue to work contributing to news coverage and programming to the people.”

Al Primo was honored on June5, 2008 for his dedication to journalism and to his newfound mission of producing news programming for young people.

As “the guy who invented Eyewitness News” Al made the revolutionary decision to move reporters into the studio and onto the set, which created an on-screen melting pot reflecting the image of the community as people of color were put at the newsdesk in front of the camera.  He is responsible for giving many media stars their first break, including:  Geraldo Rivera, Tom Snyder, Rosanne Scamardella, and Jim Bouton, to name a few.

Al continues this legacy today through his founding of the Education Television Fund and the syndicated program Teen Kids News, now watched by 8 million young people at home and in schools.

I have been working on this book for the last 20 years and it will finally be published in November, 2008.  It is the history of Eyewitness News and a survival guide to working in broadcast journalism.  It all started in August, 1953 when I got a job in the mailroom of WDTV, Channel 3, a DuMont television station which called itself, “Pittsburgh’s window on the world.”  That was 55 years ago, if you’re counting.

It is a tribute to all the men and women with whom I’ve worked over the last half century who helped create the news concept which changed the face of broadcast journalism.  Many of those people continue to work in the industry and influence all we see on television and now the Internet.  Many others are teaching at colleges and universities around the world.  A number of them have reminded me that unless it is written down it is not remembered or didn’t even happen.

The book is completed and is starting the press run in a few weeks.  The publishing industry, like most media, is in great turmoil and the rules have changed dramatically.  I have decided to make the book available to students and others at an affordable price on this web site and, of course, Amazon.com.  Thank you for your support and Iook forward to your comments.

Al Primo