Longest-serving local news anchor likely Washington’s most-watched
In a city of news junkies and scores of high-profile figures in politics and in the media, the most-watched journalist in Washington may well have been Jim Vance. For more than 45 years at WRC-TV (Channel 4), he was the region’s longest-serving television news anchor. He became a public figure in his own right and gained broad sympathy for his openness about his struggles with drugs and depression.
Vance, who was 75, died Saturday. No further details were provided. He had announced his diagnosis with cancer earlier this year.
James Howard Vance III was born Jan. 11, 1942, in Ardmore, Pa., outside Philadelphia. He spent three years as a high school English teacher in Philadelphia, quitting out of frustration with what he called “the stupidity of the administrators.” Searching for work, he went to an employment agency, which had a listing for a job at a Philadelphia TV station.
He knew nothing about television and botched his audition but was hired anyway as a reporter.
After three years, Vance ascended to the anchor’s chair in 1972, putting him in the first wave of black news anchors in major news markets. He also delivered pointed commentaries, often on sensitive racial topics.
Vance sat alongside a revolving cast of co-anchors and was often second or third in the local ratings until he teamed with Doreen Gentzler in 1989. Together, they vaulted Channel 4 to the top of the local ratings and stayed there for more than 25 years.