Brought his mic — and so much more

DECADES BEFORE every Mary, Joe and Harry had a camera and a microphone in their pockets and the ability to broadcast news or nothing burgers to the world, there was Gabe Pressman.

Pressman, the legendary WNBC newsman who died Friday at 93, was one of the city’s first roving TV reporters and a singular force in local news.

While other journalists were still scribbling quotes in their notebooks or reading wire stories to their producers and editors, Pressman — a rumpled and pushy journalist, beloved for his everyman, middle-class broadcasting style — had already shoved a microphone into a newsmaker’s face and gotten it all on tape.

He did all his own reporting and — across a broadcasting career that spanned more than 60 years — covered countless news stories.

He grilled Fidel Castro, wooed Marilyn Monroe, talked music with Elvis, politics with Robert Kennedy and civil rights with Malcolm X and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Pressman was there when the Beatles landed at Kennedy Airport in 1964, and when the blackout in 1977 plunged the city into darkness and chaos.

He covered the first World Trade Center attack, in 1993, and was there again on Sept. 11, 2001, after terrorists brought down the buildings and killed nearly 3,000 people.

Even at age 93, Pressman didn’t stop.

This past March, he was on the street again to cover the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. As always, he had his microphone in his hand.

Countless politicians were his guests on WNBC’s “News Forum” that aired on Sundays.

He could be found over the years moderating political debates — including a singularly great one between Senate candidates Al D’Amato and Chuck Schumer — along with town hall meetings and even an occasional argument on the street.

And as always, he had his microphone.