Longtime news anchor Tetrault dies at 94
Local broadcasting legend Ernie Tetrault, known for stepping out from behind the news anchor desk to make personal connections with the people he covered — from local fire scenes to around-the-world assignments during the Vietnam War — has died at the age of 94.
It helped that he grew up in Troy, had a curious nature and a sense of humor, said those who knew him, including those at television station WRGB, Channel 6, the Niskayuna-based CBS affiliate where he served for years as lead anchor and which reported his death. In ill health recently,
he died on Thursday evening.
Tetrault’s passing comes a little over a year after his longtime on-air partner, Ed Dague, died. He is survived by his wife, Ann, two children and a grandchild, the station reported.
Tetrault started out in radio during World War II as an announcer on WTRY. In 1951, he moved to WRGB, hosting an early morning show called “Home Fare” and serving as the commercial announcer for “Teen Age Barn.”
In the 1970s, he moved to the newsroom, becoming one of the most respected anchors in the market. He retired as a newsman in 1993, but has been seen on television as a pitchman and in other roles since.
“I’m really very grateful to the broadcast industry,” Tetrault told the Times Union in 2006. “It provided for me and my family.”
During his 42 years at WRGB, Tetrault became a familiar presence in Capital Region homes. Tetrault was such a fixture that WRGB asserted he was the longest-tenured anchor in the nation.
The Times Union reported in 1992, “We’ve been claiming that for three or four years, and no one has ever disputed it,” Tetrault said with a trace of pride in his voice. “I don’t think there’s any question about it.”
Tetrault spent years working with Dague before Dague left for television station WNYT’S anchor desk. In his later years at the CBS affiliate, Tetrault teamed with anchor Liz Bishop for the station’s 6 and 11 p.m. news broadcasts which scored high ratings for years. Bishop remains at the station, now known as CBS 6.
“My greatest admiration was for the work that he put on the air. He had this incredible commitment to what he was doing and a lot of it was because he came from this area and he really loved this area. He wanted to see it prosper. Over time, everybody knew him,” Bishop said in an interview Friday.
“He was not just aware of the responsibility of being that person who was in everybody’s home every night, but he really tried to enhance that by doing his best work and reaching out to people,” Bishop said.
When Bishop sat down for the first time to coanchor the evening news with Tetrault, she realized she wasn’t sitting next to just any anchor.
“He was an icon at that point. He could have been so resentful or annoyed that they would place some rank beginner next to him in that chair. He was so gracious and so generous and so funny and smart,” Bishop recalled.
Tetrault taught his new partner at the anchor desk about the importance of curiosity in chasing a story and passion for listening and learning from the people in news stories.
Tetrault covered the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars, interviewed presidents and won acclaim for an investigative series on the homeless in which Tetrault lived on the streets.
Tetrault was one of the co-founders of the Empire State Aerosciences Museum at the Schenectady County Airport in Glenville. He was also instrumental in raising the funds required to get the Concorde, a supersonic airplane, to fly into the airport and land.
Jack Aernecke, a former WRGB colleague, recalled how Tetrault loved the history of flying and had a pilot’s license. During World War II, Tetrault served in the U.S. Navy in the Naval Air Corps. Aernecke joined WRGB in 1972 but remembered that Tretault had historic ties with the nation’s oldest television station and came aboard when families were tuning in for the first time ever.
“Ernie started up there in 1951 and that was the year my parents bought the first TV for our home when I was 6 years old. Then I ended up working with him for 21 years. It was quite a thrill,” Aernecke said.
“He was the veteran. He was helpful, mentoring, always ready to lend a hand. He believed if the team did well, we all did well,” Aernecke said.
Aernecke and Bishop each said Tetrault had a keen sense of humor. Bishop said at times it was hard not to giggle on the set during broadcasts. Then-news director Don Decker even called the anchor duo in to tell them to cut out the laughs. But they quickly returned and never faded.
“When he laughed, his entire body laughed,” Aernecke said. “He had a great sense of humor. He loved planning a joke. He loved a good laugh.”
It was Tetrault’s work that led him to be among the first inductees into the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame, in 2006. His curiosity helped make him a good reporter, Bishop and Aernecke said. Tetrault would ask question after question seeking to learn as much as he could from each experience or interview subject.
“We are proud and honored to have had such a news pioneer working his craft, and mentoring so many other fine journalists, for over four decades here at CBS 6 News,” said Vince Nelson, vice president and general manager of WRGB.
In the years after he retired as a news anchor, Tetrault was the spokesman for the 21 Upstate Ford Dealers. For years, his face and voice were synonymous with Ford vehicles.
Tetrault also starred in at least one movie, playing a news anchor in 1992’s “Sneakers.” The film starred Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier and Dan Aykroyd.
Information about funeral arrangements was not available Friday.