I t has been five years since I retired
from WTVT in 2014, ending
50 years in broadcast journalism.
As I look back on notable events
that took me out of the mountains
of southwest Virginia and at how
I got rid of a country accent, I see
what led me to become one of the
top local television news anchors
in the country. My journey began
in a small radio station in my
hometown of Big Stone Gap with
the unlikely call letters of WLSD.
From there, I went on to network
television and primetime news
anchor jobs in five cities and one
foreign country.
Looking back on it, it has been
a career that carried me to various
parts of the world and brought me
face to face with some of the most
famous and infamous characters of
the day, such as our most adversarial
international opponent in Moscow,
who I met during a trip to Russia.
His name is Vladimir Putin.
My visit with President Ronald
Reagan was a White House strategy to
upstage network news organizations
and deal with an antagonistic press
corps. I spoke with Bush, Baker,
Meese, Brady, Powell, Gergen, Haig and
others, but was not allowed to quote them
directly.
When Pope John Paul II was in Miami
for an outdoor church service, a bolt of
lightning zipped past a towering metal
cross and hit the bleachers where I was
with the news media. Fortunately, nobody
was hurt, but it got our attention.
My most dramatic journey of all was
to Omaha Beach for the 50th anniversary
of D-Day, a place in France where my
Uncle Quentin Wilson was nearly killed
MY LIFE
By John Wilson
leading 30 assault boats for the invasion
of Normandy during WWII.
There was also a heartbreaking story
in Romania about banned abortions and
countless orphaned children that earned
me a trip to the hospital to repair a ruptured
disc. I hurt myself while carrying a child
in the airport on the way to unite the child
with foster parents in Tampa.
Operation Desert Storm drew me to the
Middle East to meet with one of the most
popular U.S. Army generals in history,
Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, who asked for
144 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019
help with media coverage because
of what he had been through with
the media in Vietnam.
My Cuba experience turned into
a threatening trip memory because
of the Cuban authorities who didn’t
want my crew and me there without
close supervision. We became the
target of Cuban police, who I believe
stole our equipment, including a
passport for one of my crew. That
required a trip to the Swiss Embassy
to get us home.
The blockade of Haiti put me on
board a U.S. Navy destroyer that
was stopping and searching inbound
ships. Then there were political
conventions in various cities. But the
most numbing event of all was the
execution of Ted Bundy, one of the
worst serial killers in history, where
I sat in the front row and watched.
However, it was 30 years of
orchestra concerts with my dear
wife, Mary K Wilson, that shaped
my life in Tampa Bay, where we
were onstage together, performing
for audiences, including thousands
of school children.
I survived many challenging
predicaments because I was raised
and grounded by loving parents, earned a
college degree, had a soulful relationship
with my musically gifted wife, and
fathered three exceptional sons: Paul, Mark
and Patrick, who are all talented musicians,
writers, actors, producers and parents.
I could not be more thankful. But it really
is five years since I retired. Time does fly. 9
EDITOR’S NOTE: John Wilson, who retired
from Fox TV in 2014, worked more than 50 years
in radio and television news broadcasting.
COMMAERNTTARY
John Wilson
My career has sent me to
various parts of the world and
brought me face to face with
some of the most famous and
infamous characters of our day.