Harry Porterfield (August 29, 1928 – October 23, 2023) was an American news anchor for

WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's CBS network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington St ...

Life and career

Porterfield was born in

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in Saginaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. It had a population of 44,202 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along the Saginaw River, Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township, ...

, and began his career in 1955, working as a disc jockey for WKNX. Porterfield began working at WBBM in 1964 as a news writer. Porterfield left WBBM in 1985 for

WLS-TV WLS-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's ABC network outlet. It has been owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division since the station's inception. ...

, where he worked for 24 years, but returned to WBBM in 2009 as the 11 a.m. news anchor. In December 2015, Porterfield announced his retirement. While working for both WBBM and WLS, Porterfield was known for his "Someone You Should Know" segments.

CBS Boycott

In 1985, Porterfield was demoted from his job as anchorman at CBS affiliate WBBM to reporter when former anchorman

Bill Kurtis Bill Kurtis (born William Horton Kuretich; September 21, 1940) is a retired American television journalist, television producer, narrator, and news anchor. Kurtis was studying to become a lawyer in the 1960s, when he was asked to fill in on a ...

returned to the station and was given his old time slot and position back. As a result, Porterfield resigned from WBBM and moved to the ABC affiliate WLS. This resulted in a 10-month boycott of CBS led by

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American Civil rights movements, civil rights activist, Politics of the United States, politician, and ordained Baptist minister. Beginning as a ...

and Operation PUSH.

Death

Harry Porterfield died on October 23, 2023, at the age of 95.

Awards

Porterfield won eleven

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

, a Studs Terkel Award, and the

Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award The Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award honors excellence in broadcast and digital journalism in the public service and is considered one of the most prestigious awards in journalism. The awards were established in 1942 and administered ...

. Porterfield also received the Legacy of Leadership Award at the Indiana University Neal-Marshall Eleventh Annual Alumni Graduation Reception.

References

1928 births 2023 deaths People from Saginaw, Michigan Eastern Michigan University alumni DePaul University alumni 20th-century American journalists {{US-journalist-1920s-stub