Jim Williams (born February 4, 1957) is a weekday 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 ...

in Chicago.

Early life and education

A native of Chicago's South Side, Williams graduated from Kenwood High School in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. He earned a bachelor's degree in media management from Columbia College in Chicago.

Professional career

Williams began his broadcasting career in 1977 as a part-time news film librarian at

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...

in Chicago. Over the years, he was promoted to be a writer, producer and eventually, a reporter at

in Chicago. In 1988, he was formally promoted from a newswriter and program producer to being an on-air general-assignment reporter. In all, Williams spent 15 years at WGN before leaving the station for a job in city government in 1992. From 1992 until 1997, Williams was the press secretary for Chicago Mayor

Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh ter ...

, helping to create city government's first television magazine show, called "Chicago Works!" and also representing the city during the 1996 Democratic National Convention. In June 1997, Williams joined

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

as a Chicago-based correspondent. In 2000, Williams was a finalist to replace Lester Holt as a principal news anchor at WBBM-TV, according to a November 15, 2002 article in the Chicago Sun-Times. Williams left ABC News in June 2001 as part of a companywide downsizing. In late 2001, Williams rejoined WGN-TV as a free-lance, per diem reporter. He remained in that position until 2002. In December 2002, Williams joined WBBM-TV as a general assignment reporter. He became a weekend morning news anchor at WBBM in mid-2003. He became the station's weekend evening news anchor in January 2006. He briefly became a weekday morning news anchor in 2008, but in September 2008 returned to co-anchoring weekend evenings with

Mai Martinez Mai Martinez (born December 16, 1973) is an American news anchor and reporter. She is the co-anchor of the morning news on WBBM (AM) Newsradio 780 AM and 105.9 FM, with Cisco Cotto. She is a reporter for the all-news radio station. Early life a ...

. On December 16, 2021, WBBM-TV announced that Williams and Marie Saavedra will co-anchor their new 4 pm hour-long newscast which will debut on January 24, 2022.

Personal

Williams is married to Joyce Williams and has a daughter, Christina.

References

External links

WBBM-TV Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Jim Living people Television anchors from Chicago American television reporters and correspondents 1957 births American male journalists