Linda Yu (born December 1, 1946) is a Chinese-American former news anchor and author. Yu is best known as co-anchor on the Eyewitness newscast 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. ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

from April 1984 until November 2016. Yu became Chicago's first Asian–American broadcast journalist when she began her news career in Chicago at

WMAQ-TV WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo station WSNS-TV (chann ...

in 1979. For her broadcasting work, Yu has received a total of five local Emmy Awards including one for her report examining the aftermath of

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in 2001. In 1984, Yu was honored with a National Gold Medal from the National Conference of Community and Justice for her documentary, "The Scars of Belfast".

Biography

Early life and education

Originally from

Xian Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, Yu moved to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

with her family at the age of three, later migrating to the United States in 1951. Upon arriving in the States, Yu spoke only

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

; knowing just two words of English ("hello" and "thank you"). Yu and her family lived in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

for four years and

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

for two, finally settling in California when Yu was 12 years old. Yu graduated from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism in 1968.

Career

Yu's began her career in broadcasting in 1970 where she became a writer and producer for

KTLA-TV KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is the ...

in Los Angeles and then as a writer for ABC O&O

KABC-TV KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station mai ...

also in Los Angeles. In early 1975, Yu moved to Portland, Oregon where she had a brief stint as a reporter for

KATU-TV KATU (channel 2) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside La Grande–licensed independent station KUNP, channel 16 (which KATU simulcasts on its sec ...

. After a few months in Oregon, Yu moved back to California where she landed a job as general assignment reporter and back-up anchor for ABC O&O

KGO-TV KGO-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been owned and operated by the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network through its ABC Owne ...

in San Francisco, where she worked until 1979. In August 1977, A news report Yu did helped with the introduction of state legislation to protect residents from uninsured motorists. Yu moved to Chicago in early 1979 and started working at

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

in June of that year. Yu began her career at the station as a general assignment reporter and weekend co-anchor. By February 1980, Yu began working as co-anchor on the 4:30 and 10PM newscasts alongside Ron Magers. In May 1981, Yu received an Emmy award for a special newscast on the March 30, 1981 assassination attempt on President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

. Yu received a second Emmy award the following year for her report and coverage of a construction accident in Chicago's downtown Loop. Beginning in November 1983, Yu became disturbed with WMAQ-TV's management, ending her five-year career with the station in March 1984. In April 1984, Yu joined the

(ABC 7 Chicago) station as co-anchor of the station's 4PM newscast mostly alongside news anchor

Joel Daly Joel Daly (August 21, 1934October 22, 2020) was an American news anchor, most known for serving as an anchor for WLS-TV (an ABC-affiliate) in Chicago, Illinois, for 38 years from 1967 to 2005. Daly served as co-anchor on the 4 pm news broadcast a ...

until his retirement in 2005. Yu also served as co-anchor for the 30-minute 11:30AM newscast alongside

Sylvia Perez Sylvia E. Perez (born November 17, 1961) is an American news anchor. Based in Chicago, Perez currently anchors the weekday editions and special segments of ''Good Day Chicago'' on WFLD-TV (FOX 32) since October 2016. Early Career A graduate of ...

, beginning in 1992 until the now hour-long 11AM newscast was canceled in 2013. In 1987, Yu received the Emmy for Outstanding Achievement within a Regularly Scheduled News Program, Spot Coverage. Yu and Perez were the first women in the Chicago market to co-anchor a newscast.

Retirement

On September 6, 2016, Yu announced her retirement from WLS-TV and TV news after 46 years in news and 37 years in the Chicago market. Yu's last news broadcast was November 23 at 4PM. Earlier in the day, Windy City Live (an ABC 7 program) aired a tribute show to Yu where her friends, family, co-workers and former co-workers reviewed and celebrated her career as well as her personal contributions to the city.

Personal

Yu married Dr. Richard Baer, a psychiatrist, on June 12, 1982 at St. James Cathedral in Chicago. Shortly after their wedding, Yu and Baer were involved in an auto accident while on their honeymoon in southern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

; which resulted in Baer being hospitalized due to a mild concussion. Yu has two children, a son Ricky (b. July 1985) and a daughter, Francesca (b. February 1989). Yu and Baer divorced in 1996. In January 2014, Yu broke her leg in a motor vehicle accident.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yu, Linda Living people American television journalists American women television journalists Television anchors from Chicago Television anchors from San Francisco American journalists of Chinese descent 1946 births USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism alumni 21st-century American women