American Decades
Savitch, Jessica 1943-1983
TELEVISION NEWS ANCHOR
Recognized Personality.
When Jessica Savitch died in 1983 she was one of the most recognized news personalities in America and a frequent anchorwoman for NBC Nightly News. Yet few Americans knew of the personal problems that plagued her until reports and biographies began to appear after her death. Her life was a tragic illustration of the stresses that can accompany celebrity in the competitive television industry.
Beginnings.
Savitch was raised in New Jersey, the daughter of a clothing merchant whose untimely death traumatized the girl as a teenager. She began working for a local radio station while a sophomore in high school and majored in communications at Ithaca College in New York. Savitch gained her first television experience on the campus station in the mid 1960s; from the start she showed an affinity for the camera that promised a bright future in the medium. She was...
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1980's Media
