Herring, Charles, 1922-2006

Charles Herring was born on 18 Aug. 1922 and raised on a farm outside of Walla Walla, Wash. Herring attended Washington State University briefly, and graduated from Whitman College in 1941 with a degree in English. While at Whitman, Herring worked for a radio station in Walla Walla, then he served with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific theater during World War II. On his return to Seattle, Herring took a newscasting job at the radio station KJR for two years, before becoming the first news director and anchor at KING-TV Channel 5 in 1951. With his first newscast on the two-year-old KING-TV, on 10 Sept. 1951, Charles Herring became Seattle's first live television news broadcaster. Herring worked for KING-TV for sixteen years, covering stories in Washington State, Alaska and abroad in Europe and Asia. Herring covered memorable Northwest moments such as the historic test flight of the Boeing 707 prototype in July 1954, the riot at the Walla Walla state penitentiary in 1955, and Burt Thomas's swim across the Strait of Juan de Fuca in July 1955. Initially, the entire news department consisted of Herring and a cameraman, and the first newsroom was jury-rigged in an old grocery store on Queen Anne Hill. The crew would create, rehearse, and edit the show in the newsroom then drive to the South Lake Union studio, sometimes arriving minutes before the airtime of the nightly 15-minute newscasts. Herring's broadcasts also marked technological milestones in the fledgling television industry. His Washington, D.C., coverage of the McClellan Committee hearing into the affairs of controversial teamster's president Dave Beck marked the first time Seattleites saw news televised live cross country. Television signals were sent live across the Atlantic for the first time with the coverage of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, beamed to Europe aboard the satellite Telstar. Herring left KING-TV in 1967, and with his wife, Mary Bemus, purchased KAPY-AM in Port Angeles; the couple ran the radio station until 1978. He then worked for Boeing as a video producer until retiring in 1987. Charles Herring died in Seattle on 23 Jan. 2006.

Charles Herring was born on August 18, 1922 and raised on a farm outside of Walla Walla, Washington. Herring attended Washington State University briefly, and graduated from Whitman College in 1941 with a degree in English. While at Whitman, Herring worked for a radio station in Walla Walla, then he served with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific theater during World War II. On his return to Seattle, Herring took a newscasting job at the radio station KJR for two years, before becoming the first news director and anchor at KING-TV Channel 5 in 1951.

With his first newscast on the two-year-old KING-TV, on September 10, 1951, Charles Herring became Seattle’s first live television news broadcaster. Herring worked for KING-TV for 16 years, covering stories in Washington State, Alaska and abroad in Europe and Asia. Herring covered memorable Northwest moments such as the historic test flight of the Boeing 707 prototype in July 1954, the riot at the Walla Walla state penitentiary in 1955, and Burt Thomas’s swim across the Strait of Juan de Fuca in July 1955. Initially, the entire news department consisted of Herring and a cameraman, and the first newsroom was jury-rigged in an old grocery store on Queen Anne Hill. The crew would create, rehearse and edit the show in the newsroom then drive to the South Lake Union studio, sometimes arriving minutes before the airtime of the nightly 15-minute newscasts.

Herring’s broadcasts also marked technological milestones in the fledgling television industry. His Washington, D.C. coverage of the McClellan Committee hearing into the affairs of controversial teamster's president Dave Beck marked the first time Seattleites saw news televised live cross country; TV signals were sent live across the Atlantic for the first time with the coverage of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, beamed to Europe aboard the satellite Telstar.

Herring left KING-TV in 1967, and with his wife, Mary Bemus, purchased KAPY-AM in Port Angeles; the couple ran the radio station until 1978. He then worked for Boeing as a video producer until retiring in 1987.

Charles Herring died in Seattle on January 23, 2006.