How on earth could Jim Boyd be 66 years old? The WCVB-TV (Channel 5) anchor is retiring, according to the Boston Herald’s Jessica Heslam.
“I see this less as a retirement and more as a transition,” Boyd says in a Channel 5 press release. “I plan to remain intimately involved in the local community and explore interests that the demands of a full-time career didn’t allow.”
Boyd harks back to a different, better era for local television news. He and his quiet competence will be missed.
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Right on, vis-a-vis Jim Boyd and the better era of local TV news. I remember watching “Eyeopener News” as a kid getting ready for school, digging Boyd, Bob Clinkscale and the others (including Ann McIntyre, I believe, who signed the news for the deaf).You look back at the news and programs Channel 5 produced or aired, from “Good Morning” (later “Good Day”) to “Jabberwocky” and you realize there was a time when broadcast television didn’t exist merely to insult the intelligence of its viewers. Sorry to sound like a curmudgeon, but where is that ethos today?Anyway, Jim Boyd was competent and super-cool on the news. Thanks for honoring him.
What Dan and io saturnalia! just said about Jim Boyd and the better era for local TV news. Agreed.I also share the views of "Peggy" who left this comment on Jessica Heslam's story in the Herald: "He was the reason I watched channel 5. He reported the news in a professional manner and with class unlike the egomaniacs we have to put up with today who think the anchor desk is their stage and it's all about them. Sorry to see Jim go." Exactly!Like or loathe Bill O'Reilly, I remember a line from one his books when he discussed his years as a local news anchor, including an awkward three-way anchor desk shared with Chet & Nat at ch.5. If I remember right, O'Reilly lamented the fakery of the on-air idle banter between anchors (not necessarily Chet & Nat) and the "toss" to weather or sports, etc. As Boyd retires amidst a snowstorm, that fakery between the anchors and meteoroligists is magnified ten-fold, "Will the snow EVER stop, Kevin? Hehehehe!" Boyd was the antithesis of this nonsense and I hope in retirement he considers teaching a class or two to aspiring anchors. God knows they would do well to adopt his serious take on things. Good luck and God bless, Jim Boyd.
Fish: I remember O’Reilly doing a little bit of commentary on Channel 5, to less than rave reviews.Do you personally remember O’Reilly sharing the anchor desk with Chet and Nat? If not, then I think there’s a chance he’s hallucinating.
Dan, I remember O’Reilly’s local stint more for his time at channel 7 with Susan Burke and Zip Rzeppa on sports. I know exactly where O’Reilly’s book is in my basement, and with the weather the way it is, I’m going to dig it out and get the exact quote. Again, I think he was referring to local TV news in general, not just in Boston, but I will double check and get back to you.
“Will the snow EVER stop, Kevin? Hehehehe!”Fish: Your line about the fakery of the idle banter among the news readers in the local news hits the nail right on the head. I especially like your shallow ‘hehehehe’. It may be one of my top 3 complaints about the local news productions. I thought ‘happy talk’ was discredited back in the days of Tom Ellis. Sad to say, this issue doesn’t even begin to address all the gripes I have aboutthe local news.
The Ellis-Pepper bandwagon was the beginning of the end.
I am sorry I am so ignorant of how to include a link in my comments, but I want to point out an interesting piece (by Frank Rich) on the local news anchor I grew up listening to (Jim Jensen) — speaks a little to some of the points being raised here.http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940CE2D91F39F931A35752C0A9669C8B63
Wow. I remember watching Jim Boyd growing up. Especially on Saturdays after cartoons: Jabberwocky, Captain Bob, Superfriends, etc. My my, has time flied by. So sad to see him go Best wishes Jim. Thanks for your contribution to broadcast journalism.
A gentleman and a fine newscaster!
I remember Jim Boyd also covering the first “big” news story I ever covered. It was an Air New England plane crash in Yarmouth late one night back in 1979. While I never worked with him directly, our paths crossed from time to time at various news events at the Statehouse and around Boston. A true gentleman on and off the air. Best of luck, Jim, in the next phase of your career!