The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Fred Walters
May 2010

Fred Walters is a retired journalist who has worked in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York, Detroit and Los Angeles as both reporter and news executive.

A native Philadelphian, he began his career with The Associated Press in that city while still an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to college he served 40 months with the United States Navy.

Besides The Associated Press, he has worked for Metromedia Broadcasting, Westinghouse Broadcasting and ABC.
In July, 1965, he began what was to be a 19-year association with Westinghouse Broadcasting at KYW, WINS (New York), Harrisburg News Bureau and KFWB (Los Angeles). He was the editor on duty when KYW Radio in Philadelphia launched its all-news format on September 21, 1965.

As chief of its Harrisburg bureau in 1968, he won formal recognition for all broadcasters in the rules of the House and Senate governing media access. At KYW, to commemorate the nation’s Bicentennial, he wrote and produced for the Westinghouse stations, in cooperation with the University of Pennsylvania, a series of 12 one-hour programs ("The Course of Human Events") that won the National Headliners Award for 1976.

He has been a member of the Society of Professional Journalists since 1966, and was president of the Greater Philadelphia chapter in 1976-77. He served as chairman of the society’s 1975 national convention, held in Philadelphia.
He also was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents Association, 1957-69 and its president, 1961-63.
Since his retirement in 1997, he has written a book about Col. John Haslet, Delaware’s Revolutionary War hero and patriot, under the title: “John Haslet: A Useful One.”

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com