Ron Cochran

ABC News anchor Ron Cochran reporting on November 22, 1963 the official announcement of the death of President John F. Kennedy.

Ron Cochran (September 20, 1912 – July 25, 1994) was a television news journalist for ABC and CBS. He served as the anchor of the ABC Evening News (now known as World News) from 1962 to 1964. In November 1963, he served as the network's principal anchor for the around-the-clock coverage of the Kennedy assassination. Before that, he hosted the CBS drama television series Armstrong Circle Theatre.

He was born near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and grew up in Iowa. After graduating from Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa, he worked for radio stations in the Midwest. He then became an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1942 to 1944 before returning to radio, with a station in Boston, in 1945.

He joined CBS in Washington in 1951 and worked in both television and radio. It was in 1954 that he went to WCBS-TV, to reinforce its 11 P.M. news program. He also was the moderator of the CBS-TV programs "Man of the Week," from 1952 to 1954, and "Youth Takes a Stand," from 1954 to 1955, and CBS Radio's "Answer, Please!" from 1958 to 1959.

After moving to ABC, he anchored "The ABC Evening News with Ron Cochran" from 1963 to 1965. He then started Ron Cochran Enterprises, which produced radio and television programs. ^[1]

Despite the rival networks' expansion in 1963 of their evening newscasts to a full half hour, ABC Evening News would run only 15 minutes during Cochran's tenure; the network deferred expansion until Peter Jennings, his successor, took over the anchor's desk for his first stint. He later went to KGO-TV and anchored newscasts with Roger Grimsby.

Cochran died July 25, 1994, aged 81, in Lake Worth, Florida, after a heart attack.^[2]

References

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