William G. Hemmer (born November 14, 1964) is an American journalist, currently the co-anchor of ''
America's Newsroom'' on the
Fox News Channel
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
, based in
New York City.
Early life and education
On November 14, 1964, Hemmer was born in
Cincinnati,
Ohio, the son of William "Bill" Ronald Hemmer, a retired mattress manufacturing-company executive, and Georganne Mary (née Knittle) Hemmer, a homemaker.
He is the middle child and second son of the Hemmers' five children.
Hemmer attended
Our Lady of Victory Catholic parochial school before graduating from
Elder High School in Cincinnati
in 1983.
During his senior year, Hemmer and a friend started a radio program, playing fifteen minutes of music before classes began. He credits this time as beginning of his interest for broadcasting.
Hemmer holds a
Bachelor of Arts degree in
broadcast journalism from
Miami University, located in
Oxford, Ohio. While at Miami University, he joined
Delta Tau Delta fraternity and studied in Europe at the
Miami University Dolibois European Center, which was then located in
Luxembourg City,
Luxembourg.
Career
Early career
He started in sports production at WLWT-TV in the mid-1980s where he realized his passion for live television. During his senior year at Miami University, Hemmer was offered a position at
WLWT-TV as a sports producer. Soon after, he went to the CBS affiliate
WCPO-TV as a sports anchor.
At age 26, Hemmer took a nearly year-long hiatus from WCPO-TV to backpack around the world.
Throughout the journey, Hemmer wrote dispatches and submitted tapes and photos for both ''
The Cincinnati Post'', a now defunct local newspaper, and CBS's local affiliate that were assembled into several pieces collectively known as "Bill's Excellent Adventure."
The program won him two regional Emmys, Best Entertainment Program and Best Host.
CNN
Hemmer worked at
CNN from 1995 to 2005, hosting a number of programs, including ''
American Morning
''American Morning'' was an American three-hour morning television news program that aired on CNN from 2001 to 2011. ''American Morning'' debuted with anchors Paula Zahn and Anderson Cooper on the day after the September 11 attacks, five months e ...
'' (originally with
Paula Zahn, and later with
Soledad O'Brien), ''
CNN Tonight'', ''CNN Early Edition'', ''CNN Morning News'', and ''CNN Live Today'' with co-anchor
Daryn Kagan.
In May 2001, Hemmer played an instrumental role in the network's coverage of the Timothy McVeigh execution, reporting from Terre Haute, Indiana, where McVeigh was put to death for his part in the Oklahoma City bombing.
He reported from World Trade Center site in New York City for a month in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and from Khandahar, Afghanistan during the buildup of American forces in the early days of The War on Terror.
In the summer of 2002, Hemmer reported live from Somerset, Pennsylvania, on the mining accident that trapped nine workers for 77 hours when a wall separating their tunnel from an abandoned,
flooded mine gave way, sending millions of gallons of water into their work area.
In 2003, Hemmer traveled to
Kuwait to report on escalating tensions in
Iraq and remained on-site to cover
Operation Iraqi Freedom
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
when the war began.
He also spent more than a month covering the crisis in Kosovo, where he reported on the aerial bombing missions from Aviano Air Base in Italy, the refugee crisis from Skopje, Macedonia, and on the latest NATO developments from Brussels.
Fox News
Hemmer joined Fox News in August 2005. In 2020, he hosted a weekday afternoon newscast ''
Bill Hemmer Reports
''Bill Hemmer Reports'' was an American television news/opinion/Talk show, talk program on Fox News Channel hosted by Bill Hemmer. Episodes aired at 3 p.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET on Monday through Friday. The show focused on the day's events with i ...
'' and served as Chief Anchor for breaking news and other live major events.
Prior to that, he was the founding morning co-anchor of ''
America's Newsroom''. He participated in the network's coverage of
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
and
Hurricane Rita
Hurricane Rita was the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico and the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. Part of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which included three of the top ten L ...
.
During the war between Israel and
Hezbollah
Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...
in Lebanon during the summer of 2006, Hemmer reported from the front-lines in the town of Metula in Northern Israel.
Throughout the 2008, 2012 and 2016 election seasons, Hemmer covered the political party conventions from their respective cities—including the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary. His “BillBoard” on Election Nights is designed to bring data to viewers, capturing the vote in real time from precincts across the country.
Hemmer was the network's lead reporter and anchor from the
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in
Newtown, Connecticut
Newtown is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is part of the Greater Danbury metropolitan area as well as the New York metropolitan area. Newtown was founded in 1705, and later incorporated in 1711. As of the 2020 censu ...
, as well as the site of the
Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013.
In July 2018, Hemmer traveled to Helsinki, Finland, to report on President Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In 2019, Hemmer covered February's nuclear summit between President Trump and Chairman
Kim Jong-un
Kim Jong-un (; , ; born 8 January 1982) is a North Korean politician who has been Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is a son of Kim Jong-il, who was North Korea's sec ...
from Hanoi, Vietnam, concluding that assignment at the DMZ in South Korea.
He also had the first interview with then-Attorney General
William Barr when he traveled to El Salvador after the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on the Russia Investigation in May.
In 2021, Fox News announced a new weekday programming lineup, moving Hemmer back to ''
America's Newsroom'' with co-anchor
Dana Perino.
Following the departure of long-time anchor, Chris Wallace, in January 2022, Bill Hemmer has also been regularly standing in as the host for Fox News Sunday, its flagship weekend interview program.
Personal life
Hemmer is
Roman Catholic.
Bill Hemmer started dating model Dara Tomanovich in 2005. They separated in 2013.
He has returned to Cincinnati each year to host the George Knittle Memorial Bayley Place Golf Classic named in honor of his grandfather, George Francis Knittle, which benefits Bayley Senior Living.[ Mr. Knittle died at the age of 100 on August 26, 2003.
In 2008, Hemmer also was the honorary chair of the Ohio River Valley chapter for the arthritis walk.
He is a supporter of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.][
In April 2013, Hemmer spent a week at the Vatican moderating the Second Annual Adult Stem Cell Research Conference and in May of the same year served as the keynote speaker at Miami University, Oxford's Farmer school of Business' commencement.
Hemmer, along with two fellow Miami University graduates, established the MUDEC scholarship in honor of the long-time service of Dr. ]Emile Haag
Emile Haag (born 24 July 1942) is a Luxembourgish historian, trade unionist and former principal of the Athénée de Luxembourg. Since 1987 he has been the national president of the confederation of government employees, a Luxembourgish trade union ...
to the Miami University Dolibois European Center and awarded to a student seeking financial assistance to attend school in Luxembourg.
In 2013, Hemmer was the recipient of the Elder High School Professional Distinction award.
See also
* List of CNN anchors
* List of ''The Daily Show'' guests
* List of Delta Tau Delta members
Below is a list of notable members of Delta Tau Delta fraternity.
Current government officials
Governors
* Texas Governor Greg Abbott
* Montana Governor Greg Gianforte
U.S. Senators
* Delaware Senator Thomas R. Carper
U.S. Representatives
...
* List of Miami University people
* New Yorkers in journalism
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hemmer, Bill
1964 births
Living people
American broadcast news analysts
American Roman Catholics
American television news anchors
American television reporters and correspondents
CNN people
Elder High School alumni
Emmy Award winners
Fox News people
Miami University alumni
Television personalities from Cincinnati
21st-century American journalists