Bill Kuster (May 9, 1930 – August 12, 2006) was an American television

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

. He was a weather forecaster at KYW-TV in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

from 1963 to 1979 and

KUSA Kusa or KUSA may refer to: * Kusa, Russia, a town in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia * Kusa, Latvia, a village in Madona District, Latvia * Kusa, Oklahoma, United States * Kusa, indigenous name of Beles River (in Gumuz language) * Kusa, Afghanistan ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

from 1979 to 1996.

Biography

Early life and education

William E. Kuster was born on May 9, 1930, in Fernville, Pennsylvania. The Kuster family later moved to Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, where he briefly attended

Bloomsburg State College Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania (Bloomsburg, BU or Bloom) is a campus of Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania and it is located in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). The ...

. He served for four years in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

during the Korean War before earning a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1956 from Pennsylvania State University.

Career

Bill Kuster's broadcast career began with a six-month period at

WARM (AM) WARM (590 AM) is a radio station licensed to the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and serving the Scranton-Wilkes Barre radio market. The station is currently owned by Seven Mountains Media. The station is a Class B AM broadcasting station acc ...

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

as a substitute game show host and weatherman. He next worked at

WGAL WGAL (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Susquehanna Valley region as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios on Columbia Avenue ( PA 462) in ...

in Lancaster as a weatherman and assistant news director. In 1963, he moved to the

area and joined KYW-TV as a weekend weatherman. He started a vegetable garden, dubbed Kuster's Garden, at the station in 1975. After he left KYW in 1979, he moved to

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, station

KUSA-TV KUSA (channel 9) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KTVD (channel 20). Both stations share studios on East Speer Boulevard in Denver's S ...

. He worked as KUSA's weekday and weekend weathercaster until his retirement in 1996. He continued the tradition of his Kuster Garden in Denver and expanded it to enlist a restaurateur to prepare meals with the annual harvest for Denver-area homeless shelters.

Marriage and children

Bill married the former Dottie Zettle . The couple had two children, son Marc and daughter Kim.

Death and afterward

Kuster died on August 12, 2006, following a battle with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

. The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia inducted Kuster posthumously into their Hall of Fame in 2008.

References

External links

The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia: Bill Kuster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuster, Bill 1930 births 2006 deaths American television meteorologists Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania alumni Deaths from leukemia Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications alumni Deaths from cancer in Colorado