Don Goddard (July 5, 1904—March 20, 1994) was a radio and television announcer and newscaster who later became known for his work with geriatric alcoholism and other addictions.
Goddard was born July 5, 1904 in
Binghamton, New York. He attended
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
and had a first career in print and broadcast journalism. During the 1940s, he served as a reporter and radio announcer for the
NBC Blue Network
The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945.
Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the National Broadcasting Comp ...
. In addition, he narrated a series of classroom-based teenage advice films, "You and Your Family" and "You and Your Friends", both in 1946. In the late 1940s, Goddard worked as a newscaster for New York radio stations
WMCA WMCA may refer to:
*WMCA (AM), a radio station operating in New York City
* West Midlands Combined Authority, the combined authority of the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom
*Wikimedia Canada
The Wikimedia Foundation, ...
and
WINS. He then returned to
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
, where he served as commentator for the early NBC News television documentary-style show, "Watch the World".
He served as ABC's anchor of the "
ABC Evening News
''ABC World News Tonight'' (titled ''ABC World News Tonight with David Muir'' for its weeknight broadcasts since September 2014) is the flagship daily evening television news program of ABC News, the news division of the American Broadcasting ...
" from 1958 to 1959, replacing
John Charles Daly
John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly (February 20, 1914 – February 24, 1991) was an American journalist, host, radio and television personality, ABC News executive, TV anchor, and game show host, best known for his work on the CBS panel game show ...
in on early-evening news for one year, while ABC attempted a late-evening newscast, which Daly hosted. While serving as a newscaster for
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
, he was one of their primary announcers to break the news of the
assassination of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle with ...
in November 1963. While ABC announcer Ed Silverman was the first to announce the bulletin, it was Goddard who helmed the network's initial coverage of the tragedy. Goddard also was the host of the ABC television series ''
Medical Horizons,'' an on-the-scene documentary about medical advances at American hospitals and research centers. He retired in 1970 as head of ABC's Biographical and History Archive, which he had helped to establish.
After retiring from broadcasting, Goddard collaborated with
Bill Wilson, co-founder of
Alcoholics Anonymous, on A.A. documentaries and the publication ''A.A. Grapevine''. That experience led to his working with alcoholism after he retired and moved to Arizona, first becoming a consultant to the Mile High Council on Alcoholism and then joining the staff of St. Luke's Chemical Dependency Program in Phoenix as a consultant and therapist. As a therapist Goddard developed special treatments for older people with addictions. His "Top o' the Hill Gang" for patients over 55 at St. Luke's fostered similar programs at clinics across the country.
Goddard died March 20, 1994 in
Sun City, Arizona.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Goddard, Don
Princeton University alumni
ABC News personalities
American radio journalists
American television news anchors
1904 births
1994 deaths
American male journalists
People from Binghamton, New York