James Raymond Watkins (born October 21, 1956) is an American

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄγ ...

and journalist.

Career

Watkins was previously employed by

WPIX-TV WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship of The CW ...

from October 26, 1998, to October 9, 2011, where he was the weeknight anchor for PIX11 News at Ten for 11 years. During Watkins' career as a New York City news anchor he also worked for

WNBC-TV WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...

(weekends) and alongside WPIX's

Kaity Tong Kaity Tong (; born July 23, 1947) is a Chinese-born American broadcast journalist. She has been a television news anchor in New York City since 1981. Early life Kaity (pronounced "kite-ee")Tong, Kaity"What's in a name?" ''WPIX Blog'', March 4, 20 ...

for 14 years. While working at WPIX, Watkins received three

Emmy awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

and an Edward R. Murrow Award for Broadcast Excellence. Watkins was Tribune Broadcasting's lead anchor during the 9/11 live television coverage consecutively for 5 days. In 2014, his recollections of the tragedy, starting with the day before the World Trade Center attack, were featured in the NatGeo documentary "9/10: The Final Hours." Watkins' TV news career also included time at WPHL Philadelphia (anchor), the syndicated FOX Los Angeles "Entertainment Daily Journal" (correspondent), WBZ Boston's "Evening Magazine" (co-host), and

WTVF-TV WTVF (channel 5) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Ion Television owned-and-operated station WNPX-TV (channel 28). WTVF's studios are located ...

Nashville (anchor). Every year, Jim Watkins hosts a television program at the Hispanic Day Parade, which occurs on the second Sunday of October. Watkins, a native of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, was a former anchor and reporter from CBS affiliate

WTVF WTVF (channel 5) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Ion Television owned-and-operated station WNPX-TV (channel 28). WTVF's studios are located ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. He is a graduate of the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

. He writes columns for ''

AM New York ''AM New York Metro'' is a free newspaper, free daily newspaper that is published in New York City by Schneps Media. According to the company, the average Friday circulation in September 2013 was 335,900. When launched on October 10, 2003, ''AM New ...

'', a free weekday daily distributed in New York City. He also writes a blog for the television station's news program. In 2014 Watkins joined News 8

WTNH-TV WTNH (channel 8) is a television station licensed to New Haven, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WCTX (channel 59), ...

in New Haven

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. On August 19, 2015, Watkins left WTNH News 8.

Personal life

Watkins is married and has three children, including a teenage son with

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

. Watkins is an autism advocate and has been a keynote speaker at numerous autism benefits.

References

New York (state) television reporters 1956 births Television anchors from New York City American television journalists People from Columbus, Ohio Living people American male journalists Journalists from Ohio {{US-journalist-1950s-stub