Jim Baldridge is an American former

newscaster A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

and co-anchor for

WHIO-TV WHIO-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Dayton, Ohio, United States, affiliated with CBS. It has been owned by Cox Media Group since its inception, making it one of two stations that have been built and signed on by Cox (alongside company ...

's Newscenter 7 in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...

Biography

Baldridge was raised in Lima, Ohio. He attended Shawnee High School, and is a graduate of Wright State University and

Sinclair Community College Sinclair Community College is a public community college in Dayton, Ohio. History Sinclair Community College is named for David A. Sinclair, a Scottish immigrant and secretary of the Dayton YMCA (1874–1902), who founded the adult training schoo ...

. Baldridge began covering news at WCIT radio in Lima, Ohio, in 1964 as a senior in high school. He worked for several stations in the Dayton-Springfield area ''(including

WIZE WIZE (1340 AM) — branded Dayton's BIN 1340 — is a commercial all-news radio station in Springfield, Ohio owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. as part of their Dayton cluster. While servicing the Dayton metropolitan area, WIZE is also targeted towards ...

under the pseudonym "Gregg Baldwin")'' and served in the Army with the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service in the Pacific.Dayton still home for retiring TV anchor Baldridge - Dayton Daily News
/ref> Baldridge joined WHIO-TV in 1972 as a general assignment reporter. In 1977 Baldridge began anchoring with Dayton broadcast legend Don Wayne, whom he had grown up watching. He later worked alongside Cheryl McHenry and Letitia Perry. During his years at WHIO Jim Baldridge traveled the world to cover stories important to the Dayton area. Special assignments took him to China, Vietnam, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Japan, Colombia, and throughout Europe, including covering the

Fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...

. He also covered major stories in the US, such as the

1989 San Francisco earthquake The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of ...

and the

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorism in the United States, domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-federal go ...

, as well as many political events. Baldridge retired in the fall of 2009 after a career as one of the most durable local news anchors on any station in the United States.

Dayton Air Show affiliation

Jim Baldridge has a strong interest in aviation. He anchored Dayton Air Show broadcasts for 26 years from 1975. Since the mid-1980s, WHIO-TV's coverage of the air show has been broadcast by hundreds of stations nationwide and in several foreign countries.

Awards

Baldridge has received many awards for his work in broadcast journalism. He has been honored by the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (the "Emmy" Awards), The Aviation and Space Writers Association, the

National Association of Television Program Executives The National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) is a professional association of television and emerging media executives. The organization was established in 1963. NATPE implements its mission by providing members with educati ...

, and many local organizations. Sinclair Community College presented him with its Alumni Association Service Award, and Shawnee High School presented him with its Distinguished Alumni Award in 1989.

Personal life

Baldridge and his wife Sue now live in Florida. They have two grown children and four grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baldridge, Jim American television journalists Wright State University alumni 1940s births Living people People from Lima, Ohio Television anchors from Dayton, Ohio American male journalists Journalists from Ohio