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James Leroy Hartz (February 3, 1940 – April 17, 2022) was an American television personality, columnist and reporter during the mid- and late-1970s. At age 24, he was the youngest correspondent NBC had ever hired. Hartz became best known to a national audience for a two-year position as the co-host of the ''
Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It w ...
,'' along with
Barbara Walters Barbara Jill Walters (born September 25, 1929) is an American broadcast journalist and television personality. Known for her interviewing ability and popularity with viewers, Walters appeared as a host of numerous television programs, including ...
. Hartz replaced the deceased Frank McGee, who also hailed from Oklahoma, and at whose funeral Hartz had delivered the eulogy.


Life and career

Hartz was born on February 3, 1940, in
Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...
,Dustin O'Connor,
"Hartz, James L."
at
Oklahoma Historical Society The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) is an agency of the government of Oklahoma dedicated to promotion and preservation of Oklahoma's history and its people by collecting, interpreting, and disseminating knowledge and artifacts of Oklahoma. ...
br>''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''
(retrieved June 18, 2009).
and graduated from
Tulsa Central High School Central High School is the oldest high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was founded in 1906 as Tulsa High School, and located in downtown Tulsa until 1976. The school now has a campus in northwest Tulsa. Tulsa Central is part of the Tulsa Public ...
in 1958. He then attended the
University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...
as a premed student, but after three years he decided to pursue journalism instead. Hartz first became a reporter for KOTV in Tulsa in 1962 and was promoted to news director in 1964, shortly before he joined
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 ...
-owned
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 statio ...
in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
. At the age of 24, he was the youngest correspondent NBC had ever hired. There, he served as the anchor of the 6 o'clock and 11 o'clock nightly newscasts, where he remained until 1974, when NBC promoted him to ''Today'', following the death of McGee. During his tenure at the show, Hartz, along with Walters and correspondent Tom Brokaw, covered the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Hartz also covered the nation’s bicentennial celebration, as well as the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Hartz' run with ''Today'' turned out to be brief;
Tom Brokaw Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American retired network television journalist and author. He first served as the co-anchor of ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anchor and managing editor of '' ...
would take over from him in 1976, when Walters left for ABC. Hartz then went to
WRC-TV WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A Telemundo outlet WZDC-CD (channel 44 ...
in Washington, D.C., where he was an anchor until 1979. Throughout his career, Hartz earned five
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 two
Ace Awards The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Ame ...
for cable television. After leaving
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 ...
, Hartz succeeded
Hugh Downs Hugh Malcolm Downs (February 14, 1921July 1, 2020) was an American radio and television broadcaster, announcer and programmer; television host; news anchor; TV producer; author; game show host; talk show sidekick; and music composer. A regular t ...
as co-host of the PBS series ''Over Easy,'' sharing the program with Broadway actress,
Mary Martin Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was an American actress and singer. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles on stage over her career, including Nellie Forbush in ''South Pacific'' (194 ...
. He also hosted another public television program, ''Innovation,'' during the early 1980s. In the early 1990s, he co-anchored a weekly PBS-
NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...
joint venture news program, ''Asia Now,'' from
Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
. Hartz traveled to and from Japan over 30 times while filming this series. Hartz, who lived in
Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...
, became chairman of the
Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahom ...
Memorial Commission in 1993 and is a member of the
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
Journalism Hall of Fame. Hartz has flown in a large number of military aircraft, including the
SR-71 The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" is a long-range, high-altitude, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed and manufactured by the American aerospace company Lockheed Corporation. It was operated by the United States Air Force ...
, and was regarded as an
aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and ast ...
expert. His first major assignment was co-anchoring with
David Brinkley David McClure Brinkley (July 10, 1920 – June 11, 2003) was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997. From 1956 through 1970, he co-anchored NBC's top-rated nightly news program, '' The Huntley–Brinkl ...
during the sudden return of Gemini VIII on March 16, 1966. Hartz covered every manned flight after that from 1966 to 1976. Hartz died on April 17, 2022, at the age of 82, from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).


References


External links


"Tulsa TV Memories" article on Hartz's days in Oklahoma
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartz, Jim 1940 births 2022 deaths American television news anchors NBC News people Writers from Tulsa, Oklahoma Central High School (Tulsa, Oklahoma) alumni Deaths from emphysema