Lester Strong (born Lester Franklin Strong, circa 1949) was a reporter and news anchor at

WHDH-TV WHDH (channel 7) is an independent television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is owned by Sunbeam Television alongside Cambridge-licensed CW affiliate WLVI (channel 56). WHDH and WLVI share studios at Bulfinch Place (nea ...

from June 1984 until 2000. He was also the host of a public affairs show called Urban Update.

Personal life

A native of

Braddock, Pennsylvania Braddock is a borough located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It is upstream from the mouth of the Monongahela River. The population was 1,721 as of the 2020 census. The borough is represented by the Pen ...

, Strong holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from

Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan� ...

Davidson, North Carolina Davidson is a suburban town located in northern Mecklenburg and Iredell counties, North Carolina, United States, on the banks of Lake Norman. It is a suburb in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The population was 10,944 at the 2010 census, and in ...

. He graduated from

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one ...

's Institute for Nonprofit Management. On July 16, 2006, Strong married Patrice Courtney.

Broadcast career

Prior to his tenure at WHDH, he was the morning and noon news anchor at

WSB-TV WSB-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Cox Media Group, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to rad ...

in Atlanta. His other positions included

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

and special projects director. He was community affairs director from January 1975 until June 1977, From September 1978-June 1980, Strong was a program development and community affairs director at

WBTV WBTV (channel 3) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located off Morehead Street, just west of Uptown Charlotte, and its transmitter is ...

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. It was there that he had his first broadcasting job as host of ''The Lester Strong Show''. He worked for ABC in New York as east coast manager of children's programs June 1977-September 1978. Strong started as a general assignment reporter at Boston

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

affiliate WNEV-TV, present-day WHDH, in June 1984, becoming the weekend co-anchor one month later and co-anchor of the noon broadcast in August 1986. He remained the noon co-anchor for eight years. Beginning in May 1988, Strong anchored in the 5-6 p.m. hour, and remained the 5:30 p.m. anchor when the 5:00 news slot was cancelled in 1991. In 1994, after WHDH was sold to current owner

Sunbeam Television Sunbeam Television Corporation is a privately held broadcasting company based in Miami, Florida, that owns three television stations in the United States. History Sunbeam Television was formed on December 16, 1953, by Sidney Ansin, who inherite ...

, Strong was brought back to the relaunched 5 p.m. newscast, and left the noon slot at this time. In June 1996, he was also added to the station's brand new 4 p.m. newscast. He would anchor the 4-4:30 and 5-5:30 time slots until his departure from WHDH in 2000. Under Sunbeam ownership, Strong was eventually assigned to be the "Healthcast" reporter. In January 1994, Strong was named host of WHDH's minority affairs program ''Urban Update'', a role he also head until 2000.

Public service

After leaving broadcasting, he was in "charge of fund-raising for Building Educated Leaders for Life, a nonprofit organization in Boston that runs a tutoring and mentoring program for elementary school students from low-income families." As of 2014, he is Vice President and CEO of

AARP AARP (formerly called the American Association of Retired Persons) is an interest group in the United States focusing on issues affecting those over the age of fifty. The organization said it had more than 38 million members in 2018. The magazin ...

Experience Corps. He is on the Board of Trustees for Editorial Projects in Education.

Recognition

* In February 1994, he was awarded the William A. Hinton Award by the

Massachusetts Department of Public Health The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is a governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with various responsibilities related to public health within that state. It is headquartered in Boston and headed by Commissioner Monica B ...

for "outstanding individuals who have significantly contributed to educating the public on health and medical issues." * He won four Georgia Emmys for public affairs programs. * He executive produced a documentary that won an

NATPE 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 ...

Iris award in 1982. * He received a Presidential commendation in 1982 for "WSB on the Job", * In 1987, he was honored as a black achiever by the Greater Boston YMCA.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strong, Lester American television reporters and correspondents People from Braddock, Pennsylvania Davidson College alumni American nonprofit chief executives Year of birth uncertain African-American journalists News & Documentary Emmy Award winners Television anchors from Boston Television anchors from Atlanta Columbia Business School alumni Living people 21st-century African-American people Year of birth missing (living people)