Ron Cochran
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ron Cochran (September 20, 1912 – July 25, 1994) was a Canadian-born American television news journalist who worked for
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
and
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 Entertainm ...
. He served as the 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 1962 to 1965. In November 1963, he served as the network's principal anchor for the around-the-clock coverage of the assassination of
US President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
. Before that, he hosted the
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 Entertainm ...
drama television series ''
Armstrong Circle Theatre ''Armstrong Circle Theatre'' is an American anthology drama television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, ...
''. Cochran was born in
Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, and grew up in
Fairfield, Iowa Fairfield is a city in, and the county seat of, Jefferson County, Iowa. It has a population of 9,416 people, according to the 2020 census. The median family income is $46,138, with 10% of families below the poverty line. The city is typical o ...
, where he received his elementary and secondary education. He majored in physics at
Parsons College Parsons College was a private liberal arts college located in Fairfield, Iowa. The school was named for its wealthy benefactor, Lewis B. Parsons Sr., and was founded in 1875 with one building and 34 students. Over the years new buildings were cons ...
and went to the
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
for graduate study in that field. He decided on a career change before he finished the latter studies. Cochran worked as a reporter for the ''
Rock Island Argus ''The Dispatch–Argus'' is a daily morning newspaper in East Moline, Illinois and circulated primarily throughout the Illinois side of the Quad Cities — Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and Rock Island County, but also for sale in retail estab ...
'' before an audition resulted in a job broadcasting news for radio station WHBF, which was owned by the newspaper's management. After working in Midwest radio stations, he joined the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
for two years. Then, in 1945, he went to work at a Boston radio station. In 1951, he was hired by CBS, where he did both television and radio based in Washington. In 1954, he went to
WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station WL ...
, where he was a newscaster on the 7 P.M. and 11 P.M. news programs. He left WCBS in 1960 to work on a daily 1 P.M. newscast on CBS-TV. He also was the moderator of the CBS-TV programs ''Man of the Week'', from 1952 to 1954, and ''Youth Takes a Stand'', from 1954 to 1955, and CBS Radio's ''Answer, Please!'' from 1958 to 1959. Cochran resigned from CBS News in July 1961 to become host of ''Armstrong Circle Theatre'', saying, "Armstrong offered me an opportunity that I couldn't pass up". After moving to ABC, he anchored ''The ABC Evening News with Ron Cochran'' from 1963 to 1965. He then started Ron Cochran Enterprises, which produced radio and television programs. As previously mentioned, Cochran was the main anchor of ABC's break in coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Cochran announced the death of President Kennedy as "confirmed" and
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 ...
ran a graphic showing Kennedy's picture and the dates 1917-1963 after a wire service report came to him that "government sources in Washington" had stated the President was dead, something both
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 Entertainm ...
'
Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...
and
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's Bill Ryan chose not to do. This wire report came to Cochran several minutes before assistant press secretary
Malcolm Kilduff Malcolm MacGregor "Mac" Kilduff Jr. (September 26, 1927 – March 3, 2003) was an American journalist, best known for making the public announcement of the death of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Mac Kilduff was Kennedy's assistant White Hous ...
officially announced the President's death.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
Despite the rival networks' expansion in 1963 of their evening newscasts to a full half-hour, ''ABC Evening News'' would run only 15 minutes during Cochran's tenure; the network deferred expansion until
Peter Jennings Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings (July 29, 1938August 7, 2005) was a Canadian-born American television journalist who served as the sole anchor of ''ABC World News Tonight'' from 1983 until his death from lung cancer in 2005. He dropped o ...
, his successor, took over the anchor's desk for his first stint. He later went to
KGO-TV KGO-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's ABC network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, KGO-TV maint ...
and anchored newscasts with
Roger Grimsby Roger Olin Grimsby (September 23, 1928 – June 23, 1995) was an American journalist, television news anchor and actor. Grimsby, who for eighteen years was seen on ABC's flagship station WABC in New York City, is known as one of the pioneers of ...
. Cochran married Beualh Tracht. They had a son, Ronald, and a daughter, Judy. He died on July 25, 1994, aged 81, in Lake Worth, Florida, after a heart attack.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cochran, Ron American television journalists ABC News personalities People from Moose Jaw People from Fairfield, Iowa Parsons College alumni 1912 births 1994 deaths American male journalists Canadian emigrants to the United States