When I got to know her, she was very warm, and very dedicated to her job. To date, there have been 163 scholarship recipients of almost $700,000. This could be a sub-category for Curb Side. . Her incoherent reporting clashes bizarrely with. Good thing GM doesnt make Oldsmobiles anymore . The G body wagons were nice, but always looked very plain without the woodgrain. Savitch was the network's second woman to anchor a weekend national newscast; Catherine Mackin had previously anchored NBC's Sunday evening newscast beginning in December 1976, before she left for ABC News the following year. Jessica Savitch: The Star Eclipsed - The Washington Post I guess were not supposed to call them stew bums any more either ? To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. The bodies were found in the car at about 1 a.m. EDT. To learn more about Jessica Hollifield motorcycle accident, read the following article. Rosko said he could not determine the time of death, but a watch found in Fischbein's coat pocket stopped at 9:55 p.m. 'I would say both victims died within one or at most a very few minutes after the car entered the canal,' he said. In June 1983, NBC removed Savitch from her regular Saturday evening anchor slot and replaced her with Chung, who also accepted the Early Today position that Savitch had rejected. [24] According to the New Hope police chief, a similar death had occurred at the same spot some years before. She began to fill more roles in NBC's news programming, serving as a regular panel member on Meet The Press, contributing to the news magazine programs Prime Time Saturday and Prime Time Sunday, and contributing commentary to the NBC Radio Network. [1][14] Korn reportedly divorced Savitch after learning that she had a significant drug problem. I was like dude, you have to wait!'. By LOUIS TOSCANO. A common thread has emerged in the comments on this article that leads back to my opening statement. The career of NBC newscaster Jessica Savitch, which ended with her death yesterday in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, rivaled the most fantastic fiction in its amalgam of . Is that picture in the front seat part of one either Jessicas or Martins dead body? The judge approved the settlement. It *IS* a Car Story ~ a sad one to be sure but also a truthful cautionary tale . There was no sign alcohol contributed to the crash in which Ms. Savitch, 35, and her close friend, New York Post executive Martin Fischbein, 34, died late Sunday, Dr. Thomas Rosko, Bucks County coroner, said. September 4, 1995 Jessica Savitch lived a much too short and much too unhappy life. The TV universe was narrow three or four national networks and their local affiliates. Miss Savitch and Fischbein drowned Oct. 26, 1983. Savitch was one of the first women to anchor an evening network newscast solo, following in the footsteps of Marlene Sanders of ABC News and Catherine Mackin of NBC News. According to The Washington Post, each of her biographers interviewed over 300 people in order to write their respective books. There, she did on-camera and voiceover commercial work, and while still attending college became a popular top 40 disc jockey known as "Honeybee" at WBBF (now WROC-AM). Its a bit rough around the edges. She came back to DC after anchoring the weekend news in New York and found her husband hanging from her dogs leash in the basement. There are no guardrails and it was raining heavily at the time. Jessica Savitch Wikipedia Republished // WIKI 2 In all the articles Ive read, it just refers to an Oldsmobile station wagon and Im not well-versed on the interiors, especially after they have been upside-down and underwater for a few hours. By Niruta Rai April 25, 2023. They called her the Golden Girl of TV news, and for good reason. Sadly the dealer trying to sell it to us had a ridiculous price on it at the time and dad passed. On Jan. 6, 1980, she married Mel Korn, a Philadelphia advertising executive. It seemed acceptable at the time for news people to personify the stereotype of the hard hitting, hard drinking news reporter that sometimes showed their afflictions on camera. She performed a later segment the same evening without issues. In 1969, after receiving her bachelor's degree, she was hired as a researcher for CBS radio. IncidentallyI found a TV movie of her life based on her book featuring Sela Ward playng Jessica. Tragic as her death was and still is, its nearly fitting she died in such an ordinary, if humble car. ''It looked like they tried to kick the doors open but they couldn't.'' But the years flyby swiftly and she would now be 65, something I can hardly believe. Jessica Savitch, the NBC television reporter who became one of the first women to anchor an evening network newscast, was killed late Sunday night after the car she and a companion were in. She graduated from Ithaca College in 1968. Oct. 25, 1983 Jessica Savitch killed in car wreck By MARIANNE LAVELLE NEW HOPE, Pa. -- NBC newscaster Jessica Savitch, whose professional triumphs and personal tragedies were documented in. Her life was the subject of a Lifetime Television made-for-TV movie, starring Sela Ward, called "Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story." The movie "Up Close & Personal" (1996, with Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer) was originally intended as a biographical film about her but the plot of the movie was substantially changed to become a . At KYW in Philadelphia, she carved a stylish, hard-hitting niche with flawless looks, tough talk and in depth stories. Its always sad to see one whos light shines so brightly , flame out . Biography Jessica Beth Savitch was born February 1, 1947, in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Katz a tip, email him here. its amazing how much time and energy people will spend complaining about what they dont want to read, isnt it? The networks wanted her, but Westinghouse had ironclad contracts so she acted out and became a general terror to all. And R.I.P Oldsmobile. . A 1982 TV Guide poll named her the fourth most trusted news anchor in the country, above many of the most established male anchors of the period. The interior trim pieces did not last long but I recall the drivetrain as being very durable, which is why Dad liked them. Jessica Savitch didnt, or perhaps couldnt; in that era, such a move would have been a career killer. If the Olds part is correct, and the interior picture is the car in question, I think it is a Cutlass wagon. And that kept him from ever getting to the White House. Jessica Savitch seemed to have the world at her fingers. Ms. Savitch (NOT Savage as some have called her) was in the back seat with her dog. I am Canadian and I remember watching her on American news programs, so her fame certainly wasnt local, but may have been confined to North American shores. On October 3, 1983, during an NBC News Digest segment, Savitch was largely incoherent on the air, slurring her speech, deviating from her script and ad-libbing her report. The last few moments of these folks lives must have been a living hell. Walter Everett, the New Hope police chief, said that the couple had driven the wrong way out of the parking lot of a restaurant, Chez Odette, where they had gone for dinner. Generally speaking I dont think that an intervention is revealed to the person getting one ahead of time, so the speculation that it might have contributed to the accident is unlikely. When she was initially unable to obtain a weeknight anchor shift, Savitch attempted to break her KYW contract and take a job offered by CBS in New York. Unfortunately the A-body replacements were just the opposite. On the long-form TODAY show piece, which aired almost exactly thirty . Some of the money was used to establish scholarships for women studying for careers in broadcasting or journalism at Ithaca College and other institutions. Please, dont get me wrong. [1] Savitch began feeling anxious about her job and showed signs of emotional instability. NBC didnt know what to do. This week I'll travel from my home in Kentucky to stand at the spot in New Hope, Pa., where NBC News anchor Jessica Savitch (right) died 30 years ago tonight on the rainy fall evening of October 23. 'She had overcome many difficulties in her life and now leaves behind many friends and fans all over the country,' said Tom Pettit, executive vice president of NBC. 31 likes, 3 comments - Adam Tariq Ghani (@adamtghani) on Instagram: "News journalist Jessica Savitch promoting her memoir "Anchorwoman", a year after the suicide ." Adam Tariq Ghani on Instagram: "News journalist Jessica Savitch promoting her memoir "Anchorwoman", a year after the suicide of her second husband. It is the story of NBC newswoman Jessica Savitch, who died the night of Oct. 23, 1983, in the rain-swelled canal. She was offered the anchor position for an early-morning news program Early Today but turned it down. NBC News Digest with Jessica Savitch (10/3/83) - YouTube ''The visibility was very poor.'' The article prompted my to look her up and read her quite compelling story. Under her latest contract, which she signed last summer, Miss Savitch was to anchor "NBC News Digest," for which she was to have reported to work yesterday, and beginning in January, the Sunday editions of "Nightly News.". Probably wouldnt have made any difference. Walter Everett, the chief of the New Hope police said that it had been raining and that visibility was very poor at the time of the accident. WCBS refused to hire her as a reporter because she had no professional experience. And, of course, she knew it and let the superstar thing take over her life. In fact I thought the story reminds me of checking my priorities. She deserved it So hard to believe shes been gone 30 years., Lori Savitch, one of Jessicas twosisters, and the force behind www.jessicasavitch.com: Gender-based discrimination wasnt the only hurdle Jessica faced in pursuit of a broadcast journalism career. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. They called her the Golden Girl of TV news, and for good reason. Her end came in an Oldsmobile station wagon. Miss Savitch had been with NBC since 1977. According to Nash and John Gregory Dunne (who worked on the screenplay and wrote the book Monster: Living Off the Big Screen about the making of the film), this was because the filmmakers, including The Walt Disney Company that was financing the film, considered Savitch's life story too downbeat to be popular at the box office.