Wendall Woodbury

Last updated April 28, 2019

Wendall J. Woodbury (June 20, 1942 – October 20, 2010) was an American television journalist and news anchor. He spent much of his career as a reporter for WGAL-TV in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 1968 until his retirement from broadcast news in 1992 as a feature reporter.^[1] He was known for a series of segments called "Wendall's World" while at WGAL.^[1] Woodbury was the first television anchor in the United States to report on the Three Mile Island accident as the story broke in 1979.^[2]

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Lancaster is a city located in South Central Pennsylvania which serves as the seat of Pennsylvania's Lancaster County and one of the oldest inland towns in the United States. With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities. The Lancaster metropolitan area population is 507,766, making it the 101st largest metropolitan area in the U.S. and second largest in the South Central Pennsylvania area.

Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are "broadcast", that is, published by electrical methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. Broadcast methods include radio, television and the World Wide Web. Such media disperse pictures, visual text and sounds.

Biography

Early life

Woodbury was born in Belfast, Maine, to Blaine and Nellie (née Jackson) Woodbury.^[3] He graduated from Crosby High School in Belfast before enrolling in the Leland Powers School of Radio, Television and Theater in Boston, Massachusetts.^[3]

Belfast is a city in Waldo County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,668. Located at the mouth of the Passagassawakeag River estuary on Belfast Bay and Penobscot Bay. Belfast is the county seat of Waldo County. The seaport has a wealth of antique architecture in several historic districts, and remains popular with tourists.

Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city proper covers 48 square miles (124 km²) with an estimated population of 685,094 in 2017, making it also the most populous city in New England. Boston is the seat of Suffolk County as well, although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest such area in the country. As a combined statistical area (CSA), this wider commuting region is home to some 8.2 million people, making it the sixth-largest in the United States.

Massachusetts, officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named after the Massachusett tribe, which once inhabited the east side of the area, and is one of the original thirteen states. The capital of Massachusetts is Boston, which is also the most populous city in New England. Over 80% of Massachusetts's population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry. Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. During the 20th century, Massachusetts's economy shifted from manufacturing to services. Modern Massachusetts is a global leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance, and maritime trade.

Career

Woodbury began his broadcast career at several Maine television stations. He initially worked at the Maine Hildreth Television Network before becoming an announcer at WAGM-TV in Presque Isle and WABI-TV in Bangor.^[3]

WAGM-TV is the CBS/Fox/CW+-affiliated television station for Northern Maine, United States and Western New Brunswick, Canada. Licensed to Presque Isle, Maine, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on virtual and VHF channel 8 from a transmitter on the northern section of Mars Hill Mountain among the wind turbines. The station can also be seen on Spectrum channel 4 and Rogers Cable channel 9. Owned by Gray Television, WAGM has studios on Brewer Road in Presque Isle.

Presque Isle is the commercial center and largest city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 9,078 in 2017 as estimated by the US Census, a decrease from the count of 9,692 in the 2010 Census. The city is home to the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Northern Maine Community College, Husson University Presque Isle, Northern Maine Fairgrounds, The Aroostook Centre Mall, and the Presque Isle International Airport.

WABI-TV is a dual CBS/CW+-affiliated television station licensed to Bangor, Maine, United States, serving Central and Eastern Maine. It broadcasts a high definition (HD) digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter on Peaked Mountain in Dixmont. The station can also be seen on Charter Spectrum channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 1209.

Woodbury worked as a reporter, anchor and weatherman at WGAL-TV in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for twenty-four years from 1968 until 1992.^[1]^[3] Woodbury was the first television anchor in the United States to report on the Three Mile Island accident as the story broke in 1979.^[2]

Weather forecasting application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time

Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th century. Weather forecasts are made by collecting quantitative data about the current state of the atmosphere at a given place and using meteorology to project how the atmosphere will change.

The Three Mile Island accident was the partial meltdown of reactor number 2 of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (TMI-2) in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg and subsequent radiation leak that occurred on March 28, 1979. It was the most significant accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history. The incident was rated a five on the seven-point International Nuclear Event Scale: Accident with wider consequences.

He was known for a series of feature pieces at WGAL called Wendall's World.^[1] Woodbury also co-hosted a television show called Susquehanna People with Mary Haverstick and sometimes hosted a dance show called Dance Party, which was loosely based on American Bandstand .^[2] He retired from WGAL in 1992 as a features reporter.^[1]^[2]

American Bandstand is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the program's producer. It featured teenagers dancing to Top 40 music introduced by Clark; at least one popular musical act—over the decades, running the gamut from Jerry Lee Lewis to Run–D.M.C.—would usually appear in person to lip-sync one of their latest singles. Freddy Cannon holds the record for most appearances, at 110.

Woodbury owned WJW Video Productions, headquartered in Manheim, Pennsylvania, from 1992 until his death in 2010.^[3] He wrote, produced, edited and appeared in national and local television commercials and corporate videos.^[2]

Manheim is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,858 at the 2010 census. The borough was named after Mannheim, in Germany.

Death

Woodbury died from lymphoma at Hospice of Lancaster County in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on October 20, 2010, aged 68.^[1] His funeral was held at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Lancaster.^[3] Woodbury and his wife of 48 years, Faith (née Lewis), were residents of Penn Township, Pennsylvania, located near Manheim.^[2]^[3] He was survived by his wife, daughter, grand-daughter, and two brothers.^[3]

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References

1 2 3 4 5 6 "Former WGAL Personality, Wendall Woodbury, Passes Away". WGAL-TV . 2010-10-20. Retrieved 2010-10-27.
1 2 3 4 5 6 O'Connor, David (2010-10-20). "Friends remember TV anchor Wendall Woodbury, 68". Intelligencer Journal . Retrieved 2010-10-27.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Wendall J. Woodbury obituary". Village Soup Belfast. 2010-10-25. Retrieved 2010-10-27.

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[wgal-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Former WGAL Personality, Wendall Woodbury, Passes Away". WGAL-TV . 2010-10-20. Retrieved 2010-10-27.

[ij-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 O'Connor, David (2010-10-20). "Friends remember TV anchor Wendall Woodbury, 68". Intelligencer Journal . Retrieved 2010-10-27.

[vsb-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Wendall J. Woodbury obituary". Village Soup Belfast. 2010-10-25. Retrieved 2010-10-27.