Carlton Cremeens, a TV news icon in Baton Rouge, passed away last week from complications with diabetes. He was 89.
Cremeens spent 30 years as news director of WAFB, while also working as an anchor for the CBS-affiliate. He retired in 1990, and the then-mayor of Baton Rouge marked the occasion by proclaiming a “Carlton Cremeens Day” in his honor.
Before joining WAFB, Cremeens worked as a news director in Little Rock, AR, where he covered the desegregation of the city’s schools. While in Baton Rouge, he was known for breaking cultural barriers in TV news. As The Advocate points out, he put Baton Rouge’s first black TV reporter–Ansel Creary–and first female anchor–Mel Cafiero–on the air.
Video of WAFB’s coverage of Cremeens’s passing inside…