Former WNYW news anchor Bill McCreary had a street in Queens named after him on Saturday.
McCreary was one of the first black journalists in New York when he started his career at WWRL radio in Queens. He joined WNYW in 1967 when it went by the call letters WNEW. One year after being hired as the managing editor and anchor of Black News, he was named co-anchor of The 10 O’Clock News.
“He built Fox 5 The 10 O’Clock News,” said WNYW anchor Rosanna Scotto, who worked with McCreary for years. “He was respected. People believed what he had to say and he worked hard to give you the information that you needed.”
He retired in 200o and died in 2021 at the age of 87.
“He was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis right after he retired,” his wife O’Kellon McCreary said at the ceremony. “I thank them with joy and gratitude they’re recognizing what he was about.”
“He was the common denominator in our lives that allowed us to excel to where we are right now. Bill McCreary was one of the few institutions that stated that the voices of Black people will be heard in his city,” said New York Mayor Eric Adams.