Bill Monroe, a broadcast news pioneer who was WDSU‘s first-ever news director, died on Thursday morning at the age of 90.
Monroe is perhaps best known for his work on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he served as the moderator from 1975 to 1984.
He began his journalism career in New Orleans after returning from World War II. He started as a reporter for local newspaper the Item and then quickly moved on to oversee news operations at the city’s fledgling NBC-affiliate.
“We express our sympathies to the family of our colleague, Bill Monroe,” Joel Vilmenay, WDSU’s president and GM, said. “We are proud he served as our first news director and we strive every day to uphold the standard of journalistic excellence he established during his tenure with the station.”
Monroe became WDSU’s news director in 1954 and, according to the station, “made a name for himself by airing weekly editorials that supported the struggle to integrate New Orleans schools, an unpopular stance at the time.”