CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A longtime news anchor and news director at WSAZ Television in Charleston and Huntington has died. Bos Johnson, 86, died Sunday after a battle with cancer.
“It there is a father of television news in West Virginia it was Bos Johnson,” said Bob Brunner who spent more than two decades at WSAZ and considered Johnson a mentor.
“This is an incredibly sad day for so many of us throughout the state and the region who were, sort of, lead into what we do by Bos Johnson,” Brunner said on Monday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
Johnson got his start in broadcasting in radio, including time at MetroNews Affiliate WAJR-AM in Morgantown.
When he was inducted into the West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2006, Johnson told the Charleston Daily Mail one of his best memories was sharing a broadcast booth at a football game in Clarksburg in the 1950s with legendary broadcasters Jim Thacker, Jack Fleming and Jay Randolph.
A Charleston native, Johnson joined WSAZ in 1952. He became news director in 1960, taking over for Nick Basso, who formed the news department, and stayed until 1976 when Brunner took over for him.
“He cared more about getting the story out, but not playing ‘gotcha’ and staying in the community and being part of that community,” Brunner said.
During his time at WSAZ, Johnson was part of the coverage of the 1967 Silver Bridge collapse, the 1970 Marshall plane crash and many other stories.
Johnson went on to teach journalism at Marshall University until 1998 and then worked as a consultant and executive with Charles Ryan Associates until his retirement in 2005. In all, his communications career spanned 53 years.
Funeral arrangements for Johnson had not been finalized as of early Monday afternoon.
Johnson was survived by his wife, Dotty, and five children — including Rob Johnson, an anchor at WSAZ Television.