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Bill McCreary Way

Bill McCreary (1933 – 2021) was an Emmy Award-winning journalist and a former vice president of Fox Television station WNYW-TV (Channel 5 in New York). As news director at radio station WLIB, he produced several documentaries on the civil rights movement and interviewed some of its most prominent figures. He was one of the first African American journalists in New York.

A graduate of Seward Park High School and Baruch College in Manhattan, McCreary served in the United States Army from 1953 until 1955. His first broadcasting jobs were in radio, as an announcer at WWRL in Queens, and a general assignment reporter and news director at WLIB in Manhattan. He began reporting for WNEW on March 13, 1967, the first day of the station’s nightly newscast. He won a local Emmy for “Black News” and shared an Emmy for anchoring with John Roland on the 10 O’clock News. As a co-anchor, McCreary helped build the station’s 10 O’clock News into a ratings powerhouse. He became the managing editor and anchor of the weekly program “Black News” in 1970 and of “The McCreary Report” in 1987, when he was also named a vice president of Fox 5 News. McCreary remained a familiar on-air presence until he retired in 2000. He and his wife, O’Kellon, lived in Cambria Heights for 56 years.

Sources:

Gil Tauber, "NYC Honorary Street Names," accessed June 15, 2022, http://www.nycstreets.info/

Sam Roberts, "Bill McCreary Dies at 87; Blazed Trail for Black Journalists on TV," The New York Times, May 19, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/nyregion/bill-mccreary-dead.html

Sean Okula, "Street named for news pioneer," Queens Chronicle, August 18, 2022, https://www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/street-named-for-news-pioneer/article_1eabd7dc-5157-5540-a54c-dd672dfeb482.html