Remembering Veteran Newsman Bill Beutel

L.A. Times: “Bill Beutel, 75, a longtime television news anchor and the first host of the show that became ABC’s ‘Good Morning America,’ died Saturday at his home in Pinehurst, N.C., the network said.

Beutel anchored newscasts for three decades on WABC-TV. “He was the first anchor of ‘A.M. America,’ familiar now to viewers as ‘Good Morning America,” WABC-TV GM Dave Davis said in a message to staffers.

> In 2002, the late Peter Jennings said: “One of the things I admire about Bill is he’s not fancy. He’s very basic. I think audiences, in times of trouble and good times, look for people on television who are basic, don’t have airs, don’t hype themselves.”

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