Longtime NYC broadcast news anchor Bill Jorgensen dead at 96

Longtime New York City broadcast news anchor Bill Jorgensen, known for coining the tagline, “It’s 10 p.m. — do you know where your children are?” died on Wednesday at age 96.

Jorgensen was recruited from Cleveland in 1967 to be the founding anchor of the Ten O’Clock News on WNEW, now Fox 5 New York, which he hosted for over 12 years, always signing off with his signature, ““Thanking you for your time this time, until next time.”

“His ‘never-give-up’ spirit lasted until his end of life, and I just hope to be able to follow his example as long as possible,” his daughter, Rebekah Jorgensen, wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.

She did not share his cause of death.

“I grew up knowing him, behind the scenes, as a man deeply committed to finding the story that put people and their rights in danger, intent on finding innovative ways of telling it,” she said.

His daughter recalled his coverage of environmental stories including Cleveland pollution, as well as the story of Robert Manry, a copy editor from Ohio who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1965 in a 13-foot sailboat.

He also reported on the famous case of Dr. Sam Sheppard, who was accused and then acquitted of his pregnant wife’s 1954 murder.

The Sheppard case is said to have inspired the television series and later movie, “The Fugitive.”

Rebekah recalled her dad letting her stay up late to attend nighttime broadcasts at just 5 years old, and his role in what she called the “Golden Age of News Broadcasting.”

An old newspaper clipping from his time as a radio host in Ohio called him a “busy newscaster and a busy husband” in a photo alongside wife, Kit, and daughters Jill, Rebekah and Wendy.

Jorgensen was recruited to New York City from Cleveland’s KYW-TV.

“The Ten O’clock News was ‘must see’ each night,” one former radio anchor commented on Rebekeh’s post. “Reportage done well and right … His kind will not be seen again.”

The New York Times television critic Jack Gould in 1967 described the newscast as “a thoroughly professional news summary” thanks to “Mr. Jorgensen’s durably pleasing style and demeanor.”

“He suggests authority without affectation,” Gould wrote.

“We loved his serious style of delivery, as well as the line he used to end his newscasts,” a PIX11 archive page wrote in a post in 2016.

Jorgensen’s show also coined the well-known public service announcement tagline, “It’s ten o’clock — do you know where your children are?”

Read by the late Tom Gregory, it aired from the late 1960s through the 1980s.

Jorgensen moved from WNEW to WPIX-TV in 1979, where he anchored national and local segments, and was one of the co-founders and first anchors of the Independent Network News, which was produced at WPIX.

The nightly broadcast was helmed by Jorgensen, Pat Harper Steve Bosh.

Jorgensen was succeeded at WNEW by John Roland, who died last year. “Bill Jorgensen played a major role in establishing Channel 5’s 10 o’clock news as the most successful prime‐time news in America,” the station said when he left.

Jorgensen retired in 1987 and settled in North Carolina.