And when many of his friends were deep into retirement, Bill was still reporting, from New York to Uganda where he brought us the story of the global AIDS crisis.Īt age 70, Bill went behind the lines of the civil war in Sierra Leone where children were being forced literally to risk their lives and limbs to find diamonds for warlords.īeutel: "we met the rebel leader and he effectively told me to shut up. And 30 years later, Bill returned to a very different Vietnam. That thirst for international reporting never waned.
That series started a trend that exists today. I can't even guarantee a soldier's safety." Soldier (heard on news story film): "Welcome to Dong Xao. It took some doing, but he became the first New York City reporter to be embedded with the military in Vietnam. During that time, Bill took a stab at morning news hosting a show for ABC called "AM America." That show eventually became "Good Morning America."įrom his first days at Channel 7, Bill was an ardent advocate of local news also covering the world - firsthand.īill Beutel (from 2003 interview): "One thing I'm very proud of: Back in 1965 I wanted very much to go to Vietnam." 'Oh, you don't really mean that do you Roger?' Of course he did mean it."īeutel and Grimsby worked together for 16 years. I'd do anything for Roger, except lend him money."īill Beutel (interview segment from 2003): "Grimsby and I never set out to be funny, ever scripted any of the bon mots that came tumbling out of his mouth in particular.
Sometimes they finish second."īeutel (from a TV commercial): "People always ask me, 'What is Grimsby like?' Brash and arrogant. Grimsby (from a TV commercial): "Working with Bill all these years, I'm absolutely convinced there's nothing to the story that nice guys finish last. Grimsby and Beutel quickly became the most influential and most popular local news team in town. Two years later Bill was lured back to New York to share the anchor desk with Roger Grimsby for A revamped Channel 7 news program. 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." Peter Jennings (2002 Interview Segment): "One of the things I admire about Bill is he's not fancy. That's where he worked with a young reporter by name of Jennings.
He left his New York anchor desk in 1968 to join ABC News full time as the network's London Bureau chief. That's a story few know.īill began his television career on ABC in 1962 and pulled double duty as a reporter for ABC news and an anchor for Channel 7's one-hour evening newscast. His real name was pronounced Bill Boydel but his first news director didn't like the sound of it so he made him change it to Beutel. He was always generous and, most important for a reporter, curious. And sometimes offering a musical number or two. But he became, perhaps despite himself, a New York icon.īehind the scenes he was exactly the same as he was on camera, full of jokes, often self-deprecating. Rudolph Giuliani: "It's like a different city."īill never saw himself as a star, as bigger than the news. He covered nine presidents and seven New York mayors.īill Beutel: "In your first inaugural address, you said most thought New York was ungovernable, Goodnight"īill could give it to us straight or sometimes with a verbal twist. And he did, twice a night for more than three decades.Īnd when his newscast was over, when he was done telling us what we needed to know, he signed off with his trademark.īill Beutel (Eyewitness News Segment): "Good luck and be well. Here's Eyewitness News' Bill Ritter with Bill Beutel's story.īill Beutel didn't just read the news, he was our guide to an ever-changing New York and an ever changing world. A memorial service will take place sometime in the spring. Now he has passed on and we remember him and the legacy he left.Ī private funeral is planned for later in the week. Bill Beutel was a true newsman who inspired his co-workers, and made a big and lasting name for himself because of the stories he brought us and the way he told them. (New York- WABC, 2006) - For over three decades, he brought you the news on Channel 7.