Jim Heath

Infobox Person
name = Jim Heath
caption = Jim Heath


birth_date = birth date and age|1966|4|20
birth_place = Van Wert, Ohio
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = TV news journalist
parents = Rolden and Doris

"This article is about an anchorman, for the article on musician Jim Heath, see The Reverend Horton Heat."

Jim Heath (born April 20, 1966, in Van Wert, Ohio) is a television news anchorman on WPDE ABC in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area.

Heath moderated two nationally televised debates, one for South Carolina Governor in 2006, the other for the South Carolina U.S. Senate seat in 2004. With South Carolina on the frontline of determining both the Republican and Democratic nominees for president in 2008, Heath was the only anchor in the state who landed interviews with all the presidential candidates. He was invited onboard the campaign bus of Senator Fred Thompson during his first campaign trip to South Carolina. He interviewed Senator Barack Obama from one of the oldest and poorest schools in the south. He spent an inning at the ballpark interviewing former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He interviewed John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth Edwards as they walked into the South Carolina Democratic Convention. He interviewed former Governor Mitt Romney during his first campaign trip to Myrtle Beach. Heath was the only local journalist invited to interview Senator Hillary Clinton from Florence, South Carolina, as she began her presidential bid. [http://www.wpde.com/about/bio.aspx?id=146]

Heath has known and covered Republican presidential nominee John McCain for over twenty years. In 2002, Heath and McCain won an award from the Arizona Associated Press for a live interview. When McCain returned to Greenville, South Carolina in January, 2006, for the first time since his defeat in the 2000 South Carolina primary, Heath was granted the first interview. [http://www.wpde.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=45828] Heath also landed a rare interview with Cindy McCain. [http://www.wpde.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=51663]

On May 9, 2008, Heath was nominated for an EMMY® award for writing, producing and anchoring a one hour special "South Carolina on the Road to the White House." [http://www.natassoutheast.tv/NATAS/NewDesign/2008_EMMY_Noms_NATASSE2.pdf]

Biography

Before moving to South Carolina in 2003 Heath worked as an anchor and reporter in southern Arizona. Prior to television, Heath spent a decade in the political arena, including serving as a congressional press secretary, aide to a corporation commissioner, and a candidate for statewide public office in Arizona. [http://www.weeklysurge.com/2007Archives/092707%20archives/working092707.html]

Heath grew up in Arizona and was a communications major at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. He completed his broadcasting internship at KSAZ TV in Phoenix.

Recognition

* Heath has three times been selected Male Anchor of the Year by the Myrtle Beach Herald. [http://www.myrtlebeach2004.maleanchoroftheyear.com] [http://myrtlebeach2007.anchormanoftheyear.com]
* Readers of the Horry Independent picked Heath as Best TV Personality.
* He has received awards from the Associated Press for Best Live Reporting. [http://www.azbroadcasters.org/eventcal.html]
* Nominated for Southeast Regional Emmy Award." [http://www.natassoutheast.tv/NATAS/NewDesign/2008_EMMY_Noms_NATASSE2.pdf]

External links

* [http://www.wpde.com/about/bio.aspx?id=146 Official Biography] from NewsChannel 15