Vince Leonard

Vince Leonard (born Homer Venske in 1925) is a former Philadelphia news anchor.

Vince Leonard was born in Minnesota and served as a Navy pilot in World War II. He came to Philadelphia in April 1958 from Indianapolis, Indiana. Settling in Malvern, Pennsylvania, he replaced Taylor Grant at Channel 3, which was WRCV-TV at the time. They operated out of a small television studio at 1619 Walnut Street in Center City Philadelphia. When starting in 1958, the newscast was only 15 minutes long and five of that went to Wally Kinnan, "The Weather Man." Shortly thereafter, Jim Leaming joined the team doing sports. In those early days, when they ran film (usually shot the day before), they ran music in the background. Leonard was there in August 1965 when KYW-TV News Director Al Primo instituted "Eyewitness News" and Vince stayed as anchor. Leonard and Channel 3 stayed on the top of the rating heap until 1971.

There was some resurgence in the news team at KYW-TV during the early days of the "Eyewitness News". Since July 1979, Leonard only anchored the 6 p.m. news with Beverly Williams. Before that, he also anchored all the other evening and late evening newscasts. In 1979, he was removed from the 5:30 p.m. & 11 p.m. portions of the news and replaced by Dick Sheeran, among others. Leonard, who was born and raised in Minnesota said, "I was very upset when I was taken off the 11 o'clock news, but I didn't leave here with any bitterness."

In 1974, Mort Crim was brought in to join Vince and later Jessica Savitch. They became the first tri-anchor newscast in the country and shortly thereafter, they were again number one.

Within a couple months of leaving Channel 3 on May 30, 1980, Vince joined KPNX-TV in Phoenix, Arizona as anchor. He left the station at the age of 64 in July 1989. At that time, Leonard, whose father was a schoolteacher said, "After 44 years of broadcasting, things have gone well for me and they're still going well. Unlike an aging ballplayer who hangs around beyond his prime, I'd like to leave when things are looking good. I'm ready for retirement. I'm looking forward to it."

References

* [http://www.geocities.com/broadcastpioneers1/vince.html Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia]