Black News Channel (BNC), the nation’s only African American news network, today announced that Gary C. Wordlaw has been named Vice President of News & Programming. In this role, Mr. Wordlaw will be responsible for developing and producing original news programming that will be able to make a deep, rich connection to the network’s target audience of African Americans.
Mr. Wordlaw hails from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and he began his career in broadcast news more than 50 years ago. At the age of 16, Mr. Wordlaw became one of the first African American television employees hired in the state of Tennessee. After attending college, Mr. Wordlaw continued his career in broadcast news by working as a reporter, writer, photographer, and every other job in a broadcast news operation, including president and general manager. As a veteran station executive, Mr. Wordlaw has worked for many of the nation’s largest local television markets like Washington, DC and Baltimore. Mr. Wordlaw has also held numerous journalism teaching positions at prestigious universities, as well as appeared as a guest on the Oprah Winfrey show. Mr. Wordlaw is an eight-time Emmy-award winner for broadcast news and a recipient of numerous other awards resulting from his work in the broadcast news industry.
“As an innovative and life-changing network, Black News Channel’s mission is to provide intelligent programming that is informative, educational, entertaining, inspiring and empowering to our African American audience,” says network Chairman J.C. Watts, Jr. “With Gary’s wealth of experience and knowledge in the news business, we are more than confident that he will exceed our programming goals for the network.”
“I feel like I have been interviewing for this job all my life,” says Wordlaw. “I am excited to be part of a news organization that gives a voice to the varied experiences, issues, points-of-view, priorities and implications that matter to African Americans.”
