Warren G. Wilson, a groundbreaking Los Angeles news reporter, Wilson passed away on Sept. 24 in Oxnard, CA. He was 90 years old.
A trailblazer who broke the color barrier in every facet of American journalism, Wilson worked 40 years in radio, wire services, and television, and covered every major news story in Southern California.
His life will be celebrated during a private service on Saturday, Oct. 12, at 11 a.m., at First AME Church in Los Angeles. The Rev. Dr. Robert Shaw II, senior pastor, will serve as officiant.
Wilson marked many achievements throughout his career including being the first African American staff reporter hired at KNBC Channel 4 in the early 1970s. Beginning in 1982, he became known as “America’s most surrendered newsman” for arranging the surrender of 22 fugitives wanted by local law enforcement and the FBI.
“It’s a good feeling to know that people trust you,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I guess I can identify with the underdog because of what I’ve had to go through as a Black man working in a white world.”
He joined KTLA in 1985 and millions more people became acquainted with his trailblazing reporting style. In 1991, Wilson broke the Rodney King beating story, landing the first television interview with King inside his jail ward. His field reporting on the 1992 civil unrest, only three weeks after suffering a heart attack, was honored with a Peabody Award as part of KTLA’s team coverage.
Also, Wilson covered Nelson Mandala’s anti-apartheid tour in the U.S. and filed the first video images of young people using sledgehammers to dismantle the Berlin Wall, which separated East and West Germany. Other career highlights include coverage of eight presidential elections, Tom Bradley’s election of L.A.’s first Black mayor, and securing the first long form television interview with O.J. Simpson after Simpson was acquitted of murder.
To young journalists, Wilson recommended the advice of his father, who told him, “If they knock you down, don’t stay down. Get up. Go forward. If they knock you down again, do the same thing. Because if you don’t get up you are going to live in the gully with them.” Wilson added, “And I’ve used that my whole life.”
Warren Griffin Wilson was born on June 14, 1934, to Lonnie and Elizabeth Wilson, both sharecroppers in segregated Bethel, North Carolina. One of nine children, Wilson was a three-time MVP high school basketball student-athlete.
In 1952, Wilson enlisted in the United States Navy and as an E-3 Seaman, he spent his first year editing the base newspaper at Whidbey Island Naval Station in Washington. He transferred to other Pacific Command assignments and was elevated to staff correspondent to Vice Admiral Alfred Melville Pride, commander of the United States 7th Fleet Indo-Asia-Pacific region.
Upon his honorable discharge and distinguished service in the naval press office, Wilson’s professional career as a reporter began at City News Service in 1959 when he was hired by veteran war correspondent Joseph M. Quinn. In 1963, he joined United Press International in the Los Angeles bureau. During the Watts riots of 1965, Wilson was among only a few Black reporters.
While employed at KNBC, Wilson entered law school and earned a J.D. from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law. He also received a B.A. degree in Political Science from CSU-Los Angeles. He retired from his broadcast journalism career in 2005.
Wilson received many honors including six L.A. area Emmy honors, Broadcast Journalist of the Year award from the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Joseph M. Quinn Award for lifetime achievement from Los Angeles Press Club.
His survivors consist of six children, 11 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
