Jessica Savitch

Jessica Savitch was born on February 1, 1947 in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Her father suddenly died when she was just 12 years old. It was he that encouraged her for a career in broadcast journalism. Jessica first considered a career in broadcasting while in high school. A friend then got her a job part-time reading the local news on the radio. When Jessica decided to major in communications at Ithaca College in New York, her faculty adviser bluntly told her that she was not part of broadcasting because she is a woman. His sexist words gave Jessica even more determination to prove him wrong. After graduation, Jessica became an all-around assistant for CBS-Radio in New York City.

In 1971, she landed a job at KHOU-TV in Houston, Texas. Three months later, she enjoyed the distinction of becoming the first woman in the South to anchor a broadcast.

In 1972, Jessica accepted a job to anchor the weekend newscast in Philadelphia. Over the next few years, Jessica slowly worked her way up and fought hard to be treated fairly in comparison to the other male anchors and correspondents.

In 1977, Jessica signed a contract with New York's NBC station to anchor their Sunday evening broadcast, NBC Nightly News. She was then appointed co-anchor of Prime Time Sunday later that year. Jessica's rise to stardom inspired resentment among her colleagues who felt she hadn't paid her dues by first working as a network correspondent. However Jessica's rise to fame apparently came with a price as rumors about drug use and instability dogged her.

Savitch separated from her first husband, Mel Korn, after only 10 months of marriage in November 1980. Her second husband, Dr. Donald Payne, committed suicide by hanging just over four months after their wedding. The shock of discovering Payne hanging in their basement lead to Savitch miscarrying in the fourth month of her pregnancy.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 703-704. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.

Things came to a head on October 3, 1983 when, during a live news update, Jessica appeared incoherent in which her speech was slurred, she deviated from her copy and ad-libbed her report. She at first explained that her monitor had malfunctioned. But her agent inadvertently contradicted her alibi by saying that she was under medication from a head injury several weeks earlier. A short while later, Jessica seemed to get back on track for her contract at NBC was extended and she was ranked high on the list of replacements for Jane Pauley who was scheduled to take a maternity leave.

Her life formed the original basis of Michelle Pfeiffer's character in Up Close & Personal (1996), but Savitch's story was considered too downbeat and was rewritten to be more upbeat.

Will Ferrell also borrowed from Jessica's struggles in writing Christina Applegate's 70s female anchor role in his film, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004).

The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia posthumously inducted her into their Hall of Fame in 2006.