Longtime News Anchor Charlie Gaddy Has Died

Charlie Gaddy, longtime anchor for WRAL-TV NBC, has died. He was 93.

Gaddy anchored the evening news on the Raleigh, North Carolina, station for over 20 years. He died last Thursday, and no cause of death was listed.

He began his career as an NBC page in the 1950s before later moving to Raleigh as a newsman. In 1970, he began hosting Good Morning, Charlie on the Raleigh station, a morning news show where guests called in. He moved to the evening news in 1974.

Paired with co-anchor Bobbie Battista, weatherman Bob DeBardelaben, and sports journalist Rich Brenner, the four of them became beloved in their local community for their synergy and style on the air.

“A lot of the success the station enjoyed in those early years as the news really grew an audience was attributable to Charlie Gaddy,” said Fred Barber, former WRAL general manager.

Jimmy Goodmon, current president and COO of WRAL’s parent company Capitol Broadcast Company, released a statement honoring Gaddy.

“For many of us, it feels like the loss of a giant,” Goodmon continued. “Charlie was both a light in our community and a light within our own Capitol Broadcasting Company family. He will be deeply missed by us and by everyone who watched him deliver news with grace and integrity for decades. Charlie’s journalism legacy is one of compassion and curiosity and will live on in all of those he touched.”

On the station’s 50th anniversary, Gaddy, Battista, and DeBardelaben reunited on air to discuss their legacy at the station.

“I just feel like I was in the right place,” Gaddy said on the anniversary broadcast. “This was what I was supposed to do, and I wanted to do it well and tried to do it well.”