Ernie Anastos obit

Ernie Anastos Dies: Longtime New York TV News Anchor Was 82

 He was not on the list.

Ernie Anastos, a TV news presence in New York for more than 40 years who worked at network affiliates WABC, WCBS and WNYW and won many local Emmys, died March 11. He was 82.

His family confirmed the news to WABC on Thursday.

Born on July 12, 1943, Anastos began his career in Boston radio in the mid-1970s and pivoted to TV with an anchor position at WPRI in Providence, RI. He moved to WABC in 1978 and was named anchor of its 11 p.m. Eyewitness News that fall. He later added the 5 p.m. newscast to his duties and stayed in that post until 1982, when he was replaced by Tom Snyder, who’d just wrapped a nine-year run as host of NBC’s Tomorrow.

After co-anchoring a short-lived 4:30 newscast at WABC, Anastos went back to the station’s anchor desk after Snyder moved to Los Angeles, staying at the network until 1989.

About a month after leaving WABC, Anastos moved to rival WCBS as its lead anchor, where he fronted its 11 p.m. show until the mid-’90s. He then would focus for the next half-decade on radio and TV ownership through his Anastos Media Group.

In 2001, he returned to WCBS as lead anchor on its 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscast. While there he helped anchor the station’s coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks including on the World Trade Center less than five miles away from its studio.

Anastos inked a five-year contract with $2 million a year at rival Fox affiliate WNYW-TV in 2005, where he led its evening newscasts. He remained at the station for 15 years before leaving to attend Harvard Business School.

Anastos earned more than 30 local News Emmys during his career and received an Edward R. Murrow Award for broadcast excellence. He was inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2024.

In 2017, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio honored Anastos by designating every March 21 to be Ernie Anastos Day.

Anastos covered stories including the September 11 attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic. He reported on Cuba under Fidel Castro in 2004 and interviewed US presidents Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and South African bishop Desmond Tutu. He had broadcast ownership of AM and FM radio stations in New York State and New England. He was also the CEO of his own television production company creating entertainment programming. He launched an Internet youth channel and also published newspapers and magazines. He performed on-camera roles as himself in Hollywood motion pictures such as Independence Day, Summer of Sam, Run All Night, and The Yards.