Scott Vincent Biography

Scott Vincent (December 23, 1922 " May 31, 1979) was an American radio and television announcer and news anchor.

Scott Vincent was a staff announcer for nearly 25 years at ABC's flagship owned-and-operated station WABC-TV in New York. His first assignments were for WABC Radio in 1955, including "The Scott Vincent Show," "Scott's Tour," Scott Vincent News." From October 1955 through April 1956, Scott Vincent was narrator/host for "New Sounds for You," a new-concept broadcast designed to compete with NBC's "Monitor." Local papers reported: "Because the United States Information Agency required a new series combining entertainment, quality of production and a comprehensive format, it requested permission from ABC to transmit "New Sounds For You" regularly on a world-wide scale." The USIA also beamed "New Sounds" behind the Iron Curtain. The premiere broadcast of "New Sounds for You" was named "Outstanding Broadcast" by Radio-Television Daily in 1955. Scott also hosted another ABC Radio program in 1956, "America's Town Meeting of the Air." "Town Meeting" tackled issues of the day such as: "Is the government controlled by Big Business." Vincent moderated that particular debate with two members of key Congressional committees. In 1957, Vincent was show announcer for "The Merv Griffin Show," broadcast live from the Elysee Theater in New York as part of the "Live and Lively" campaign for the, then, newly formed American Broadcasting Network. Scott Vincent's radio credits from 1958 include "The Constance Bennett Show". In 1961, he hosted "Pilgrimage: The American Scene," an ecumenical series sponsored by the National Council of Churches on ABC Radio, designed to showcase American heritage in songs and music, past and present.

While continuing to do programs and news for ABC Radio, local and network, Scott Vincent pursued work in television. In 1957, he was the off-screen announcer in the style of Frank Galop for the classic "Shock Theater" package of 52 horror movies from Universal Studios on WABC-TV. He was also the on-camera host for "Family Film Festival." On October 26, 1959, WABC-TV News tapped Scott to anchor "Report to New York" on-camera. His colleagues included Howard Cosell with sports, and Lyn Dollar, Penny Wright (Regina Dombek), Simon McQueen and Jan Crockett with the weather. Telly Savalas was one of the original directors of these programs. Ratings were consistently strong for "Report to New York." In addition to "Report to New York," Scott was on-camera host from 1960-61 for "Expedition: New York," the Emmy nominated series for informing and entertaining children. He anchored the critically acclaimed live one hour WABC-TV special, "Youth: A Summer Crisis," and received accolades from "Variety":

"On the whole this searching analysis was a creditable public service documentary of which WABC-TV may well be proud. Host-narrator Scott Vincent adeptly handled his chores..."

Scott Vincent and Bill Shadel shared anchoring duties for WABC-TV live election coverage on November 1, 1961. Scott continued his weekday anchoring duties at the station through October 19, 1962. He anchored on-camera WABC-TV's first Sunday late night news telecast, "Sunday News Final", 11:00 - 11:15pm, from April 2, 1961 through January 27, 1963, opposite Walter Cronkite on WCBS and Frank Blair on WNBC. He anchored WABC's 11 pm newscasts through 1966. He also voiced "Directions" for WABC TV in 1965, and anchored ABC network news reports on camera during the mid-sixties.

Scott Vincent's other credits as staff announcer for the ABC television network include "Music For A Spring Night", "Music For A Summer Night" which aired from 1959"60, and "Music for a Winter Night," a Christmas special with Florence Henderson, Stephen Douglas and Mindy Carson which aired on December 18, 1960. On April 27, 1962, Scott was the off-camera host of "Till Autumn," the Season 4, Episode 14 broadcast of "The Bell Telephone Hour" for NBC. Scott was also show announcer for "The Jimmy Dean Show" on ABC, which aired for three seasons from September 19, 1963 to April 1, 1966 from New York. Scott Vincent could also be heard doing news inserts on Musicradio 77 WABC during Bruce Morrow and Charlie Greer's programs in the early to mid-sixties. Scott Vincent's association with disk jockey "Cousin" Bruce Morrow continued on WABC TV for the 1966 special "It's a Mod Mod World," and "The Bruce Morrow Show" (1967), with Scott as the show announcer.

In 1968, WABC tapped Scott Vincent's ability to generate excitement and sustain viewership across a 2-1/2 hour span by assigning him to two shows, back to back. The first was "The Big Show," later rechristened "The 4:30 Movie," a 90 minute lead in to Al Primo's groundbreaking "Eyewitness News" at 6 and 11PM. Scott voiced these programs with a vital, engaging style that kept viewers tuned in to WABC from 4:30 to 7 PM, and the ABC News programming which followed. Sometimes Scott's unique and exciting announcing style eclipsed the on-air talent that WABC hired for the program. When, for example, during the mid-1970s, WABC recruited Tom Ellis and Bill Bonds from other stations to co-anchor with Roger Grimsby, Newsday critic Marvin Kitman wrote:

"Neither Bonds nor Ellis is as exciting as the announcer who tells us of things "STILL TO COME: Tex with the Weather...Anna with the Hustle..." That voice should become an anchorman one day."

Scott announced The 4:30 Movie and "Eyewitness News" off camera, and he voiced promos for these programs that ran on WABC day and night for ten years. The indelible signature style Scott Vincent created for Eyewitness News was eventually distributed on tape by management to all of ABC's owned-and-operated stations as the model for Eyewitness News show opens across the country. His voice so saturated and dominated the airwaves of that station during the 1970s that he became known as "The Voice of WABC." Scott Vincent was a graduate of Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1944. In 1946, he earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Princeton University. Scott Vincent died on May 31, 1979 in Bronxville, New York at age 57.