Benjamin AYCRIGG
Orlando Television’s Golden 50 List

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1. Ben Aycrigg

He’s been called the “Walter Cronkite of Orlando.” And for 35 years, that’s the way it was. Ben Aycrigg was the face Channel 6 news for many Central Floridians. He reported with authority and knowledge as someone who grew up in the region. After graduating from Winter Park High School in 1944, Aycrigg began work at WDBO-AM as a radio announcer. He went on to attend Rollins College, and after graduation he landed at job at WLOF-Channel 9 as a reporter in 1959. He worked there two years before jumping across town to the more popular WDBO-Channel 6 — the start of a long and distinguished career. He became the station’s first reporter for its four-person news department, one which he would head as news director from 1968-76. After anchoring solo most of his career, he began to be paired with co-anchors in 1976, eventually teaming with Annetta Wilson — the area’s first African-American anchor. In a period when Channel 6 lacked direction from its owner and was sliding in the ratings, Aycrigg was taken off the anchor desk in 1981. He was given the title of special projects director, but he didn’t keep that title long. After Carole Nelson left Channel 6 in the late ’80s, he was put back in the anchor seat for the station’s noon show, and then its new 5:30 p.m. news. For a short while, he even returned to the 6 p.m. show with Glenn Rinker — and ratings went up! When he retired in 1996 at age 70, he was still anchoring the noon show — paired again with Wilson, who had returned to Channel 6. A thoughtful journalist who worried about the influence of consultants and the lack of local ownership of TV stations, Aycrigg is remembered as a nice guy who was both well-respected and well-liked. Last I heard, he was enjoying retirement in Maitland.

TV Trivia: Aycrigg is an author. Before he retired from Channel 6, he wrote three fiction books — aimed at young people — that dealt with environmental issues and his passion for horses.



Learn more about the life of     Benjamin AYCRIGG.

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