From his arrival in South Dakota in 1966 through the 1980s, he was an iconic figure in local broadcast television.
Most recently, he was retired, and living in Southwest Florida.
Now, TV industry executives from the across the U.S. are pausing to pay tribute to Bill Turner.
Turner, the longtime Sioux City market GM, passed away Thursday (6/19) in Naples, Fla., at the age of 90.
“Bill was a Siouxland media fixture,” evening news anchor Matt Breen said during the 6pm newscast on Thursday.
Turner’s first stop in Sioux City was at ABC affiliate KCAU-9, today a Nexstar Media Group property. He was there for 23 years, and in 1989 landed at NBC affiliate KTIV-4 in Sioux City, Iowa, today owned by Quincy Media, Inc.
He retired from KTIV, and television, in 1994, moving from Iowa to Collier County, Fla. In 2004, Turner was presented with Broadcast Pioneer Award, which was awarded by the Broadcasters’ Foundation Board of Directors.
KTIV meteorologist Ron Demers said to viewers, “When I first started here at KTIV bill was the General Manager and I remember he was kind of a fixture in this town, and I was kind of intimidated by him, to be honest with you, but he was always fair with me and always had a very good relationship.”
Sports anchor Brad Pautsch added, “Bill was here the first four years I was here and when I started there was still a lot of Sioux City legends that were working at KTIV … we always felt good that Bill was in charge here.”
Turner’s TV career dates to 1954, when he and his wife Dolly moved from New Britain, Conn., to Rapid City, S. Dakota, to build a new TV station under Duhamel Broadcasting ownership.
Twelve years later, he took the job at KCAU-TV, owned by Forward Communications in 1966.
Under his leadership, KCAU became one of the most successful ABC affiliates, making a profit in an era when “Batman” was perhaps its top series, well before “Monday Night Football” cemented ABC as a “Top Three” network.
Funeral services are pending, the Sioux City Journal reports.
