He’s considered the Dean of television news anchors in the Jacksonville, Fla., market, and has been associated with an unaffiliated broadcast TV station today owned by Graham Media Group since 1975, when it was the market’s CBS affiliate and licensed to The Washington Post Co.
His final newscast has been set for 6pm on Friday, May 31.
Tom Wills will be signing off as the lead anchor for WJXT-TV, “News4JAX” — the Graham Media Group station that has been been a strong independent player in a fast-growing market since July 15, 2002.
After “thoughtful and prayerful consideration” with his wife, “of many factors in our lives right now,” Wills decided that the time has come for him to retire after almost a half-century at WJXT.
“Words are inadequate to express my profound gratitude for your loyalty to this television station,” he told viewers on Thursday.
Terri Cope Walton, VP/GM of WJXT and The CW Network-affiliated WCWJ-TV in Jacksonville, commented, “Tom Wills has been an integral part of the News4JAX family for nearly five decades, and his dedication to journalistic excellence has been unmatched. His passion for storytelling and commitment to serving our community have left an indelible mark on all of us. While we will miss his presence in the newsroom, we are incredibly grateful for his contributions over the years and wish him a fulfilling and well-deserved retirement.”
Wills’ career began at then-WJXT siblings WTOP Radio and WTOP-TV (now WUSA9). There, he covered the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Tom Wills is, like RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson, an alumnus of the journalism school at American University in Washington, D.C. Willis taught news reporting as an adjunct professor at the school, and both Wills and Jacobson were on-air personalities at WVAU-AM 610, the student-run radio station (pictured, at right, some 20 years prior to Jacobson’s arrival). 
