Bill Carlson

Inducted 2005

Bill Carlson began his broadcasting career as a CBS page at WCCO TV in 1951. More than fifty years later, he has worked in virtually every area of radio and television, an exciting journey that continues today.

Cedric Adams, Bob DeHaven, and Randy Merriman were helpful mentors during his early years, and later, working alongside people like Dave Moore, Charlie Boone, Bud Kraehling, Don Shelby, Pat Miles, and his future wife Nancy Nelson, helped shape Carlson's varied career. He has a special knack for the interview, and has done thousands of them, traveling over three million miles to be "on location." He considers Martin Luther King, Jr., the most memorable, but John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Muhammad Ali, Richard Burton, and Barbra Streisand are also high on the list. Though he's done every sort of special event, and sat in every news team seat (anchor, weather, and sports), his longest association has been with the noon block on WCCO TV. Forty years ago, it was called "Something Special," and he did weather and interviews. Later it became a news program, and Bill continued as the familiar anchor viewers have watched for over four decades.

Bill Carlson passed away February 29, 2008 at the age of 73.