In 2024, Detroit TV news lost three iconic figures from the glory days of Motor City broadcasting, as well as an unexpected goodbye to a former reporter who was on his way to a stellar career as a Los Angeles news anchor.
Marilyn Turner
Turner, who passed away in March at the age of 93, could be described as Detroit’s Kelly Ripa. The veteran weathercaster for WJBK-TV (Channel 2) and WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) changed careers in 1977 to become a talk-show host with her husband, news anchor John Kelly, on the long-running morning show “Kelly & Company.”
Turner and Kelly, Detroit’s superstar TV couple, interviewed stars ranging from Kirk Douglas to Donny Osmond and even made a cameo on “General Hospital.”
According to WXYZ, her son, Dean Turner, described his mother as a “trailblazer.” She persevered in difficult times, when it was extremely difficult for a woman to advance.”
Doris Biscoe
Biscoe, who died in June, was a beacon of journalistic excellence at WXYZ for more than 25 years, as well as one of the most popular figures in Detroit’s television market.
As a pioneering Black woman reporter and anchor, she made her mark at a time when Detroit’s stations, like the rest of the country, were staffed primarily by white men.
In addition to her news work, Biscoe hosted a weekly literacy program for children, “Learn to Read,” and appeared as a newscaster in the 1987 Detroit-produced mystery, “The Rosary Murders,” starring Donald Sutherland. In a 1998 Free Press profile, Biscoe revealed the grit behind her grace: “If somebody tells me, ‘No, you can’t do it,’ then I’m going to make sure I damn well do it,” she said.
Rob Kress
Weathercaster Kress spent approximately 16 years as a key member of a stellar WXYZ news team that included heavyweights such as Biscoe, Jerry Hodak, Bill Bonds, and Diana Lewis. In September, he died at the age of 77 in Grosse Pointe Woods.
Aside from being an on-air meteorologist, Kress was a devoted father and talented musician who once toured with Conway Twitty and Chuck Berry. Kress openly discussed the difficulties of living with Lyme disease, which helped end his broadcasting career in the mid-1990s.
Chauncy Glover
Glover, a Los Angeles news anchor and former reporter for Detroit’s WDIV-TV (Channel 4), died unexpectedly in November at 39. Prior to joining Local 4 News in Detroit, the Alabama native worked for stations in Georgia and Florida.
While in Detroit in 2013, he founded the Chauncy Glover Project, which the Free Press described as “created to mold inner-city young men into educated, financially responsible, well-mannered gentlemen.” Glover joined Los Angeles CBS station KCAL in 2023 after eight years as a news anchor in Houston.
