Bill Ingram

Perhaps the most famous wink in Twin Cities broadcasting history belonged to television pioneer Bill Ingram, who anchored the nation’s first regularly scheduled nightly 10:00 p.m. newscast at KSTP TV Minneapolis/Saint Paul.

A native of Omaha, Nebraska, he grew up in Chicago, and served in the US Army in the Philippines during World War II, receiving a Purple Heart. While recuperating in an Army hospital in New Guinea, he began broadcasting with Armed Forces Radio, and after the war worked at radio stations in Wisconsin before moving to KSTP TV in 1948. In 1949, he anchored the station’s pioneering news program. His skills in reporting, editing, and narrating, and his blend of dignity and warmth helped set trends that were adopted by television stations and news teams throughout the country.

He left KSTP in 1959, and moved to KROC TV Rochester, then WMAQ TV Chicago, and then WDSM TV Duluth. He retired to Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1975. Viewers loved his sign-off: “That’s it … that’s the news. Thanks for your company,” accompanied by a wink.

Bill Ingram passed away, at the age of 69, on December 28, 1989.