For nearly five decades, you’ve allowed News4JAX anchor Tom Wills to come into your homes -- and these days straight to your phones -- to deliver the news. He'll do it for the last time on Friday before he enters a well-deserved retirement.
Don’t be fooled: Here’s the real deal of how six planets will appear in the sky June 3Over six decades, the set designs have changed around him, his hair has changed and the clothes have definitely changed.It’s a role that both humbles and honors the longtime broadcaster. And it’s not one he takes for granted.
That pioneering Jacksonville television station that helped invent local TV news more than 60 years ago is now the nationally recognized “Channel 4:Tom, a native of Pittsburgh, began his career as a radio broadcaster in Washington, D.C., in 1964. Five years later, he was hired by Washington’s all-news radio station, WTOP-AM, which was owned by the Washington Post Company, now known as Graham Media Group.While in D.C., Tom covered the Martin Luther King Jr.
Over those years, Tom became one of the most recognized and respected citizens of Jacksonville and has mentored generations of broadcast journalists.In his 49 years at WJXT, Tom helped guide the station through its transition from a CBS affiliate to an independent station in 2002; covered two space shuttle disasters, the 9/11 terror attacks and various political scandals; and witnessed first-hand the birth of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995.
“When I met the injured Billy Powell at our airport back here in Jacksonville when he flew home from Mississippi, we connected. It led to a private and personal friendship that continued until his death in 2009,” Tom said. “I’ve also had good relationships with Johnny Van Zant, Rickie Medlocke, and Judy Van Zant.”Tom said he’ll also never forget enduring months co-anchoring the news from a card table in his home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Tom’s goal was always to improve the on-air product, and in a profession known for high pressure and big egos, Tom is humble and kind to everyone. He treats interns and studio assistants with the same respect as his newscast producers.when Tom made a memorably emotional plea
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