Jim Boyd Boston news: the longtime WCVB-TV morning and midday anchor in Boston died Tuesday at 84. He had spent nearly four decades at WCVB-TV, where viewers knew him as a steady on-air presence on Channel 5.
Linda Polach said Boyd treated people the same whether they were presidents or garbage collectors. Susan Wornick said viewers used to ask, “Is Jim as nice as he seems?”
Linda Polach on Jim Boyd
Polach said, “Anybody who came up to talk with him, he would talk with them.” She added, “He met presidents and lawn workers, and speakers of the house and garbage collectors. He was the same with everybody. He respected everyone as an equal.”
That description matched the way he carried himself on camera and away from it. Boyd made numerous visits to schools and community groups, including YMCA in Roxbury and the Youth Enrichment Services, where he spoke with and inspired children and youths.
WCVB-TV and Boston viewers
Wornick, his longtime Channel 5 co-anchor, said, “Truly, he had that impact on people,” after recalling the question viewers kept asking about him. She also said, “He was kind of the straight man in our team,” a role that helped shape the morning and midday broadcasts he anchored.
Emily Rooney said Boyd was “every manager would like to clone — loyal, dedicated, didn’t call in sick, and never complained about an assignment.” She also said, “he was also movie-star handsome and had that elusive journalistic credibility.” Liz Walker said, “Jim was the consummate hard-working reporter and more importantly he was a great guy,” and added, “Jim was friendly, kind, knowledgeable, welcoming, and helpful. He was a real gentleman on and off camera.”
Needham, Quincy, and Concord
Boyd had lived in Needham for many years and was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2012. His path was not straight: at 19, he was asked to leave college because his grades were poor, then began his broadcasting career in the mailroom of National Educational Television in New York City.
He later worked as an NET producer and traveled the world. In 2012, he told a seniors conference in Quincy, “This is a television studio. This is how they put television programs on the air.”
The same man who had been told, “Jim, you can’t come back,” later finished his long-set-aside bachelor’s degree in 2013. That year, he told a Concord gathering, “It all turned out extraordinarily well for me,” and added, “I realized good things happen to good people even if they had made a mistake or two.”
Boyd’s death closes a long run at WCVB-TV and leaves Boston without one of its most familiar television voices. His health had been failing before he died Tuesday at 84.
