Jack F. Angell, 90, a pioneer in Chicago radio and television news who was one of the first American broadcasters to tour Russia, died of a heart condition on Tuesday, Oct. 5, at an assisted living facility in Glenview, said his son, Steve.
Mr. Angell, a longtime Evanston resident, worked for NBC News in Chicago from the late 1940s to 1960. He covered several historic events and interviewed newsmakers including President Dwight Eisenhower and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
He became well-known during the 1950s when he anchored the morning, midday and evening news.
In a TV Guide advertisement for his nightly newscast published in August 1953, Mr. Angell was touted as “a hard-hitting newsman who knows the facts and presents them with accuracy and detail.”
“We would come home, sit in front of the television and watch Dad tell the news,” his son said. “He never made a big deal about it. But to be part of that first generation of people to report news on local television, that was a big moment.”
Mr. Angell was born and raised in Denver and graduated from Colorado College, where he was editor of the newspaper and also met his wife, Rosalind.
During World War II, he served as a lieutenant in the Army Air Forces, working as press officer and editing the base newspaper. After the war, Mr. Angell came to Chicago and began his career in radio and television.
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He joined WNMP-AM in 1947 and became the first voice of radio in Evanston. Later, he moved to WMAQ radio, a local NBC affiliate.
In the 1950s, Mr. Angell transitioned to television, landing a job as a newsman for WNBQ-Ch. 5. There he worked with other prominent NBC radio and television writer-commentators, including Norman Barry, Hugh Downs, Louis Roen and Len O’Connor.
Having studied Russian history and politics, Mr. Angell became fluent in Russian and sponsored one of the first sanctioned American trips to what was then the Soviet Union in the late 1950s.
In June 1957, the Tribune published a story about Mr. Angell’s trip that detailed his impression of Russian television. Mr. Angell said the Russians were about 10 years behind the United States in the TV field.
“But what they don’t have in equipment they make for in ingenuity,” Mr. Angell told the Tribune.
Mr. Angell found that Russians had no TV network, so they often used films or local entertainment to fill airtime.
After retiring from his broadcasting career in 1960, Mr. Angell joined the Chicago-based American Farm Bureau Federation as communications director and helped direct the farm bureau’s opposition to Cesar Chavez’s grape boycott.
Mr. Angell is also survived by his wife and a grandson.
A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Second Church of Christ Scientist, 2715 Hurd Ave., Evanston.