Beutel Slows Down

-- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/11/2000

WABC-TV 's Bill Beutel, the senior anchor presence in the nation's No. 1 market, will cut back his work load in the new year and move from the anchor desk to a reporter's role. He will have his own producer assigned, and General Manager Tom Kane commented that "we want him on every day, as often as we can get him."

Approaching 70, Beutel has been with ABC since the early 1960s and, in 1970, was a key player, with late co-anchor Roger Grimsby, in the legendary early days of Eyewitness News. He first cut back a year ago, dropping his 11 p.m. shift. His replacement there, Bill Ritter, is a candidate to replace him on the earlier show as well. "We want to look at Eyewitness News anchors before we go elsewhere," said Kane.