Former CBS 2 anchorman Bill Kurtis will return to CBS 2 Chicago as host of the award winning crime show "Cold Case Files" and will contribute to CBS 2 News a series of special, syndicated reports, titled "The Cold Case Minutes."
Bill Kurtis, former Chicago and network news anchor, returns to CBS 2 Chicago as host of the award winning crime show Cold Case Files. The syndicated episodes, which were produced by Kurtis's production company and originally aired on the A&E cable network, will air Monday through Friday on CBS 2 at 1 a.m. beginning September 21, 2009.
Additionally, Kurtis will contribute to CBS 2 News a series of special, syndicated reports, titled The Cold Case Minutes. This series will debut on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 during CBS 2 News at 10 p.m.
"Cold Case Files is one of television's best documentary series reported by one of television's best newsmen. CBS 2 is honored to be back in business with Bill Kurtis – both as a program host and as a contributor to our news," said Bruno Cohen, president & general manager of the station.
The Cold Case Minute with Bill Kurtis will be a regular feature on CBS 2 newscasts. The stories will provide up-to-date information about unsolved local and national homicides and reach out to viewers for help in solving these crimes. Kurtis will also tell current stories about the work of local and national detectives who are experts in crime detection. The Cold Case Minute will reveal how traditional detective work combines state-of-the-art technology to resolve crimes that, in some cases, happened years ago.
"After more than 40 years in broadcasting, it's a wonderful feeling to come back home to WBBM-TV and bring the Cold Case franchise with me," Kurtis said. "Chicago is my home and we are known as a community of people who care deeply about solving crimes – no matter how old the case is. My hope is The Cold Case Minute alongside the Cold Case Files will remind each of us to remain aware and get involved."
"We are thrilled to have Bill contribute to our newscast much in the same way he did years ago – telling interesting and important stories to Chicago viewers," Jeff Kiernan, news director for CBS 2 News said. "Bill built his career in Chicago, and moved up from a no-nonsense, investigative journalist, to a successful local and network news anchor and ultimately a premier documentarian."
Cold Case Files, which first aired in 1999, has consistently been among the highest rated programs on A & E, is now making its broadcast television premiere.
Bill Kurtis began his Chicago broadcast career as a field reporter in 1966 at CBS2 [WBBM-TV], after working on air at CBS-owned WIBW in Topeka, Kansas. In 1968, Kurtis became anchor of The Channel Two News, and then in 1970, became a correspondent for CBS News in Los Angeles. In 1973, Kurtis returned to the WBBM-TV anchor desk in Chicago - where he worked alongside Walter Jacobson - and is credited with breaking the Agent Orange story [1978]. In 1982, Kurtis was tapped by the network to anchor The CBS Morning News and also worked as a contributor to CBS Reports. In 1985, Kurtis returned to Chicago and to CBS 2 news and, since that time, has expanded his broadcast career to documentaries.
As a documentarian, Kurtis won the Peabody Award for The New Explorers and, after establishing his production company in 1990, Kurtis began producing programs for the A&E Network, including the award winning Cold Case Files, which was nominated for Primetime Emmys for Outstanding Nonfiction Series in 2004 and 2005.
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