Bill Kurtis

Bill Kurtis is co-anchor of the weekday CBS 2 News at 6 PM  with Walter Jacobson. The legendary anchor team has reunited and returned to WBBM-TV where they once dominated Chicago’s 10 PM news from 1973 until 1982.

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Bill is an award-winning journalist who began his Chicago television career at WBBM-TV in 1966 as a reporter. In 1973, he was promoted to co-anchor the 10 PM evening news alongside Walter Jacobson.

The celebrated anchor team of Bill and Walter went on to earn the No. 1 ratings position for most of the 16 years they were on air. In 1982, Bill became anchor of CBS Morning News in New York. In 1985, he returned to Chicago and to WBBM-TV as the 10 PM anchor [1985-1996].

Bill is renowned for reporting several groundbreaking stories during his television news career. In 1966 at WIBW-TV in Topeka Kan., Bill was recognized for his coverage of a severe tornado that killed 16 and injured hundreds.

He stayed on the air for 24 straight hours reporting the destruction.

He covered the Richard Speck murders and the Charles Manson trial, and is credited with breaking the Agent Orange story as well as the Amerasian children in Vietnam.

Reports such as these have contributed to numerous honors and recognitions, including more than 20 Emmys, the 1998 Illinois Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame Award, and the 2003 Kansas Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame Award.

In addition to spending more than 27 years behind the anchor desk at CBS 2, Bill is a celebrated documentary filmmaker, a motion picture narrator and a nationally recognized former advertising personality and successful entrepreneur.

In 1990, he founded Kurtis Productions, where he produced documentaries for the television show, The New Explorers on the A&E cable network. He continues to produce and host A&E’s American Justice, recognized as the longest running nonfiction justice series on cable, and Cold Case Files, nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Nonfiction Series in 2004 and 2005.

Bill narrated the Will Ferrell satirical comedy “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and was featured in several AT&T Mobility commercials that poke fun at his serious investigative journalist persona.

He is also the founder of the Tallgrass Beef Company and an investor in the Prairie Grass Café in Northbrook–both businesses reflect his interest in raising and marketing grass-fed beef.

Bill was raised in Independence, Kan., graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.S. in journalism in 1962 and he earned his J.D. from Washburn University School of Law in 1966.

Bill and his longtime partner, Donna, actively support several Chicago not-for-profit organizations and they split their time between homes in Chicago and their 10,000 acre ranch in southeastern Kansas.