Alan Pergament: Jacquie Walker's goodbye highlighted by respect from co-workers and rivals (2024)

As strong as Jacquie Walker’s weeklong memories of her reporting were before she departed the anchor desk Wednesday, a piece by WIVB-TV (Channel 4) anchor-reporter Kelsey Anderson about all the newspeople she mentored or influenced perhaps spoke the loudest to her legacy.

Several former Channel 4 reporters and producers mentioned Walker’s influence, including Tara Lynch, Michele Mehaffy, Kathy Swenson, Ellen Maxwell Notarius and Mary Lynn Ryan.

Almost all of those interviewed were women who viewed Walker as a role model.

But perhaps the most impactful words came from former WIVB producer Aaron Mason, who now is the news director of rival WKBW-TV (Channel 7). He spoke eloquently of Walker’s influence over 40 years in the market.

Walker’s goodbye on the 6 p.m. newscast Wednesday illustrated the respect she has earned from colleagues, rivals and politicians she has covered.

The respect from rivals at WKBW and WGRZ-TV was illustrated by their brief mentions Wednesday of her leaving the anchor desk and congratulating her for 40 years at Channel 4.

While the word “respect” has become synonymous with Walker, she has been careful to avoid another R word – retirement. She plans to do special reports for the station and may occasionally pop up as an anchor.

Still, Channel 2 co-anchors Scott Levin and Maryalice Demler wished her a happy retirement even after Levin said Walker will continue working on special projects. I understand the confusion.

Walker seemed to be holding back tears at the end of Wednesday’s final regular newscast as present and past members of Channel 4’s staff surrounded her as she delivered some final words of gratitude.

“You are our rock star,” said Don Postles, her co-anchor for 22 years as he held her hand.

Then he delivered a line to lighten the mood that spoke to Channel 2’s confusion about her retirement.

“I’ll see you next week,” said Postles to laughter.

The recent death of actor Dabney Coleman made me head to the internet to find a 90-second speech he gave as Bill Bittinger, the talk show host he played in the critically acclaimed but low-rated 1983 NBC comedy, “Buffalo Bill.” The title of the speech: “What’s Great About Buffalo.” I suggest you watch it, too.

I vaguely remember briefly driving Coleman around when he came to Western New York to shoot some footage here at the then-Rich Stadium for the opening credits of the series set in Buffalo. It was the "Larry Sanders Show" of its day, with Coleman playing an arrogant, insensitive, insecure talk host.

The cast was exceptional, too. Geena Davis before she became a movie star; Joanna Cassidy while she was a movie star; Meshach Taylor before "Designing Women"; Max Wright before "ALF"; Charles Robinson before "Night Court."

Brandon Tartikoff, the late NBC Entertainment president, called the cancellation of “Buffalo Bill” after 26 episodes one of his toughest calls.

Sometime later, I asked Coleman during an interview in Los Angeles how mad he was when "Buffalo Bill" was canceled. "I wasn't, to tell you the truth," he said. "My immediate reaction as I recall was: 'Well, that's OK. I think it's a mistake. But that's OK. I'll just move on.' As time went on, I regretted not being able to do that series, because it was a very good one."

He went from talk show host to an egocentric sportswriter in the 1987 ABC comedy "The Slap Maxwell Story." It lasted two seasons.

"That show was not canceled," said Coleman. "I said, I will not do this show again with this particular person. Him or me. So we didn't do it."

He was referring to Jay Tarses, the creator of "Slap."

Coleman was later cast as an irreverent columnist for a magazine run by his daughter in the 1994 NBC series “Madman of the People.”

And get this: It reportedly was inspired by the relationship between Tarses and his daughter, Jamie, who became an NBC executive in charge of her dad's show. It lasted one season.

Asked why he often played a member of the media, Coleman said: "Off the top of my head, maybe because of some of the things that I have done, the writers feel this is the guy who can say what I want to say. He can be annoyed, and angry, and cantankerous. He will be my voice for what I want to say."

Inquiring minds want to know: Why isn't low power station WBXZ (Channel 56) carrying several stations that used to be on the channel, including Cozi TV, Retro TV, Throwback TV and DriveIn TV. A spokesperson for the channel texted: “Not all channels are returning.” He hasn’t responded to texts asking which channels and why.