The Wall of Distinction
(C) 2008 Syracuse Press Club.
Art Peterson
WIXT
WFBL
WHEN-TV, WCNY-TV
Press Club President: 1969
Art Peterson began his 38-year news media career "inauspiciously," he says, as a "gopher" -- sort of an office boy at the old World-Telegram in New York City. But World War II was going on and the Brooklyn teenager decided to leave that job to join the U.S. Marines. He was trained as an aerial navigator and sent to Hawaii to serve on transport aircraft.
The war didn't last much longer, but his Hawaiian duty placed Art in what was to become his life-long career. He ended up broadcasting on Armed Forces Radio.
After his discharge, Art continued in his new career, broadcasting at radio stations in Georgia, Alabama and New Jersey. Along the way, he attended South Georgia College. He did some news at the Alabama and Georgia stations, but mostly was in other jobs, including disc jockey. It was at New Jersey station WCTC that Art finally got his first real experience covering news, a goal since he took that early job at the World-Telegram.
In 1951, he left WCTC and moved to Syracuse to join WHEN-TV (now WTVH). Three years later, he moved to WFBL radio and stayed there 22 years, much of that time as news director. During 1968 and '69, Art added a second job at WCNY-TV as public affairs host and continuity director.
Art left WFBL and joined WIXT Channel 9 as a news reporter in 1976.
His biggest story came in 1983. Art scored a national "scoop" with an expose of one of the nation's top selling drugs, Zomax, which had sales of more than $46 million annually. Art revealed that the drug not only was causing severe traumatic reactions in many users, but also had been responsible for a number of deaths.
His story prompted a Congressional hearing in Washington, and resulted in the drug being withdrawn from the pharmaceutical market permanently. The expose won him the Syracuse Press Club's "Best Television Investigative Story" award in 1983.
Art, who served as president of the SPC in 1969, had already won the club's Professional Standards Award in 1978. Art also once headed the Syracuse Press Club's Scholarship Awards Committee, which established criteria for the two scholarships the club gives annually to students who are planning to make journalism their career.
After leaving broadcasting in 1986, Art worked as a veterans' counselor in the Onondaga County Department of Social Services until his retirement in 1997.
Now that he is retired, Art says he spends much of his free time in a hobby he has been interested in for some time - wood carving. He has exhibited at a number of shows and proudly says he has sold some pieces. --Joseph A. Porcello
WIXT
WFBL
WHEN-TV, WCNY-TV
Press Club President: 1969
Art Peterson began his 38-year news media career "inauspiciously," he says, as a "gopher" -- sort of an office boy at the old World-Telegram in New York City. But World War II was going on and the Brooklyn teenager decided to leave that job to join the U.S. Marines. He was trained as an aerial navigator and sent to Hawaii to serve on transport aircraft.
The war didn't last much longer, but his Hawaiian duty placed Art in what was to become his life-long career. He ended up broadcasting on Armed Forces Radio.
After his discharge, Art continued in his new career, broadcasting at radio stations in Georgia, Alabama and New Jersey. Along the way, he attended South Georgia College. He did some news at the Alabama and Georgia stations, but mostly was in other jobs, including disc jockey. It was at New Jersey station WCTC that Art finally got his first real experience covering news, a goal since he took that early job at the World-Telegram.
In 1951, he left WCTC and moved to Syracuse to join WHEN-TV (now WTVH). Three years later, he moved to WFBL radio and stayed there 22 years, much of that time as news director. During 1968 and '69, Art added a second job at WCNY-TV as public affairs host and continuity director.
Art left WFBL and joined WIXT Channel 9 as a news reporter in 1976.
His biggest story came in 1983. Art scored a national "scoop" with an expose of one of the nation's top selling drugs, Zomax, which had sales of more than $46 million annually. Art revealed that the drug not only was causing severe traumatic reactions in many users, but also had been responsible for a number of deaths.
His story prompted a Congressional hearing in Washington, and resulted in the drug being withdrawn from the pharmaceutical market permanently. The expose won him the Syracuse Press Club's "Best Television Investigative Story" award in 1983.
Art, who served as president of the SPC in 1969, had already won the club's Professional Standards Award in 1978. Art also once headed the Syracuse Press Club's Scholarship Awards Committee, which established criteria for the two scholarships the club gives annually to students who are planning to make journalism their career.
After leaving broadcasting in 1986, Art worked as a veterans' counselor in the Onondaga County Department of Social Services until his retirement in 1997.
Now that he is retired, Art says he spends much of his free time in a hobby he has been interested in for some time - wood carving. He has exhibited at a number of shows and proudly says he has sold some pieces. --Joseph A. Porcello
