Wilmington broadcasting pioneer and UNCW sports booster dies at age 96

Wayne Jackson, who spent decades as a Wilmington broadcaster and helped shape the form in the Port City, died Monday at the age of 96.

Jackson's death was announced in a story on Wilmington television station WECT, where he started in 1954 when its call letters were still WMFD. Jackson worked at WECT/WMFD for 35 years before retiring in 1989. At a time when Wilmington was a much smaller town than it is today, his was one of the most recognizable faces in the area.

"I just remember him being the newscaster every young reporter aspired to be, including me," said Frances Weller, the longtime WECT news anchor who started at the station in 1982. "He had such an eloquent voice, very easy to listen to, and to talk to. Wayne was just brilliant."

A native of Illinois who came to North Carolina to work in radio at a station in Rocky Mount before switching to TV, Jackson was a jack of all trades, covering sports and weather, writing on-air editorials, hosting a talk show called "Relax with Jax" and later becoming station manager of WECT.

Over the course of his career, Jackson interviewed such sports figures as Joe Louis, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson and Wilmington's own Althea Gibson and Roman Gabriel; celebrities including Michael Landon, Michael J. Fox and Oprah Winfrey; and at least one president: Ronald Reagan.

"One of the things I admired most about Wayne," Weller said, was that he was the first Wilmington broadcaster to interview a Black person on television back in the 1950s. "It was gutsy, because it was the norm you did not interview Black people on television at that time. He didn't care what color you were. If you had something important to say about the community, he wanted to talk to you."

After leaving WECT in 1989, Jackson remained a prominent figure in Wilmington, working as an aide to late U.S. Rep. Charlie Rose and broadcasting games for the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Seahawk Sports Network for nearly 14 years.

Even after he retired, Weller said, Jackson "still worked in the news business," because he would call her regularly to offer tips or to discuss coverage of one story or another.

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According to his bio on the website of the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame (GWSHOF), "It was through sports broadcasting where Jackson made such a tremendous impact not only in Wilmington but the Greater Wilmington area. He was truly a pioneer in sports broadcasting."

Jackson was in the 2006 inaugural class of the GWSHOF, inducted alongside football stars Roman Gabriel and Sonny Jurgensen, basketball star Meadowlark Lemon and coach Leon Brogden.

In a 2020 interview with the StarNews, when Jackson was honored with a StarNews Media Lifetime Achievement Award, he talked about his memories of working at the station, including WECT's role in helping to bring the Battleship North Carolina to Wilmington in 1961.

There was also the time a plane crashed while carrying members of the U.S. Army's Golden Knights Parachute Team, killing three crew members and injuring 12, including staffers for WECT and the StarNews.

"We were there, watching as it happened on live TV," Jackson said.

Jackson received numerous honors over the years, including a plaque from Williston Middle School in 1992 that recognized him for covering sports at the segregated Williston High School in the 1960s.

Jackson also received the UNCW Volunteer of the Year Award from former Chancellor Dr. James Leutze, and the now-defunct organization Celebrate Wilmington! gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts.

Information on survivors was not immediately available. Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

"I get really sad when I think that he won't be calling the newsroom anymore," Weller said, her voice breaking a little. "He was sharp until the very end. Even in his 90s, he talked like the person I knew back in the '80s."

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington broadcasting pioneer Wayne Jackson of WECT dies at age 96