Warren Wilson, Pioneering Los Angeles Broadcaster and Former KTLA Reporter, Dies at 90

Warren Wilson, whose trailblazing career saw him serve as a broadcaster in Los Angeles for more than 40 years, has died. He was 90.

“Our beloved father Warren Wilson ‘Papa’ died Friday, September 27th, 2024 in Oxnard, California,” his son, Stanley Wilson, told KTLA, where his father spent 21 years as a reporter. “His demeanor on the air as an iconic television journalist was just as authentic as he was a father, unsensational, sincere, a voice calming and eloquent.”

Over his decades-long career, he covered some of the biggest news stories in L.A., like the Charles Manson killings, Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 assassination, the 1992 L.A. riots and the O.J. Simpson trial, among many others. He won several awards, including an Emmy Award for investigative journalism in 1979 and a Peabody Award for his coverage of the riots that followed Rodney King’s trial.

Early in his pioneering career as one of the first Black broadcasters in L.A., Wilson became known for being someone people who had been accused of crimes felt safe approaching in order to turn themselves in. According to the Los Angeles Times, he arranged for the surrender of 22 people who were wanted by law enforcement for different crimes.

“Warren was a trusted reporter, and members of minority communities who were afraid to turn themselves in to police would often contact Warren and arrange to meet with him, and he would safely help them turn themselves in,” KTLA reporter Eric Spillman told the network.

Wilson was the son of North Carolina sharecroppers. The reporter previously told the L.A. Times that he inherited his strong moral compass and sense of equality from his father, who was once assaulted by Ku Klux Klan members in his home state.

The award-winning journalist began his career in the 1950s when he worked at the U.S. Navy press office. From there, he went on to have jobs at the City News Service and the L.A. bureau of United Press International. Before joining KTLA in 1984, Wilson worked for KNBC and NBC network news for 15 years.

Survivors include six children — Pamela, Melissa, Elizabeth, Ronald, Stanley and stepdaughter Debra Hansen. His second eldest daughter, Kim T. Wilson, died in 2003