Chet Burgess started the WJMA news department in June of 1974 after graduation from the Washington and Lee Journalism School. He had interned with WJMA in the Spring of 1973 in an experiment to see if enough news could be found to make a full time news department viable. The experiment was a success.
Chet was News Director for two years. He left WJMA in August of 1976 to go to WTAR radio and TV (now WTKR TV) in Norfolk, VA.
In 1980 he left Norfolk as an "original hire" at Cable News Network in Atlanta. He served in both on-air and off-air positions before retiring in 2000. He won a number of national awards while at CNN.
photo contributed by Bonnie Burgess