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2011 Inductee
Working more than 42 years in the industry and currently as news producer at Channel 4, Vic Baker’s career dates back to high school. There he learned every aspect of the operation by working as a news writer, reporter and disc jockey for WLEA in his hometown of Hornell, NY. He also did a reporting stint for the Elmira Star Gazette.
Fresh from graduating from Fredonia State College in 1969, Vic landed a job at WBUZ in Fredonia. He later became the news director and assistant general manager at WCVF in Fredonia, as well as the managing editor of the campus paper “The Leader.” He took on assignments in 1974 as a newscaster for WKSN-WHUG in Jamestown, news director for WDOE in Dunkirk, before joining WBEN as a Saturday news writer for Clint Buehlman’s show and a weekday reporter. He was hired at Channel 4 as a full-time reporter in 1975 and became a producer in 1976. Vic left in 1979 to produce for WKBW-TV’s Don Postles and Irv Weinstein at Eyewitness News and 14 months later, returned to WIVB.
Vic had many accomplishments during those years, such as producing a one-hour film documentary on Chautauqua Lake, covering the Hallett triple murder trial and Ebersole kidnap murder trial in Mayville, and driving 3,000 miles in six days during Tropical Storm Agnes floods in 1972. He also produced the 11pm newscast on Channel 4 on the night of the Blizzard of ’77.
Away from broadcasting, Vic was a co-founder of Habitat for Humanity in Lockport, led a development effort with his church that brought Town Homes at Shawnee Landing into Wheatfield, worked on an anti-litter campaign as an Eagle Scout project, was editor of the Presbyterian Progress, and was a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit seeking environmental safety and justice in his community.
Vic’s successful career could be attributed to his love for philosophy and the legacy built on old-fashioned values instilled by his grandparents. Vic is proud of his wife, Judi, and their five children and three grandchildren.
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