Trusted Los Angeles broadcaster and former KTLA reporter Warren Wilson died at the age of 90 on Friday, his son Stanley Wilson said in a statement.
“Our beloved father Warren Wilson ‘Papa’ died Friday, September 27th, 2024 in Oxnard, California. He was 90. 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,” Stanley Wilson wrote.
Warren spent more than 40 years as a broadcast journalist and was one of the first Black broadcasters in Los Angeles when he started in the market in the 1960s.
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Reporter Warren Willson (L) and Richard J. Riordan attend the 44th Annual Los Angeles Press Club Southern California Journalism Awards on June 22, 2002 in Beverly Hills, California. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) -
Reporter Warren Wilson (3rd L) and his family attend the 44th Annual Los Angeles Press Club Southern California Journalism Awards on June 22, 2002 in Beverly Hills, California. Wilson was honored with the Joseph M. Quinn Award for Journalistic Excellence and Distinction. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) -
Television reporter Warren Wilson speaks during the Muslim Public Affairs Council’s Annual Media Awards at The Omni Hotel Los Angeles on May 2, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) -
(L to R) Reverned Doctor Cecil L. Murray, reporters Patt Morrison and Warren Wilson attend the 44th Annual Los Angeles Press Club Southern California Journalism Awards on June 22, 2002 in Beverly Hills, California. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) -
KTLA reporter Warren Wilson speaks during the 26th Annual Awards Banquet for the Society of Professional Journalists, Los Angeles Professional Chapter February 4, 2002 in Los Angeles, CA. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
He began working at KTLA in 1984 and quickly gained a reputation as someone people accused of crimes felt safe approaching so that they could turn themselves in.
“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 to police,” KTLA reporter Eric Spillman said.
Wilson covered some of the biggest news events in Los Angeles’ history during his 21 years at KTLA, including the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, the 1992 L.A. riots, the 1997 North Hollywood Bank of America shootout and the O.J. Simpson trial.
He earned multiple awards, including an Emmy Award for an investigative report in 1979 and a Peabody Award for covering the riots following the verdict in the Rodney King beating trial.
“He was brave. During the riots, Warren went down to the South L.A. area and interviewed a shop owner who was trying to put out flames while standing on the roof of a burning building. I will never forget that,” Eric said.
Wilson is survived by six children, Pamela Wilson, Melissa Jones, Elizabeth Wilson, Ronald Wilson, news and documentary producer Stanley Wilson and stepdaughter Debra Hansen. His second eldest daughter Kim T. Wilson died in 2003.