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By Megan Naftali
On the count of three at 1:47 p.m. May 4, two Hofstra University students pulled down a dark cloth covering the brick wall outside the WRHU Radio station at the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication, revealing a sign to mark the new partnership between LHSC and WABC-TV’s “Eyewitness News.”
The multi-award-winning newscast’s Long Island Bureau is now located at WRHU.
“For more than 50 years, ‘Eyewitness News’ has been the leader in live breaking news and weather coverage,” Chad Matthews, president of ABC-owned television stations, told the crowd gathered in LHSC’s Studio A for the 1 p.m. ceremony to open the new bureau. “When Al Primo launched the ‘Eyewitness News’ format, it was revolutionary, bringing the news to the viewers live from where it happened. This partnership allows us to evolve that right here on Long Island.”
“Nassau and Suffolk counties are a huge part of our market,” Matthews continued, “and having a robust operation here in the heart of the Island is vital to our mission to inform and serve our community.”
“Eyewitness News” anchor Bill Ritter served as the ceremony’s emcee and said he believes the partnership will benefit not only students, but also WABC journalists and the Long Island community.
“We get a different sense of the community through the eyes of the students because they look at it very differently than us old folks who may pay property taxes, go to work and have to be responsible for other people,” Ritter said. “The freedom that they have when they’re in college I think will help keep our reporters plugged into what may be happening in the communities out here.”
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