CLEVELAND, Ohio — WKYC newscaster Leon Bibb visited the cleveland.com newsroom March 2 to give a “graduation address” about his career in journalism to high school students participating in final week of the Cleveland Media Academy.
Bibb told stories about his five decades in journalism, and how he became the first Black broadcaster to anchor the local news in Cleveland. This is his 52nd straight year on TV, even though he is semi-retired.
He told students that he had always known that he wanted to be a journalist. When he was 11, his sixth-grade teacher, Mr. Robert Taylor, noticed that Bibb liked to write and was really good at spelling. Taylor had a talk with him and was the one who recommended Bibb to pursue a career as a journalist.
His parents encouraged him, and that was when he knew what he wanted to do. At the age of 13, he became a delivery boy for The Plain Dealer. He would deliver newspapers before school and while doing so, he would read the paper and was inspired by what he read. After his time delivering papers, he decided he wanted to be on the radio.
Bibb went to Bowling Green State University and became a radio broadcaster for three years. After college, he got jobs in Columbus, Toledo and then Cleveland, and has been on the air ever since.
He said his job does not feel like work, because he loves it.
“Journalism is in my blood. I can’t get rid of it, it’s what I love to do,” he told the students. He recommended that they find what they love to do, because when you love your job, “it’s not really work.”
He also told students that they can take a position to get their foot in the door, and to “be the best you can be.”
“If I can do it, you can do it too,” he told the students.
At the end, he told students to find their inspiration and added, “I hope you love it, like I love you.”
The Cleveland Media Academy is an eight-week high school journalism program sponsored by cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer in partnership with News 5, Signal Cleveland, WKYC Studios, the Greater Cleveland Association of Black Journalists.