“Literally the time of my life;” Veteran WHIO-TV broadcaster Jim Baldridge reminisces

DAYTON — Longtime viewers remember now-retired News Center 7 anchor Jim Baldridge. It’s said you can’t go home again, but he proved you certainly can.

It was a trip down memory lane as Baldridge greeted former colleagues when he visited the News Center 7 newsroom on Thursday.

In talking with reporter Mike Campbell, “You’re still tall,” Baldridge said. And repeated old terms of endearment.

In talking with reporter and anchor Gabrielle Enright, “My TV daughter. I’m so happy to see you. I miss you so much,” Baldridge said.

News Center 7′s Cheryl McHenry took the retired journalist into the studio. “Same doors, same doors. Still very heavy, what a place,” Baldridge said.

It’s a different set from where Jim sat and anchored for nearly 40 years.

Now, he sits in Florida with his wife Sue of 53 years.

“She plays tennis and I read and swim occasionally and get to travel a fair amount. Life’s pretty good. I think I’m one of those people that retirement works for,” Baldridge said.

Baldridge and his wife see their two children and four grandchildren often.

McHenry asked Baldridge how often he reflects on his time at WHIO. He replied, “Literally the time of my life. Anchoring here, working with you and Don Wayne and Ed Krahling and Ted Ryan and Gil Whitney way back in the early days. I’m always amazed at how lucky I was and have been to be with all of you and to spend so much time with you and to live in this area. I mean, I drove around the last several days going to my favorite restaurants, going to my favorite homes I live in with my family.”

Besides anchoring, Baldridge was an intrepid reporter – traveling to Mexico, France, Japan, and Vietnam where the Army chose not to send him during that war.

“I went there with Don Mills who had been in Vietnam as a Marine during the ear and that was an extraordinary trip,” Baldridge said.

And who can forget his many years of live coverages of his favorite assignment?

“The Air Show as maybe the single, it was also the longer project, spanning probably three decades,” He said.

Baldridge said he still watches the News Center 7 streaming app more than any news, where is currently lives because the Miami Valley is where his home and heart are.

“I just can’t believe how lucky I have been in my life to have had all of this,” Baldridge said.

You will soon be hearing more from Baldridge because he’s the new spokesperson for James Investment Research and recorded some television and radio spots while he was here.

Cheryl McHenry sits down with former broadcast partner Jim Baldridge It was a trip down memory lane as Baldridge greeted former colleagues when he visited the News Center 7 newsroom on Thursday.

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