Bill Kurtis
An acclaimed documentary host and producer, network and major market news anchor and multimedia production company president, Bill Kurtis has spent the past 40 years creating a body of work that is virtually unparalleled in the field of broadcasting.
Raised in Independence, Kansas, Mr. Kurtis graduated from The University of Kansas with a B.S. in Journalism. He attended Washburn University School of Law where he was awarded a Juris Doctor.
Mr. Kurtis began his television career at WIBW-TV (CBS) in Topeka, Kansas. In 1966, after being recognized for his 24-hour coverage of a devastating tornado, Mr. Kurtis was hired by WBBM-TV in Chicago where he was a field reporter and later Anchor of The Channel Two News. Mr. Kurtis moved on to the Network level at CBS where he was the Anchor of the CBS Morning News and a contributor to CBS Reports.
Returning to Chicago and WBBM-TV as Anchor in 1985, Mr. Kurtis began his career as a documentarian traveling to the far ends of the earth for the Peabody Award winning series The New Explorers. In 1990, he founded Kurtis Productions and began producing programs for the A&E Television Network such as the long-running award-winning Investigative Reports and Cold Case Files. He also anchors American Justice for the network.
In his home state of Kansas, Mr. Kurtis is a rancher, a radio station owner, an art gallery owner, a small businessman, a supporter of small town America and an active conservationist. His 10,000-acre Red Buffalo Ranch is a working cattle ranch, marketing organic grass-fed beef. The ranch is located in the last section of North America to enjoy untouched tall grass prairie, a personal point of pride for Mr. Kurtis. The Red Buffalo borders the small town of Sedan, Kansas, where Bill has worked closely with residents to renovate and restore an historic and charming downtown, now full of quilt and antique shops, restaurants and Bill's own Red Buffalo Gift Shop. Nearby, in his hometown of Independence, Bill and local investors own KIND Radio, the station that gave Bill his first broadcasting job.
Mr. Kurtis is the recipient of numerous humanitarian, journalism, and broadcasting awards including Emmys, Cable Ace Awards, the Thurgood Marshall Award for his Investigative Reports installment on The Death Penalty. More recently, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago International Television Awards for "his prestigious and prolific career in television journalism." He is a published author and a member of the board of directors of several distinguished organizations including The Nature Conservancy, The National Park Foundation, and The Field Museum.
An acclaimed documentary host and producer, network and major market news anchor and multimedia production company president, Bill Kurtis has spent the past 40 years creating a body of work that is virtually unparalleled in the field of broadcasting.
Raised in Independence, Kansas, Mr. Kurtis graduated from The University of Kansas with a B.S. in Journalism. He attended Washburn University School of Law where he was awarded a Juris Doctor.
Mr. Kurtis began his television career at WIBW-TV (CBS) in Topeka, Kansas. In 1966, after being recognized for his 24-hour coverage of a devastating tornado, Mr. Kurtis was hired by WBBM-TV in Chicago where he was a field reporter and later Anchor of The Channel Two News. Mr. Kurtis moved on to the Network level at CBS where he was the Anchor of the CBS Morning News and a contributor to CBS Reports.
Returning to Chicago and WBBM-TV as Anchor in 1985, Mr. Kurtis began his career as a documentarian traveling to the far ends of the earth for the Peabody Award winning series The New Explorers. In 1990, he founded Kurtis Productions and began producing programs for the A&E Television Network such as the long-running award-winning Investigative Reports and Cold Case Files. He also anchors American Justice for the network.
In his home state of Kansas, Mr. Kurtis is a rancher, a radio station owner, an art gallery owner, a small businessman, a supporter of small town America and an active conservationist. His 10,000-acre Red Buffalo Ranch is a working cattle ranch, marketing organic grass-fed beef. The ranch is located in the last section of North America to enjoy untouched tall grass prairie, a personal point of pride for Mr. Kurtis. The Red Buffalo borders the small town of Sedan, Kansas, where Bill has worked closely with residents to renovate and restore an historic and charming downtown, now full of quilt and antique shops, restaurants and Bill's own Red Buffalo Gift Shop. Nearby, in his hometown of Independence, Bill and local investors own KIND Radio, the station that gave Bill his first broadcasting job.
Mr. Kurtis is the recipient of numerous humanitarian, journalism, and broadcasting awards including Emmys, Cable Ace Awards, the Thurgood Marshall Award for his Investigative Reports installment on The Death Penalty. More recently, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago International Television Awards for "his prestigious and prolific career in television journalism." He is a published author and a member of the board of directors of several distinguished organizations including The Nature Conservancy, The National Park Foundation, and The Field Museum.
