Childhood & Early Life
Bill Hemmer was born on November 14, 1964, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to William R Hemmer and Georganne M Knittle. He is the middle child and the second son in a family of five children.
Bill’s father worked as an executive in a mattress manufacturing company. His mother worked as a high-school teacher.
Bill studied at the ‘Our Lady of Victory Catholic’ parochial school before enrolling at the ‘Elder High School’ in Cincinnati. He was not sure about his career path before he entered high school, where he finally found his calling.
During his senior year at the ‘Elder High School,’ Bill started a radio show along with his friends. They played music for 15 minutesbefore every class began. This period made Bill interested in a future career in broadcast journalism.
Following his high-school graduation, Bill enrolled at the ‘Miami University’ and pursued a BA degree in broadcast journalism. Other than the academic aspect of his college, he was always interested in extracurricular activities.
He was a member of the ‘Delta Tau Delta’ fraternity in college. He also moved to Europe briefly to study at the ‘Miami University Dolibois European Center’ in Luxembourg City.
However, he soon started preparing for a future career in broadcasting while still in college and also did internships at radio stations.
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Career
He did internships at a couple of local radio stations while still in college. He then worked at Cincinnati’s ‘CNN’ affiliate, and while working on sports productions there, he realized that his real interest lay in working on live TV.
In the mid-1980s, while he was in the senior year of his college, he got an offer to work for ‘WLWT-TV’ as a sports producer. Soon, he made his debut as an anchor for ‘CBS’s ‘WCPO-TV,’ where he worked briefly as a sports anchor.
However, he was still not too satisfied with the position he was working at. He thus decided to take a break from work to travel. He packed his bags, and for the next one year, he traveled around China, India, Nepal, and other Asian countries. He worked in Mother Teresa’s clinics in Kolkata, India, for a few weeks.
Throughout his trips, Bill wrote dispatches and recorded many tapes, sharing his experiences. He sent the tapes and pictures to a local newspaper named ‘The Cincinnati Post’ and the ‘CBS’ local channel in Cincinnati. All the material that he recorded was collectively called ‘Bill’s Excellent Adventure’ and received a good feedback from all.
He won two regional ‘Emmy Awards’ for his work, one for the ‘Best Host’ and the other for the ‘Best Entertainment Program.’ Following his return, he resumed working at ‘WCPO’ for a short time before he got his major career breakthrough, an opportunity to work at ‘CNN.’
In the late 1980s, he started working at ‘CNN’ and hosted many programs for the channel, such as ‘American Morning,’ ‘CNN Tonight,’ ‘CNN Early Edition,’ and ‘CNN Live Today.’ His co-anchor during most of those jobs was Daryn Kagan.
Bill covered the 1996 ‘Olympics’ held in Atlanta and also spent 37 days in Tallahassee, Florida, covering the election recount of the 2000 presidential election. His coverage of the ‘Centennial Olympic Park Bombing’ in 1996, in Atlanta, earned him an ‘Emmy Award.’
He also reported live from the ‘World Trade Center’ during the attack at the site in 2001. He reported from Afghanistan when USA waged a war on terror.
He also reported live from Kuwait, Iraq, and Vatican City. Even when the situations were not ideal in those places, Bill stood strong and reported live.
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In August 2005, Bill took a huge career plunge and joined ‘Fox.’ Following this, he covered Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita in Louisiana.
He also reported live from the site of the war between Israel and Hezbollah from the front line.
He was also the main ‘Fox’ reporter to cover the ‘Sandy Hook Elementary School’ shooting and the ‘Boston Marathon Bombing.’
More recently, he traveled to Finland, Helsinki, to cover President Donald Trump’s summit with Vladimir Putin. He also covered the summit between North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and Trump.
He now works as a co-anchor on ‘Fox’s morning news show titled ‘America’s Newsroom,’ along with Sandra Smith. He has been associated with the show since its inception.
Family & Personal Life
Bill Hemmer had been in a long-term relationship with Canadian actor and model Dara Tomanovich. The couple dated for 8 years before calling it quits.
Bill grew up in a religious Roman Catholic family and is a staunch Christian.
Bill considers himself a nationalist and is a keen supporter of the American troops that are dispatched in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2013, he was awarded with the ‘Elder High School Professional Distinction Award.’
