Viewers of the late-night ABC news program Nightline in the early 2010s will fondly remember Bill Weir as a co-anchor of the show. The television journalist, who has also worked as a sportscaster, actor, and screenwriter, set himself apart from his peers and entered himself into the record books for being the first American to broadcast from Tibet and for undertaking an unprecedented underwater live report from the Great Barrier Reef. Read on to find out more about his career and other facts.
Bill Weir Biography
Bill Weir was born William Francis Weir on the 19th of December, 1967 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Details about his family, like the names and occupations of his parents, are not known. However, it is known that his parents called quits on their marriage when he was still very young.
As the story goes, Weir, who was raised alone by his devout Christian mother, attended 17 schools in six different states. The young chap found himself moving frequently from one place to another because of his mother who followed what she said were dreams from God in search of her true purpose.
He went on to graduate from high school, the Victory Christian High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma before enrolling at Oral Roberts University. His stay here proved to be short as he transferred to Pepperdine University in Malibu, California where he completed the requirements for a degree in journalism and creative writing.
Career Achievements
In 1991, after graduating from college, Bill Weir found a job in Austin, Minnesota as a general assignment reporter and weekend sportscaster in the ABC-affiliated TV station KAAL. He later moved to the FOX-affiliated TV station WLUK in Green Bay, Wisconsin where he served as the sports anchor. By the mid-90s, he was on the move again, this time to Chicago to serve as the anchor for the WGN Morning News program. Bill lasted for about three years in the role before moving to KABC-TV in Los Angeles to work as a sports anchor in 1998. During his time here, he notably hosted the popular weekly Monday Night Live program that aired after Monday Night Football.
Between 2002 and 2004, Bill Weir took two years off from anchoring news or sports programs. During this time, he developed, wrote, and hosted a number of television pilots for a couple of networks. In 2004, however, he made a comeback by joining ABC News where he covered breaking news and global trends.
Some of the notable stories and events he covered during this time include the economic rise of China and India, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Afghanistan War, launches and landings of the Space Shuttle, and an underwater live report from the Great Barrier Reef. He also became the first American to broadcast live from Tibet.
In 2010, after anchoring the short-lived ABC News magazine titled iCaught, Weir was named to replace British journalist Martin Bashir as the third co-anchor on the late-night news program Nightline alongside Terry Morgan and Cynthia McFadden. He lasted on the show until October 2013 when he joined CNN as an anchor and Chief Innovation Correspondent. Two years after joining the network, he went on to get his own show, an original documentary television series titled The Wonder List with Bill Weir.
Other Facts You Need To Know
Marriage and Family
Bill Weir was previously married to a Brooklyn, New York-based lawyer named Alisha Weir. It is not clear when exactly the two exchanged marital vows but they were said to have been together for about a decade before going their separate ways sometime in 2016. During their time together, the couple had a daughter they named Olivia.
Following the divorce, Weir has begun a relationship with a woman identified as Kelly Dowd. The two have been seen together at various events and also love to share photos of themselves on their social media.
Body Measurements
Bill is as tall as the average American male as he stands at a height of 5 Feet 10 Inches (178 cm). While his weight and other body measurements are not known, the television journalist has blonde hair and brown colored eyes.
Salary and Net Worth
While Bill Weir is not one of the first names that come to mind when talking about journalists, he has still been able to make a good living from his profession. According to various celebrity wealth calculating sources, Bill Weir has an estimated net worth of $3 million. His salary is further said to be about $750 thousand per year.
