Harry Boomer (born September 4, 1953, in
Turkey, North Carolina) is a
broadcast journalist, reporter and newscaster for radio and television. He currently is the senior reporter for
CBS affiliate
WOIO (channel 19) and
CW affiliate
WUAB (channel 43), both located in
Cleveland, Ohio.
Bio
Harry Boomer was born on September 4, 1953, as the youngest of ten siblings in
Turkey, North Carolina; his father George Boomer was a
Baptist minister.[1] Boomer relocated to
Washington, D.C. at age 17 after graduating high school and was hired as a
disc jockey at the Mark IV Supper Club, an area
discotheque.[2] Gaining notice as one of several "Super Disco Jocks" at Black-oriented dance clubs, Boomer was hired by
WPGC AM/
FM as an air personality while also attending both
Northern Virginia Community College in
Alexandria, Virginia, and Columbia School of Broadcasting in nearby
Vienna.[3] Tiring of the music, Boomer entered into radio news reporting for various stations in the Washington market,[2] including as news director for
WOL, the city's leading Black radio station.[4]
Boomer came to Ohio in 1988 to work at
WBXT in
Canton, Ohio,[1] after the station was purchased by a friend of the family.[3] Originally working as morning drive announcer, Boomer was elevated to program director later in the year,[5] while also joining Cleveland television station
WUAB as a volunteer in their
public affairs department.[2] After WBXT went off the air, Boomer became a producer/reporter at WUAB, and a reporter for
WCPN, the city's
NPR affiliate.[4] At WCPN, Boomer was promoted to assistant news director and host of After Nine, the station's morning newsmagazine, while his WUAB work began to include co-managed
WOIO after that station became the market's
CBS affiliate.[2] Boomer moderated a hotly contested 1992 debate between Rep.
Mary Rose Oakar and challenger
Martin Hoke.[6] An advocate for prospective African-American journalists to pursue
internships,[2] Boomer's position at WCPN was noted by Plain Dealer critic Roger Brown in his criticism of "downright woeful" Black representation on Cleveland radio.[7]
Boomer's WOIO-WUAB duties continued to expand, in 1997, he was named the station's education reporter in a personnel shakeup.[8] By 2006, Boomer was promoted to breaking news reporter/anchor on WOIO's weekday morning newscast[9] and later added hosting duties for 43 Focus, WUAB's weekly public affairs program. He is now recognized by WOIO-WUAB as their longest tenured on-air staffer.[10]
Boomer received the 2015 Silver Circle Award from the
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), a distinction given for at least 25 years in television.[11] In addition to multiple community groups and organizations, Boomer has been president of the Greater Cleveland Association of Black Journalists, a chapter of the
National Association of Black Journalists. Twice during Boomer's leadership, the chapter has been named the NABJ Professional Chapter of the Year, most recently in 2016.[12]
In 2014, Boomer was named a HistoryMaker and an oral video of his life's story is part of a permanent archive at the
Library of Congress.[1]
Awards
1996 Cleveland Communicators' Award: Best Hard Single News Story (Anti-Gingrich Protest)[13]
1996 Cleveland Communicators' Award: Best Public Service Program (The Subject is Sex)[13]
1996 Ohio Educational Telecommunications Network Program of the Year (The Subject is Sex)[14]
1996 Ohio Educational Telecommunications Network News and Public Affairs Program (The Subject is Sex)[14]
^
abcdeHenry, Fran (November 19, 1995). "Harry Boomer". The Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine. Cleveland, Ohio. p. 14.
Archived from the original on October 16, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2022 – via NewsBank.
^
abFeran, Tom (March 11, 1991). "Ironclads' lands with a thud". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio.
Archived from the original on October 16, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2022 – via NewsBank.
^"Fates & Fortunes: Programming"(PDF). Broadcasting. Vol. 115, no. 12. September 19, 1988. p. 93.
Archived(PDF) from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved October 15, 2022 – via World Radio History.
^Washington, Julie (September 30, 2006). "Channel 19 forms a new team". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. E5. Retrieved October 15, 2022 – via NewsBank.
^
ab"1996 Awards". Ideastream - Northeast Ohio Public Radio, Television and Multiple Media. Archived from
the original on January 8, 2014. Retrieved January 8, 2014.