A native of Pittsburgh and a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, Scarborough served in the United States Air Force and currently has a commercial pilot certificate. His career in television began in Mississippi as a reporter at WLOX-TV in Biloxi and later WDAM-TV in Laurel, before moving to WAGA-TV in Atlanta. Scarborough's first major market anchoring job came in 1972, at WNAC-TV in Boston. He was originally hired as part of a two-man anchor team with respected New England journalist Lee Nelson, but was soon made the solo anchor of the station's news broadcasts. In addition to his anchor work, he was called on to host a weekly program called Mass Reaction, in which the public was invited to the studio to question news broadcasters and newsmakers. In his final broadcast on WNAC-TV, Scarborough ended the newscast with a commentary in which he identified the issue of race as the most important challenge facing Boston. A scant few months later, Boston erupted into racial unrest as the result of a federal court order to end its policy of de facto racial segregation in the public schools. While WNAC had been the perennial trailer among Boston's three VHF television news broadcasts, with Scarborough as anchor the station managed to best its rivals in the 6pm newscast ratings. Scarborough joined NBC News in March 1974 as sole anchor of WNBC-TV's then-new 5:00 PM newscast, NewsCenter 4. Eventually, he became the station's lead anchor at 6pm and 11pm. In 2003, he became the unofficial "dean" of New York-area television news anchors when WABC-TV anchor Bill Beutel retired after 37 years. He surpassed Beutel as New York's most tenured English-language news anchor in 2011. Five years later, Scarborough succeeded Rafael Pineda of Spanish-language WXTV as the longest-serving anchor in New York television history. For much of his first 20 years with NBC, he occasionally appeared on the network as a correspondent and often anchored the network's prime-time news updates. At WNBC, he has worked alongside Marv Albert, Len Berman, Jack Cafferty, Dr. Frank Field, John Hambrick, Pat Harper, Pia Lindstrom, Sue Simmons, Michele Marsh, Al Roker, and Tom Snyder, among others. Scarborough was the host of the syndicated programs Images – A Year in Review and Memories...Then and Now in the late 1980s-early 1990s, and also co-anchored the NBC network documentary seriesYesterday, Today and Tomorrow with Maria Shriver and Mary Alice Williams. The 11:00 pm broadcast on July 14, 2017, marked Scarborough's last as a regular anchor in that time slot after 42 years, as he cut back on his schedule to working only the 6pm. Taking his place at 11 was Stefan Holt, the son of NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt. Scarborough has since appeared several times on the 11:00pm edition, filling in when Holt has time off.
Awards and honors
Scarborough has won 36 local Emmy Awards, and was one of the first inductees into the New York State Broadcasters AssociationHall of Fame in 2005. He was inducted alongside Sue Simmons, his co-anchoring partner from 1980 until Simmons' retirement in June 2012. They were together longer than any other anchor team in New York City television history.
Personal life
Scarborough is married to Ellen Ward Scarborough, and was married previously to Anne Ford and Linda Gross. He has two children, Chad and Elizabeth. His daughter Elizabeth has followed in her father's footsteps as a television journalist. He and his family reside in Stamford, Connecticut. Scarborough is not related to MSNBC anchor Joe Scarborough, who coincidentally, was also named Charles Scarborough.
Scarborough appeared in The Adjustment Bureau, reporting a story for WNBC about the film's protagonist, David Norris, and in two episodes of the NBC sitcom Veronica's Closet. Scarborough and Simmons are mentioned in the Fountains of Wayne song "Traffic & Weather" from their 2007 album of the same name. In season 7, episode 8 of the NBC comedy 30 Rock, the protagonist Liz Lemon jokes that Chuck Scarborough is anatomically a woman.
