ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – It’s time for another edition of 18 Sports Flashback.
On this next segment, we go back to 1977 and the days of WETM-TV on Hawley Hill in Elmira. That year, two icons of WETM-TV conducted an interview that was captured in one special image. Longtime 18 News anchor Bruce Flaherty and photographer/weatherman Rod Denson are seen putting together a story for the nightly news.
Both Flaherty and Denson had legendary careers at WETM-TV spanning decades in the business of informing and entertaining the Twin Tiers. Flaherty worked at WETM from 1960-1991 while Denson worked from 1960-1989 in various roles.
In 1963, Denson was tabbed as the first full-time news photographer at the station shooting on 16mm film cameras. That film would be developed and often shared and fed live to the viewers of the Twin Tiers through studio camera lenses.
Denson, along with fellow WETM-TV legends Carl Proper and Flaherty, would grow into the most iconic team in local news history. Each had their own unique connection with viewers that will stand the test of time. May they all rest in peace.
(Photo: Courtesy of Denson Family Collection)