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Winckler Hosted 'The Senior Report'

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By WALT BELCHER

wbelcher@tampatrib.com

Published: December 6, 2008

TAMPA - A pioneering broadcast and newspaper journalist and former Tampa resident died Wednesday in Colorado Springs, Colo., of Alzheimer's disease at age 87.

Doris Hennessy Winckler, who spent much of her life in California, was the first female network radio news anchor during World War II, said her son, Lange Winckler of Tampa.

"She broadcast the noon news for the Mutual Radio Network from 1942 to 1944 from Louisville, Ky., radio station WGRC," he said.

After a career as a newspaper reporter, she became known throughout America, Canada and Mexico for "The Senior Report With Doris Winkler." Her family name spelling was altered to "Winkler" because most viewers who wrote her or the television station's payroll department could spell that name right, her son said.

Her syndicated news feature was carried on more than 70 TV stations, including WTSP, Channel 10.

She was 62 when "The Senior Report" was launched in 1983 at a Los Angeles station. It ran until 2000, when she retired at age 79.

Lange Winckler, who produced, directed and marketed "The Senior Report," said his mother and father, the late Jack Winckler, lived in St. Petersburg in the 1950s. She returned to the Tampa area briefly in 2004.

A native of Louisville, Ky., she started working at radio station WHAS in high school and got an interview with President Franklin Roosevelt in his private car during a whistle-stop tour during the 1936 campaign.

She also became a freelance feature writer for the (Louisville) Courier-Journal, wrote for newspapers in Dallas and Houston, and worked as a proofreader and editor of the Los Angeles Herald-Express, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Orange County Register. She also ran a public relations and advertising agency with husband Jack, until landing the on-air spot with KABC-TV in 1983.

She is survived by her brother, Jim Hennessy of Louisville; and her children: Lange Winckler of Tampa; Terry Winckler of Alameda, Calif.; Ron Winckler of Maui, Hawaii; Dori Lundgren and Mike Winckler, both of Colorado Springs; Robert Winckler of Indianapolis; and Joe Winckler of Sacramento, Calif. She is also survived by 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Funeral services are scheduled for Tuesday in Colorado Springs.

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