Forrest J. Boyd
Charting the Course for UNI
July 18, 1921 - January 5, 2002
On September 18, 1995, Forrest anchored the first newscasts aired by United News & Information, embarking on a journey that God has groomed, nurtured, and blessed over the years. Listeners all over the country would again hear that familiar voice of trustworthiness: "From the Washington Bureau, this is Forrest Boyd reporting for UNI News." Forrest took command, serving the Lord as executive news director for United News & Information, which he helped establish, until his final day, leaving a hallmark of achievements and services with news and broadcast journalism.
Forrest has been a faithful example of what Christ meant when he said: "Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant (Matthew 20:27)." We are so thankful to God for shaping UNI through Forrest's humble spirit, quiet leadership, and legacy of excellence in serving the Lord.
Forrest was one of the most respected correspondents in the Christian community, with over 50 years of experience in broadcast journalism. But he didn't start out as a journalist. He came from humble beginnings financially, but rich spiritually, being raised in a Christian home. He was the son of a house painter in the small Illinois town of Sheffield, and as a young man, worked with his older brother and his father in the family-run business. He was able to attend college on a music scholarship, as a singer in the college's traveling men's quartet. He also played trombone, piano, organ and guitar. Boyd met his first wife, Verma (who died in 1992) while in college. After college and marriage, they worked together as singers at WMBI radio in Chicago in the days when live musicians provided much of the music aired by radio stations. He graduated with a degree in religion and became a Wesleyan minister, pastoring several small churches in Illinois and Iowa, before he made a complete switch to radio.
Boyd worked at KTIS, Minneapolis, Minnesota; WLW, Cincinnati, Ohio; WLWI, Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was one of the television news anchors; KPOL, Los Angeles and others before moving to Washington, D.C. in 1960 for a job as a writer and newscaster for the Voice of America. He was then hired by the Mutual Broadcasting Network. He moved up the ladder quickly, later becoming Mutual's White House correspondent during the presidencies of Johnson, Nixon and Ford. He was a contemporary at the White House of well-known TV news anchors Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Tom Jarrel, Roger Mudd and Frank Reynolds, and of course, Helen Thomas. He went on all major and most minor presidential trips during those years, including Nixon's historic trip to China. In 1975, Boyd left Mutual and the White House beat to become communications director for the Billy Graham association and moved to their headquarters city, Minneapolis. But, within a short period of time, he returned to Washington to start his own radio network, International Media Service, with Cal Thomas, who is now known as a conservative commentator and syndicated newspaper columnist.
Boyd's belief was that there was, indeed, a liberal bias in much of the "mainstream" news media, and he felt listeners who were moderate or conservative would appreciate news that was delivered with less bias. He believed in what he saw as old-fashioned journalism, that presented the facts in a more unbiased, factual way. As his news service was modestly successful, to the extent of being carried on 500 or more radio stations nationwide, other competitors came into the market touting news with a conservative slant. Boyd pointedly avoided either marketing his service as having a conservative slant, or actually having a bias in the way news was reported.
Boyd felt stories should not automatically be relegated to a newspaper's Sunday religion section (or ignored by radio and TV entirely) just because they had a religion aspect, if they were otherwise newsworthy. His stories on religious faiths other than his own (which was protestant Christian) attempted to be fair and even-handed, which occasionally brought criticism from station owners more conservative or less visionary than himself.
Boyd was a lifelong personal friend of evangelist Billy Graham. They became friends in 1951 when Graham was President of Northwestern Schools in Minneapolis and Boyd worked for the school-owned radio station, KTIS. Soon thereafter, Graham held the Los Angeles evangelistic crusade that launched his well-known career.
Boyd was also partly responsible for first bringing theologian Francis Schaeffer to the Washington area, where Schaeffer (now deceased) became a friend to then-Congressman Jack Kemp and wife, Joanne Kemp and others associated through a Christian book study held in Kemps' home.
After the death of his wife, Verma, in 1992, Forrest married Gloria Namy in 1994, a recent widow and long-time family friend from Indianapolis. They moved to the Maryland eastern shore.
Forrest was the host of "Focus on Issues," and "Another View of the News," over the UNI News-affiliated networks and stations. Through his extensive career, he also reported for United Press International, and Standard News Service, as well as authored several syndicated newspaper columns and books. He has been honored for his unique journalistic endeavors by many groups and organizations including the National Religious Broadcasters. He has always been highly regarded in the halls of Capitol Hill and the White House, by presidents and lawmakers, for his responsible reporting.
Forrest, went home to be with the Lord on Saturday morning, January 5, 2002. He was 80 years old.
He is deeply missed by all of us who knew him here at UNI, as we are reminded of the words from Matthew 25:21:
Well done, thou good and faithful servant... enter thou into the joy of thy Lord...