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WABC-TV
GIL NOBLE

Emmy Award-winner Gil Noble, producer and host of WABC-TV's weekly black public affairs series, LIKE IT IS, is recognized both locally and throughout the U.S. as a dedicated journalist whose work has been instrumental in advancing the cause of black people.

Noble, who also serves as co-anchor of the 11 p.m. weekend editions of EYEWITNESS NEWS, spends endless hours traveling and researching to bring consistently high quality programming to LIKE IT IS. The recipient of over 60 community awards and numerous industry accolades, including three Emmys, Noble remarks that "although it is satisfying to be recognized by one's peers, I feel the awards from the community are even more important. To me, community service is the bottom line."

Among his community awards are the 1978 African Historical Society Award, the 1977 Community Service Award of the National Association of Black Social Workers; the 1976 Black Achievers in Industry Award from the Harlem Branch of the YMCA of Greater New York; the 1976 Distinguished Service Award from Fairleigh Dickinson University; the 1973 Harlem Preparatory School Award and the 1969 John B. Russwurn Award from the New York Urban League.

In addition to interviews with leading black figures, including Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica, Joshua Nkomo, Patriotic Front, Zimbabwe, and actor Sidney Poitier, LIKE IT IS has gained wide recognition for its original and sensitive documentaries.

"Our documentaries are extremely important to us," observes Noble, "because most of the documentaries regarding the black experience have been done by people who are not black. We are pleased to be able to balance this and air programs which arise from our own experience."

LIKE IT IS documentaries and specials have been honored with countless awards, including several Emmys. Noble, who won his first Emmy in 1970 for hosting LIKE IT IS, was honored in 1978 by the New York Academy of Television Arts and Sciences which awarded him the coveted Special Governor's Citation of Merit for "his series of visual biographies of black leaders." He also received another Emmy that year for producing the LIKE IT IS presentation of "Adam Clayton Powell Jr.: An Autobiographical Documentary."

"El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz," a LIKE IT IS documentary produced, written and reported by Noble, won a 1976 Emmy Award. The filmed tribute to Malcolm X also won Noble the 1975 El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Award for Service and Dedication for his efforts to "change the concrete conditions of black people in America through his work and activities."

Other distinguished LIKE IT IS documentaries include "The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass," which won a 1977 NATPE Award in the Bicentennial Program Category and "Paul Robeson: The Tallest Tree in Our Forest." Among the awards garnered by the latter, which was also produced, written and reported by Noble, are the 1976 Second Annual New York Black Film Festival Award for "best documentary" and, for Noble, the Black Citizens for Fair Media Award in June, 1976. Noble was cited by the organization for "Paul Robeson" and for his overall production of LIKE IT IS.

In Oct., 1971, the first televised program devoted exclusively to sickle cell anemia was hosted by Gil Noble on LIKE IT IS. The production received a special award from the Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation. Another LIKE IT IS special, "Attica: The Unanswered Questions," co-hosted by Noble and Geraldo Rivera, won a Tonge Schaeffer Award.

The recipient of two Honorary Doctorates, one from Malcolm X University in Chicago (1973) and another from Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. (1977), Noble is a former artist in residence at Seton Hall. As the teacher of two courses, broadcast news and mass communications, he was the first black journalist to become involved in the University's Communications Department.

Noble was honored by Seton Hall's Black Studies Center in Oct., 1977, at a special awards presentation for his "service to the maturation and development of the Black Studies Center, its faculty and the many students he taught and reached."

Born and raised in Harlem, Noble is a lifelong lover of music. He taught himself to play piano and went on to perform professionally. A graduate of DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, Noble worked by day in the New York Public Library and attended City College at night. Then, after spending two years in the Army Medical Corps Noble returned to New York where he worked occasionally as a model and continued to study music.

His broadcast career began in 1962, when he joined New York's WLIB Radio as a part-time announcer. During this time, he also had a professional music combo. The Gil Noble Trio, which played at some of New York's most renowned nightclubs.

Then, in 1967, Gil joined WABC-TV as an EYEWITNESS NEWS correspondent and co-host of LIKE IT IS. He was named managing editor and then producer of LIKE IT IS in 1975.

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