Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 17, 1995 TAG: 9510170089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WDBJ News Director Jim Kent said the station learned of Mosher's death when a caller said he had read the obituary in the Washington Blade newspaper. The obituary said Mosher died of complications from AIDS.
The station's noon news story on Mosher's death prompted several people to call, Kent said.
``He was very popular with the viewers here,'' Kent said. ``Rick was one of the best writers that ever came through this newsroom. He was very quick and accurate.''
Jim Shaver, WDBJ vice president for news and programming, described Mosher as a ``consummate journalist'' and an ``excellent broadcaster.''
``It's been a sad day around here,'' Shaver said.
Shaver hired Mosher in 1983 to anchor the station's first noon newscast. In March 1990, Mosher was promoted to anchor the 11 o'clock news. Mosher left the station in August 1992 to take a job as a public relations specialist for a Baltimore advertising and public relations firm. He was the media coordinator for the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington when he died.
Writing, for Mosher, was about more than being quick or formulated; he invented phrases to convey the news in a way people could understand, Kent said.
Mosher hated journalistic cliches so much that he made a list of 100 and sarcastically suggested they be put in the station's computers so writers would have easy access to them, Kent said.
Mosher began his journalism career in radio as a disc jockey and later was a news announcer at stations in Morgantown, W.Va., and Laconia, N.H. He came to Roanoke in 1980 to become news director at WROV radio.
Although Mosher was making a jump from radio to TV when he was hired at WDBJ, it was a transition he made easily and well, Shaver said. His programs consistently ranked high, and the noon newscast ranked No. 1 its time slot.
Despite Mosher's popularity, Shaver said, he remained unassuming. In a 1992 interview, Mosher told a reporter, ``I never wanted to be a celeb.''
by CNB