February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Jim Ryan, anchor of "Good Day New York," will deliver the keynote address for Manhattan College’s 159th Undergraduate Commencement on Sunday, May 20. During the ceremony, he will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
Anchor of New York’s only live, locally produced news and information morning show, Ryan has been with Fox’s "Good Day New York" since the show’s inception in 1988. Many mornings Ryan can be heard praising the virtues of Manhattan College, his alma mater, much to the chagrin of the show’s meteorologist, Dave Price.
A journalist since 17, Ryan began his career as a copy boy for The Associated Press. Following his graduation from Manhattan College in 1960, he reported for the wire services for eight years, eventually becoming the night city editor. He then moved to The New York Daily News, where he did both general assignment and investigative reporting. Moving to WNBC-TV in 1974, he served as executive editor and was responsible for the administration and management of the station’s news assignment desk. He was later named executive producer of "News Center 4," the station’s pioneering two-hour weekday news program. Moving from management to on-air reporting, Ryan became WNBC-TV’s investigative reporter in 1978 and stayed with the station until 1985 when he joined Fox 5/WNYW as a political reporter for "The Ten O’Clock News."
He has won The Polk Award for Metropolitan Reporting; a Drew Pearson Foundation Prize for Investigative Reporting; three Page One Awards for crusading journalism, political coverage and community reporting; and a Civil Service Merit Council Award for a report on abuses in government hiring practices. He also received a Special Mention from the New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association for a documentary program on efforts to save New York City neighborhoods.