‘Icon,’ ‘a force,’ ‘a great lady.’ Lexington television pioneer Sue Wylie remembered

Longtime Lexington broadcaster Sue Wylie was remembered on Wednesday by fellow journalists and fans as a pioneer in the television industry in Kentucky and elsewhere.

Wylie, 90, died at University of Kentucky hospital after a five-car crash at Alumni Drive and Chinoe Road about 5 p.m. Oct. 24.

She was the first female anchor at WLEX, Channel 18, where she worked from 1968 to 1998. Before that, she worked at local television stations in Cincinnati, Columbus and Miami, launching news shows and interviewing prominent guests including Kentucky governors, presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, and many more. After leaving television, Wylie hosted a radio talk show on WVLK before retiring in 2013. She was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 1999.

WLEX news director Jennifer Smith said Wednesday that the station plans to have several stories about Wylie in Wednesday evening’s 6 p.m. news broadcast.

Wylie’s death came less than a week after one of Lexington’s first TV weathermen, Frank Faulconer, died at 100.

Former LEX18 assignment manager Mike Taylor described Wylie as “a genuine local television icon. People talk about trailblazers and people who knock down barriers. She crushed barriers for women in television,” Taylor said in the WLEX story. “She was just nonstop energy. And she was so incredibly creative and thoughtful about how she did things.”

KET broadcaster Renee Shaw remembered Wylie as “a force to be certain” and said she “leaves a remarkable legacy.”

Former Courier-Journal reporter Deborah Yetter called Wylie “quite the pioneer in broadcast for women” and remembered Wylie casually introducing her to one of the key names from “All The President’s Men.”

“She invited me on her show several times and she’d take guests out for lunch afterwards,” Yetter said. “It was a steady parade of her friends and admirers stopping to greet her including on one occasion (wait for it) Jeb Magruder who was by then a Presbyterian pastor in Lexington. As a devotee of all things Watergate I just sat there with my jaw dropped as she introduced us. As I recall, he was with his wife out for Sunday brunch. Sue never batted an eye as she introduced them all around.”

Kentucky Sports Radio host Matt Jones said Wylie “conquered radio and had a huge impact on this city for over 30 years.”

Fellow WVLK radio host Larry Glover called Wylie “a great lady. I’m so grateful that I got the chance to work with her, learn from her, but most importantly, to become friends with her. I’m really going to miss her.” He said on social media that he planned to discuss Wylie on Wednesday’s show. “We’ll of course spend some time on the issues that are appearing on the ‘Front Page’ today, as Sue would have wanted.”

University of Kentucky political scientist and elections analyst D. Stephen Voss said on social media that “Sue was the first person to get me on radio. She was patient with me, despite my inexperience, and we had some good political discussions in the studio. Sorry to hear this news.”