Some time ago, I had written a post about the death of Marilyn Turner’s husband, fellow WXYZ-TV News Staffer John Kelly: Remembering Legendary Channel 7 Anchor John Kelly
This time around, I am writing about how sad I am over the recent passing (as of the time of writing this post) of Marilyn Turner, herself.
Kelly & Company, co-hosted by John Kelley and Marilyn Turner, like the locally-produced, in-house Talk Shows at ABC’s other Owned and Operated Television Stations in New York City (which would later evolve into the nationally syndicated Regis, Kathie Lee, Kelly, Ryan, and Mark Television Show), Los Angeles, Chicago (which would later evolve into Oprah Winfrey’s nationally syndicated Talk Show), and San Francisco (which, like Kelley & Company of WXYZ-TV; was hosted by another Husband and Wife team, Fred LaCosse and Terry Lowery); were all of the brainchildren of ABC Executives Richard “Dick” O’Leary and John Severino.
See this earlier post about the legacies of “Dick” O’Leary and John Severino during their tenures at ABC: The Legacies Of ABC Executives Richard O’ Leary And John Severino.
Due to the merger of ABC and Capital Cities Communications in circa 1985-1986, in order to not exceed the maximum amount of Television Stations an individual or a business may own per the rules set forth by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the merged ABC/Capital Cities opted to sell off WXYZ-TV in 1986. Scripps-Howard/the E.W Scripps Company had emerged as the buyer of WXYZ-TV from ABC.
Prior to both Marilyn Turner and John Kelly working at WXYZ-TV, they had both worked at WJBK-TV when it was still Owned and Operated by Storer Broadcasting, and when it was still a CBS Television affiliate.
https://www.wxyz.com/news/longtime-wxyz-weathercaster-marilyn-turner-dies-at-93
Matthew Parij 