Remembering Shelby Scott
• Shelby Scott, longtime news anchor at WBZ-TV/Boston who also served as President of AFTRA from 1993-2001, has died at the age of 86.
In a statement, SAG-AFTRA Nat’l Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland noted, “In front of the camera, Shelby Scott’s career spanned decades and broke barriers. But it is for her work off camera as a dedicated union leader that we at SAG-AFTRA will always be most grateful. As AFTRA national president for eight years, and a board member for many more, as a trustee on the AFTRA Health and Retirement Funds, and through her foresight in working to merge SAG and AFTRA, Shelby’s legacy is profound and she will be deeply missed.”
Scott began her professional career as traffic manager for KIRO-TV and radio in her hometown of Seattle, before becoming an on-air reporter, writer, film editor and documentary producer for the station. In 1965, she was hired by CBS affiliate WBZ/Boston, spending many years as both an anchor and general assignment reporter. She notably co-anchored WBZ’s Channel 4 News at Noon for 14 years, its 5:30 News for five years and became part of its first female anchor team there in 1977, with Gail Harris, retiring in 1996.
Scott was elected to the AFTRA National Board in 1981 and was named President in 1993, after serving as a Nat’l First Vice President and President of the Boston Local. She led AFTRA through its first attempted merger with Screen Actors Guild in 1998-99, and through numerous major contract negotiations, including the AFTRA Network and Sound Recordings codes. In 1997, during her term as National President, President Bill Clinton appointed her to the Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters. For her devoted service to the union, Scott was awarded AFTRA’s George Heller Gold Card.
After leaving office in 2001, Scott remained in board service, serving again as a Nat’l VP. She also served as the union co-chair to the AFTRA Health and Retirement Funds Board of Trustees and as the President of the AFTRA Foundation. Scott was a member of the Group for One Union of SAG and AFTRA leaders who spearheaded the 2012 merger effort and co-led a merger workgroup, one of only ten elected leaders to do so. In 2012, during her term as AFTRA Foundation President, Scott helped set up the Superstorm Sandy Relief Fund to help all SAG-AFTRA members and staff affected by the storm.
Over the course of her career, Scott was awarded UPI’s Tom Phillips Citation for Excellence in Broadcasting, the William F. Horner Jr. Award from Suffolk University for Excellence in Journalism and was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcast Hall of Fame in 2008.
