Long-Time Binghamton TV Anchor Jim Mathews Dies

Jim Mathews, who was a fixture on Binghamton television newscasts for more than a decade, has died. He was 66.

According to WBNG-TV, his family indicated Mathews died suddenly. He had moved to Arizona after he left Binghamton in 1990.

Mathews was 28 years old when he started anchoring Channel 12's Action News at 6 and 11 in June 1979. He came to Binghamton after working at a station in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Mathews suddenly disappeared from Action News in March 1988 after management learned he'd started working with the owner of WINR Radio in Binghamton. Mathews said his involvement with the radio outlet did not constitute a "conflict of interest" but he never returned to WBNG.

Mathews was hired by WICZ-TV a few months later to head a new operation billed as "NewsTeam 40." He resigned from that post in February 1990 and decided to head to Arizona with his family.

WATCH Jim Mathews anchoring a prime-time Action Newsbreak in November 1985 in this video posted to YouTube by jack9br.