Eric Paulsen, host of WWL in New Orleans, dies | News

Eric Paulsen, a WWL-TV reporter and anchor who was the mainstay of the CBS affiliate's top-rated morning newscast for most of his 47 years at the CBS affiliate, died of cancer Saturday at Ochsner Medical Center. He was 74.

“I can’t imagine New Orleans without Eric Paulsen,” said Sally-Ann Roberts, his longtime co-host on the morning program. “Eric may not be from New Orleans, but as Frank Davis always said, he is New Orleans by nature. It’s like he was born here.”

Paulsen, believed to be the region's longest-tenured anchorman, announced his cancer diagnosis in September, less than a month after receiving the Press Club of New Orleans' Lifetime Achievement Award and a welcome from the City Council New Orleans had received.

“I have always been a fighter,” he said in an open letter announcing he was taking a leave of absence for treatment. “It’s a fight I don’t welcome, but I’m ready for that fight. My attitude is very positive and I have a lot of support from family and friends, which means I will see you all again soon.”

But he did not return to the station that had been his professional home for almost half a century.

“He did what he did for so long, on his terms and so well,” said Dominic Massa, former WWL executive producer. “He was more than just the playful, fun-loving spirit you saw. There was more to him and that made him special.”

A native of St. Louis, Paulsen came to New Orleans after working in radio and television in Illinois, Iowa, Georgia and Wisconsin. He quickly embraced the region's culture and forged professional and personal relationships with local icons such as Fats Domino, Irma Thomas, Allen Toussaint and Aaron Neville.

“Paulsen's diverse insights and the diverse guests he brought on-air helped improve the station's content and ratings,” said Massa, now executive vice president and chief operating officer at WYES-TV.

“He made it look easy, but I knew he could talk about so many different things, and that's the life of morning television,” Massa said. “It was a given for him.”

And when circumstances became serious, Paulsen stood firm. Angela Hill, a longtime WWL-TV anchor, recalled the days after Hurricane Katrina, when she and Paulsen worked three-hour shifts on the air, disseminating as much information as possible to concerned viewers.

“I couldn’t have done it without Eric,” she said. “We had to keep going and tried to go three hours without any commercials. With Eric, I was so grateful.”

Karen Swensen, a former WWL-TV reporter, said Paulsen enjoyed reporting the news.

“Eric loved the big story,” she said. “He loved being in the middle of things.”…He was good at questioning the authority of important stories. He could be direct and respectful while getting to the heart of an issue.”

“I think Eric was a newsman’s newsman,” said Nicole Waivers, the station’s news director.

Although Paulsen seemed born for television, he had thought about becoming a veterinarian. He didn't pursue that career path, but over the years he and his wife, Bethany Paulsen, built a menagerie that included two chickens, two giant tortoises, a room-sized aquarium, a parrot and a cat.

He earned a degree in journalism from Southern Illinois University, where he worked for the campus radio and television stations.

After graduating, he worked as a disc jockey in Illinois and Iowa before moving into television. His first television jobs were in Savannah, Georgia, and Madison, Wisconsin.

Paulsen joined WWL-TV in 1977 as a weekend reporter. In 1979, he and Lea Sinclair were named co-hosts of the New Orleans version of “PM Magazine,” a syndicated show featuring local and national stories.

During the show's roughly five-year run, New Orleans was the source of a disproportionate number of stories that aired nationally “because New Orleans is just so crazy,” Sinclair said. “We always said it was the greatest gig we ever had.”

In 1985, Paulsen began working the morning shift, first for Andre Trevigne and then for Roberts.

“He was dealing with the bad news, (but) when he got serious about it, he went to town,” Roberts said. “He was an excellent interviewer. He calmed people down. People came to the station and were nervous because they weren't on TV. After a few minutes they would be relaxed; It was like they were talking to their best friend.”

Paulsen won a regional Emmy Award for his series about a trip by New Orleans musicians and other cultural figures to Cuba. He has also received awards from the Press Club, The Associated Press and the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters.

Although he became a valued member of the New Orleans community, he didn't plan it that way, his wife said.

“When he came here, he didn’t plan on staying,” Bethany Paulsen said. “He wanted a network job. New Orleans hugged him, and he hugged him back. This has become his home.”

“Whenever someone needed something — an MC, an auctioneer — Eric was there for the community,” Roberts said.

After the announcement that he was undergoing cancer treatment, he got a hint of the appreciation New Orleanians held for him, his wife said. “Eric was on the phone all day, talking to everyone and getting text messages.”

Knowing of Paulsen's passion for New Orleans music and its practitioners, Roberts played a gospel CD by Thomas when she visited him in his hospital room.

He couldn't speak, she said. “But I saw his foot moving under the blanket. He listened.”

Paulsen is “unique,” ​​Roberts said. “There has never been and never will be another Eric Paulsen.”

Survivors include his wife, Bethany Paulsen; two sons, Emmet Paulsen of New Orleans and Jon-Erik Mitchel of Dodge City, Kansas; a daughter, Lexie Schulz of New Orleans; a brother, Kim Paulsen of Chicago; and a sister, Karen Bauck of Winnipeg, Canada.

The funeral preparations are incomplete.