From 1996-2026: Boston 25 News Marks 30 Years of Covering the Region’s Biggest Stories

September 9th marks a major milestone for Boston 25. Thirty years after the station launched its first newscast in 1996, longtime journalists and original employees are reflecting on the stories, challenges and moments that helped define three decades of local news coverage.

Looking Back at the Beginning

Bob Ward, Reporter / 30-Year Employee: “We all believed in ourselves and we believed that we had the best product in the market. It was just a matter of time before the audience found us. But if you told me 30 years ago that one day I would be here covering one of the biggest trials in the whole country, I don’t think I’d believe you.”

1997: The April Fool’s Blizzard

Kevin Lemanowicz / 1996 Chief Meteorologist: “The first big snowstorm really didn’t hit until April 1st of 1997. Everybody that was alive then will remember it, because everybody thought it was an April Fool’s joke!

And as soon as we started the open of the show, power went out! I never made it on the air for the blizzard that night. We’re on the next day for the cleanup and everything else."

1999: Covering the JFK Jr. Plane Crash

Bob Ward: “The biggest by far early story was the JFK Junior’s plane crash. And we were in it for the long haul.”

Todd Krupa, Editor / 30-Year Employee: “What changed everything was JFK Jr.’s plane going down. We were here, I don’t know, 24/7. It was like five days we were living here.”

2001: 9/11 and Boston’s Connection

Bob Ward: “On 9/11, the problems of the world came right home to us in Boston and we had to get a really quick education. And it felt like the world had ended. I remember just trying to make sense of it all and to come to work every day, and there were no planes in the sky and everybody is scared and no one knows what’s going on.”

Mike Finnerty, Senior Director / 30-Year Employee: “When it’s happening, you don’t realize the gravity of what’s happening. 9/11, the Marathon bombing, those types of things, you’re just trying to get the news on the air. It’s not until after we’re off the air that you realize how important what we just did was.”

2004: The Red Sox Reverse the Curse / Cue the Duckboats!

Bob Ward: “I was on the field as the Red Sox were celebrating their first World Series in decades.”

Bob Ward: “I see a lot of awful things in the course of my job, but to be there when the Red Sox won the World Series for the first time to reverse the curse, just was icing on the cake.”

Bob Ward: “I was on a Patriots duck boat a couple of times. And you know, I just thought I shouldn’t be here. What am I doing here? But it was just great to look out at the crowd and see them all celebrating.”

2013: Whitey Bulger, and the Marathon Bombing

Bob Ward: “I never thought I’d see Whitey Bulger. But there I am in the courtroom with him. I had a stare down with Whitey during the trial. He stared at me and I stared back at him. It was bizarre.”

“Then we have the bombings at the marathon in 2013. The night they caught Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is a night I’ll never forget. Tsarnaev was in that sailboat. And the flash bangs are going off. We couldn’t tell that they were flash bangs or gunshots.”

“I’ll never forget the moment when Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was taken by us in a wagon, and people in Watertown were coming out of their homes with American flags waving.”

2020: Reporting Through the COVID-19 Pandemic

Bob Ward: “With COVID, it was really strange. You’re hearing about this flu-like thing that’s sweeping the nation. The next thing you know, the Boston Celtics are canceling their season. The governor is shutting everything down. And that seemed to happen like that overnight.”

“How do we do our jobs as journalists if we can’t get out and talk to people?”

“And another time that you think, when is life ever going to return to normal?”

A Commitment That Hasn’t Changed

Bob Ward: “The basic rules of journalism that I practice every single day have not changed in the last 30 years. I always want to find a story that’s interesting that other people are not reporting on. I want to find the right person to interview.”

Scott Tetreault, Assignment Manager / 30-Year employee: “Thirty years. What happened? We were just small kids. We were just babies.”

Bob Ward: “Our commitment to getting a story and treating it with respect has not changed in 30 years. “We’re still a scrappy young (maybe not me!) group of journalists just trying to do our best… and that’s what we are today. And it’s a legacy that I’m so glad that I was a part of. I wouldn’t change a single minute of this for anything”

Watch the station’s first-ever newscast below: