Source: Digital / WBT
WBT newsman Jim Barroll passed away on Monday, February 5, 2024, at the age of 71, following a short battle with cancer. Before arriving at WBT in late 1985, Barroll spent time as a reporter at WIS-AM in Columbia, SC, and WDBO-AM in Orlando, Florida.
He spent over thirty years in our Charlotte newsroom, starting as a reporter, then serving as the longtime afternoon-drive anchor, and eventually News Director. Over the years, his focus was often on court reporting and the criminal justice system. He covered multiple Space Shuttle launches, the 1988 Democratic National Convention, the Jim Bakker trial, Hurricane Hugo, the crash of USAir Flight 1016, and the Rae Carruth trial. In 1990, he traveled with a North Carolina political and trade delegation to Germany during the aftermath of the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and the German reunification.
Source: Digital / WBT
Barroll and fellow anchor John Stokes were the backbone of WBT’s news operation for over thirty years. Jim anchored his final newscast for WBT in 2016. He later relocated to Hendersonville, NC. Jim loved baseball, aviation, and the outdoors. You could often find him photographing airplanes landing near the Charlotte Douglas Airport overlook. He was also a man of deep faith, as he held weekly bible studies at the Mecklenburg County Jail.
His daughter Amy posted this message to social media on Monday: “I will miss this man so, so much. He passed away this morning from an exceedingly aggressive mantle cell lymphoma. He was a completely healthy man a month ago. I am the luckiest person in the world to have called him my father.”
Source: Digital / WBT
WBT’s Pete Kaliner called Barroll “a mentor and a friend… I’m picturing him talking baseball, aviation, and philosophy with God.”
WBT’s Bo Thompson: “He had a warmth and inviting delivery that was unmistakable and highly respected. He was loved by listeners and colleagues alike… a rock in our newsroom for so many years.”
Listen: A Tribute to Jim Barroll:
