William Hershel Sharpe, Jr. (born 1951) is the head anchor

News presenter

A news presenter is a person who presents news during a news program in the format of a television show, on the radio or the Internet.News presenters can work in a radio studio, television studio and from remote broadcasts in the field especially weather...

 on Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

 broadcast station WCSC-TV

WCSC-TV

WCSC-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for South Carolina's Lowcountry area licensed to Charleston. Its broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 47 from a transmitter in Awendaw. The station can also be seen on Time Warner channel 5 as well as Comcast and Knology...

.

Education

A native of the St. Andrews area in Charleston, he graduated from St. Andrews High School in the city, moving to Atlanta where he attended Emory University

Emory University

Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...

, receiving a degree in English literature

English literature

English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....

 with a minor in French.

Awards and recognition

Sharpe has received numerous awards for best newscast for feature reporting and investigative reporting, and has been part of newscasts which received an Emmy and a Peabody

Peabody

-Places:United States* Peabody, Indiana* Peabody, Kansas** Peabody Downtown Historic District, in Peabody, Kansas* Peabody, Massachusetts* Peabody, Cambridge, Massachusetts, a neighborhood* Peabody River, in New Hampshire-Institutions:...

 award. Sharpe's broadcast team received regional Emmy Award nominations in four out of six years between 2002 and 2007. On a less serious note, Sharpe won a 2008 Best of Charleston award from the Charleston City Paper

Charleston City Paper

The Charleston City Paper is an alternative weekly published every Wednesday in Charleston, South Carolina. It mostly covers local places, events, and happenings in the Charleston area which would be of interest to its target audience of college students and young professionals.The paper also...

 for "Best Ted Baxter

Ted Baxter

Ted Baxter is a fictional character on the sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show . Portrayed by Ted Knight, the Baxter character is a broad parody of a vain, shallow, buffoonish TV newsman. Knight's comedic model was William Powell, and he also drew on various Los Angeles newscasters, including George...

 Impression".

Obstruction of justice charge

In 1983, Sharpe and three co-workers were arrested and subsequently cleared of obstruction of justice

Obstruction of justice

The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other officials...

 charges after WCSC-TV broadcast the photograph of a multiple murder suspect against the wishes of law enforcement authorities. Despite their release, the Charleston County Solicitor refused to acknowledge the validity of the claim that their conduct was protected by the First Amendment

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...

.

Family

Sharpe married Aimee Cheves, a clinical counselor, in 2003 in a story that was posted on WCSC during sweeps period. They have three children, fraternal twins Hayle Kathryn and William Hershel III (born 2003), and Harper, born 2005. Ironically, his first children were born after two of Sharpe's broadcast partners' (Debi Chard and Warren Peper) children were grown adults.