Nightline: Ted Koppel Bio

— -- Ted Koppel, a 37-year veteran of ABCNEWS, was named anchor of Nightline when the broadcast was introduced in March 1980.

In his anchor role, Koppel is the principal on-air reporter and interviewer for television's first late-night network news program. In addition, Mr. Koppel is the program's managing editor.

Koppel has won every major broadcasting award, including 37 Emmy Awards, six George Foster Peabody Awards, 10 duPont-Columbia Awards, nine Overseas Press Club Awards, two George Polk Awards and two Sigma Delta Chi Awards, the highest honor bestowed for public service by the Society of Professional Journalists.

Koppel was honored with the first Goldsmith Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Journalism by the Joan Shorenstein Barone Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. In 1997, he was awarded the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award from Quinnipiac College. In addition, he was the recipient of the prestigious Gabriel Personal Achievement Award from the National Catholic Association of Broadcasters and Communicators. In 1985, Koppel was honored with the first Gold Baton in the history of the duPont-Columbia Awards for Nightline's week-long series originating from South Africa. Koppel and Nightline were cited for "the most extraordinary television of the year."

He was named the first recipient of the Sol Taishoff Award presented by Broadcasting Magazine. He was voted best interviewer on radio or TV by The Washington Journalism Review in 1987, and was named Broadcaster of the Year by the International Television and Radio Society. Koppel is an inductee of the Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

In 1994, Koppel was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Republic of France. He has received honorary degrees from numerous universities in the United States.

Life Before NightlineBefore his Nightline assignment, Koppel worked as an anchor, foreign and domestic correspondent and bureau chief for ABCNEWS.