John Beard was born on a farm in North Carolina and grew up consuming as much news as he could watch and read.
His broadcast career started in college at the campus radio station and continued on weekends on local radio in NC. During four years of service as a Navy medic with the Marine Corps, John worked in radio when time permitted. When he went back to college, he joined WITN-TV in Washington, NC as an anchor and reporter. After graduating from East Carolina University, John worked at WXII in Winston-Salem, WIVB in Buffalo and KNBC and KTTV in Los Angeles. During the LA years he won more than a dozen Emmy awards for anchoring, reporting, live news coverage and hosting a series of half-hour specials. He most fondly remembers traveling to Beirut to cover the Marines after a terror bombing blew up their barracks, killing 241. After covering the Marine story, John brought a Lebanese baby back to Los Angeles and presented him to his adoptive parents.
John came back to Buffalo in 2009 as anchor of the Channel 2 Daybreak show.
