Bill Hemmer

Early life and education

Hemmer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1964. He is the son of William R. Hemmer, a retired executive salesman for Serta Mattresses, and Georganne M. Knittle, a former high school teacher. He is the middle child and second son of the Hemmers' five children.

Hemmer attended Our Lady of Victory (Cincinnati) Catholic parochial school before graduating from Elder High School in Cincinnati.

During his senior year at Elder, Hemmer and a friend started a radio program, playing fifteen minutes of music before classes began. He credits his time as the high school disc jockey for beginning his passion for broadcasting.

Hemmer holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism from Miami University, located in Oxford, Ohio. While at Miami University, he joined Delta Tau Delta fraternity and studied in Europe at the Miami University Dolibois European Center, which was then located in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.

Early career

While in college, Hemmer interned as a radio disc jockey for Mama Jazz at WMUB-FM and later at the iconic WOXY-FM, which is considered to be America's first alternative music station, before taking an internship at Cincinnati's NBC affiliate.

He started in sports production at WLWT-TV in the mid-1980s where he realized his passion for live television. During his senior year at Miami University, Hemmer was offered a position at WLWT-TV as a sports producer. Soon after, he went to the CBS affiliate WCPO-TV as the weekend sports anchor.

At age 26, Hemmer took a nearly year-long hiatus from CBS to backpack around the world. During his time away, Hemmer traveled through China, Vietnam, Nepal, India, Egypt, Israel and Eastern Europe. While in Calcutta, India, Hemmer spent two weeks working in the children's clinics run by Mother Teresa.

Throughout the journey, Hemmer wrote dispatches and submitted tapes and photos for both The Cincinnati Post, a local newspaper, and CBS's local affiliate that were assembled into several pieces collectively known as "Bill's Excellent Adventure."

The program won him two regional Emmys, Best Entertainment Program and Best Host. On his return from hiatus, he returned to WCPO as a news reporter before accepting a position at CNN's international headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

CNN

Hemmer spent ten years at CNN hosting a number of programs, including American Morning (originally with Paula Zahn, and later with Soledad O'Brien), CNN Tonight, CNN Early Edition, CNN Morning News, and CNN Live Today with co-anchor Daryn Kagan.

While at CNN, Hemmer covered the bombing of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and spent 37 days in Tallahassee, Florida, during the Florida election recount of the 2000 U.S. presidential election.

He reported from World Trade Center site in New York City for a month in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001 and from Khandahar, Afghanistan during the buildup of American forces in the early days of The War on Terror.

In May 2001, Hemmer played an instrumental role in the network's coverage of the Timothy McVeigh execution, reporting from Terre Haute, Indiana, where McVeigh was put to death for his part in the Oklahoma City bombing.

In the summer of 2002, Hemmer reported live from Somerset, Pennsylvania, on the mining accident that trapped nine workers for 77 hours when a wall separating their tunnel from an abandoned, flooded mine gave way, sending millions of gallons of water into their work area.

In 2003, Hemmer traveled to Kuwait to report on escalating tensions in Iraq and remained on-site to cover Operation Iraqi Freedom when the war began.

In 2004, he covered the Democratic and Republican conventions and served as one of CNN's prime-time anchors on election night.

Hemmer provided live coverage from Vatican City on the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005.

He also spent more than a month covering the crisis in Kosovo, where he reported on the aerial bombing missions from Aviano Air Base in Italy, the refugee crisis from Skopje, Macedonia, and on the latest NATO developments from Brussels.

Hemmer received an Emmy Award for his work on CNN's coverage of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta.

Fox News

Hemmer joined Fox News in August 2005, and has reported on a large number of stories both at the news desk and in the field.

These have included the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, the 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis, the British sailors' hostage situation in Iran, the Iraq War, and an interview with 2008 presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, Barack Obama in July 2008.

He handled extensive onsite coverage of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States in April 2008, as well as the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

He is one of the few reporters to have been embedded with U.S. Marines in Camp Fallujah, Iraq.

In October 2008, he traveled to Baghdad, Iraq, to cover post-Iraq War troop surge of 2007 conditions. Included within this assignment were interviews with Generals David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker.

During the 2012 election season, Hemmer covered the Democratic National Convention live from Charlotte, North Carolina and the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. He played an essential role on election night, monitoring FNC's "Bill Board".

More recently, Hemmer was the lead reporter and anchor from the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, as well as the site of the Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013.

Hemmer serves as the anchor for America's Newsroom, which runs from 9-11 am. His current co-host is Shannon Bream; her predecessor was Martha Maccallum.

Personal life

Hemmer is Roman Catholic.

He has returned to Cincinnati each year to host the George Knittle Memorial Bayley Place Golf Classic named in honor of his grandfather, George F. Knittle, which benefits Bayley Senior Living. George Knittle died at the age of 100 in 2003.

In 2008, Hemmer also was the honorary chair of the Ohio River Valley chapter for the Arthritis walk.

He is a supporter of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

In April 2013, Hemmer spent a week at the Vatican moderating the Second Annual Adult Stem Cell Research Conference and in May of the same year served as the keynote speaker at Miami University, Oxford's Farmer school of Business' commencement.

Hemmer, along with two fellow Miami University graduates, established the MUDEC scholarship in honor of the long-time service of Dr. Emile Haag to the Miami University Dolibois European Campus and awarded to a student seeking financial assistance to attend school in Luxembourg.

Around 2005, Hemmer established the William G. Hemmer Scholarship awarded to a deserving Elder High School student who shares an interest in journalism and world travel.

In 2013, Hemmer was the recipient of the Elder High School Professional Distinction award. This alumni award, in honor of Paul V. Stryker, a teacher at Elder for over 40 years, is awarded to a member of the Elder community whose professional achievements foster superior performance in his peers as well as the men of Elder.