She also hosted PBS's public affairs program Frontline from its January 1983 debut until her death in a car crash the following October.

[1] Savitch was known for her audience appeal and her skill as an on-camera news reader, although she drew criticism for her relative lack of journalism experience.

She was the eldest daughter of Florence (née Goldberger), a navy nurse, and David “Buddy” Savitch, who ran a clothing store.

[3] In 1969, Savitch was hired as an administrative assistant at WCBS, the CBS Radio flagship news station in New York City, where she also did freelance production work.

[5] When Savitch arrived at KHOU, she was the only female working in the news department other than one secretary; colleagues helped her learn the basics of her job.

Her report on a train derailment and fire received national exposure on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.

In 1972, Savitch joined KYW-TV, then the NBC affiliate (now CBS O&O) in Philadelphia, as a general assignment reporter and weekend anchor under a five-year contract.

When she was initially unable to obtain a weeknight anchor shift, Savitch attempted to break her KYW contract and take a job offered by CBS in New York.

KYW refused to release her from her contract but agreed to raise her salary and (partly to satisfy NOW) make her a weeknight anchor.

Philadelphia viewers responded enthusiastically to her on-camera presence, which was perceived as "magical" and triggering an "almost emotional bond" with the audience.

Savitch got along well with some members of the KYW staff, including her regular location shooting crew[6] and her co-anchor Mort Crim.

For example, Philadelphia KYW news director Jim Topping, inspired by his and his wife’s experience attending Lamaze classes, assigned Savitch to cover a five-part series on natural childbirth.

[7] This series on childbirth began as scheduled on Monday and on Thursday, November 22, 1973 — Thanksgiving Day — showed much of the actual birth.

Almost Golden states, “when KYW brought the scene into the audience’s living rooms on a warm holiday evening, it made for powerful television.” In addition, Topping told Savitch, “You've made your career.”[7] Savitch frequently personalized her stories by making herself a part of them, such as serving as an undercover decoy [with police officers unobtrusively posted along the route] for two weeks as part of her series about rape.

However, she also completed the Philadelphia Police Academy's training course, and she also engaged in activities such as shooting a handgun, jumping over oil barrels, squeezing under a barrier, and climbing a six-foot wall.

[9] Other multi-part series which starred Savitch included: single adults, marriage mills of Las Vegas, impact of divorce on American society, issue of when life begins and ends, Pennsylvania snow skiing in the Pocono Mountains, the “New Philadelphia Sound” in music, and traveling to Hollywood to interview Joey Bishop, Peter Boyle, Eddie Fisher and other Philadelphians who had made it big in show business.

[10] In 1976, she came to the attention of NBC executives while she was reporting from the first presidential campaign debate between President Gerald Ford and Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter, which was held at Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre.

In order to counter criticism that she had been hired for her looks and promoted ahead of skilled journalists, NBC also assigned her to do reporting work, including a brief stint as U.S. Senate correspondent.

NBC executives and colleagues praised her skillful narration of film showing the murders of Congressman Leo Ryan and several others in a mass shooting by members of the Peoples Temple at Jonestown.

[citation needed] On October 3, 1983, during an NBC News Digest segment, Savitch was slurring her speech, deviating from her script and ad-libbing her report.

However, she blamed the problems on a teleprompter malfunction, while her agent said it was due to the effects of pain medication which she was taking in response to recent facial reconstructive surgery which she underwent following a boating accident.

Although Gwenda Blair wrote that Savitch's poor performance on the October 3 segment effectively ended her network career,[15] a People magazine article which was published after her death stated that her NBC contract had actually been renewed (although the renewal was for just one year rather than her previous three-year contracts), that she would have reclaimed a spot as a substitute Sunday anchor for NBC Nightly News in January 1984, and that she was set to appear on another season of Frontline.

[14][22] According to her biographers Blair and Nash, Savitch was a driven perfectionist who constantly battled insecurities about her appearance and ability, suffered from social anxiety, and tended to isolate herself from network colleagues.

"[26] On October 23, 1983, Savitch had dinner with Martin Fischbein, vice president of the New York Post, at the Chez Odette restaurant in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

[29] Savitch gave the main address at Ithaca College's 1979 commencement, at which she was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters.

[31] It was later made into a Lifetime Network made-for-TV movie starring Sela Ward, called Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story.

[24] The television film was criticized for omitting or downplaying controversial aspects of Savitch's life and career that were discussed at length in Blair's book.

[33][34] The second, Golden Girl: The Story of Jessica Savitch (Dutton, 1988) by Alanna Nash, became the basis of the 1996 theatrical film Up Close & Personal starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert Redford.

According to Nash and John Gregory Dunne (who co-wrote the screenplay with his wife Joan Didion and wrote the book Monster: Living Off the Big Screen about the making of the film), this was because the filmmakers, including The Walt Disney Company that was financing the film, considered Savitch's life story too downbeat to be popular at the box office.

[37] The A&E series Biography featured an episode about Savitch and her relationship with her male peers, which inspired Will Ferrell to make the 2004 comedy film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, whose two main characters were based on her and Mort Crim.