William Hershel Sharpe, Jr. (born 1951) is the head anchor on Charleston, South Carolina broadcast station WCSC-TV.
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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, receiving a degree in English literature with a minor in French.[1]
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 award.[2] Sharpe's broadcast team received regional Emmy Award nominations in four out of six years between 2002 and 2007.[3][4][5][6] On a less serious note, Sharpe won a 2008 Best of Charleston award from the Charleston City Paper for "Best Ted Baxter Impression".[7]
In 1983, Sharpe and three co-workers were arrested and subsequently cleared of obstruction of justice charges after WCSC-TV broadcast the photograph of a multiple murder suspect against the wishes of law enforcement authorities.[8][9] Despite their release, the Charleston County Solicitor refused to acknowledge the validity of the claim that their conduct was protected by the First Amendment.[10]
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.