by Guy Page
Rare is the day all 150 members of the Vermont House of Representatives agree on anything. Even rarer the day when they unanimously honor a news reporter with a formal resolution and a raucous, 30-second standing ovation.
But then, Stewart Ledbetter is a rare breed of reporter.
Tuesday morning the whole House, from Julia Andrews to Theresa Wood, passed a resolution titled “honoring Vermont television journalist Stewart Ledbetter for his four decades of insightful reporting.” Friday, February 16 will be Ledbetter’s last day anchoring the evening news on WPTZ. He’s retiring from full-time work but will return on occasion as a political reporter.
The resolution records the career of a State House reporter and anchorman known for accuracy, fairness, a terrific baritone voice, and utter absence of apparent political bias.
I met Stewart’s father, a Manchester area builder and realtor, before I ever met his now more-famous son. In 1980, Stewart Sr. beat a crowded field of GOP challengers (including VDC columnist Tom Evslin) in a campaign featuring walking 450 miles crisscrossing the state. He came within less than 3000 votes of unseating first-term U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy. (Another familiar face to VDC readers, John McClaughry, finished third behind Ledbetter and winner Robert Stafford in the 1982 GOP Senate primary.)
Like his dad, Stewart Jr. has met Vermonters from every corner of the state during his 40 year career. But Junior’s politics? Hard to say. To this day, after years of watching him on TV and occasionally passing the time of day with him in the State House and (once) a federal court house in Manhattan, I don’t know whether he votes Democratic, or Republican or Vegetarian. It’s a mystery he’s hidden well.
Much more evident has been his unflappable demeanor, courtesy, and cool, thoughtful analysis of the news story in front of him – increasingly informed by an institutional memory gained by decades of experience. In my estimation he has been the Dean of the Vermont State House Press Corps, an unofficial office not bestowed for seniority of age or position but for longtime reliable, competent, snark-free professionalism.
The House resolution traces the arc of Ledbetter’s career from student journalist to being named to the Vermont Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Minus the annoying Whereas’s, it reads as follows.
For 40 years, television news viewers in Vermont and northeastern New York State have benefited from the journalistic expertise of Stewart Ledbetter.
Stewart Ledbetter’s introduction to journalism began as editor of his high school newspaper and continued at the University of Vermont, where he volunteered at WRUV, the student radio station.
After earning his degree, he was employed in the newsroom of radio stations WJOY-AM and WQCR-FM (now WOKO-FM). In 1984, Stewart Ledbetter transitioned from radio to television, joining the staff of WPTZ.
The caliber of his news reports impressed station management, and throughout the 1990s, Stewart Ledbetter served as the WPTZ news director, assumed newscasting duties, and launched the station’s first website.
In 2000, Stewart Ledbetter returned to daily reporting, with the State House as his winter beat, developing a keen political awareness. His news portfolio also included coverage of major statewide political races, New Hampshire presidential primaries, the Howard Dean and Bernie Sanders presidential campaigns, and moderating numerous live candidate debates.
Most recently, he has hosted the 5:30 p.m. weekday newscast and the Sunday public affairs program NBC5 In Depth. From 2007 to 2023, Stewart Ledbetter moderated the Vermont
Public’s weekly journalist discussion program, Vermont This Week, and he is the recipient of Vermont and New York AP broadcast awards and a regional EMMY, shared with a colleague a 2015 national Edward R. Murrow Award, and, in 2019, the Vermont Broadcasters Hall of Fame welcomed him as a new inducted.
Stewart Ledbetter has announced that his career signoff will occur on February 16, 2024, but that, later in the year, he will return to WPTZ’s public affairs programs as a political contributor.
Now therefore be it Resolved by the House of Representatives that this legislative body honors Vermont television journalist Stewart Ledbetter for his four decades of insightful news reporting.
In addition to the aforementioned standing O, the resolution was followed by a personal tribute by Rep. James Harrison (R-Killington).