BATON ROUGE — Bob Courtney was anchoring news on the radio in Baton Rouge when he learned about a job opportunity in TV news at WBRZ.

He worked at Channel 2 from 1974 to 1990, uncovering corruption and holding the powerful accountable.

"I was hired as a weekend anchor and three-day-a-week reporter. But I loved reporting, so I pushed myself off the anchor desk into the field,” Courtney said, explaining that he was used to covering big stories.

As a radio reporter, he covered an incident in January 1972 when three police officers, including two Muslim officers, were killed on North Boulevard.

“Then, a few months later, at Southern University, two students were killed by police gunfire,” Courtney said. “Those were defining moments and big national stories.”

And these “defining moments” kept coming at WBRZ.

"I was involved with the Investigative Unit. We did the Barry Seal story, we did a story on the insurance commissioner, which ended up with the insurance commissioner going to prison, then there were other stories like the Oakdale prison riot, which took place on the night Buddy Roemer was elected as governor,” Courtney said about his coverage, some of which won him the prestigious duPont-Columbia Award.

Courtney also covered many of the state’s governors. The most memorable? He said John J. McKeithen, who served from 1964 to 1972, was the biggest character.

“He was from North Louisiana, a big man, a giant of a man,” Courtney said. “His campaign sign (said,) ‘Won't you help me?’”

The 16-year reporter also spent five years as the First Assistant Secretary of State, during which he was in charge of renovating the Old State Capitol building.

“I started my own company. I've been doing a motorcycle travel show for 20 years; it's fun in a different way,” he reminisced.

Courtney said that being at WBRZ, the only locally-owned and operated TV station in Baton Rouge, was a special experience.

“Here was exciting. I always felt like we were doing something really important," he said.

Watch more of WBRZ’s celebration of 70 years of local and community-driven coverage on YouTube at the playlist below: