Former WBZ-TV anchor and reporter Shelby Scott has died at age 86. Shelby Scott was legendary for her storm coverage later in her career. If you saw her on TV it meant something bad was coming this way.
Shelby was part of the first ever all-female anchor team in the US with Gail Harris in 1977 after coming to Boston from Seattle.
Shelby stayed behind the anchor’s desk until the mid-1980s, returning to the field as a reporter. She left her mark in the minds of a generation of New Englanders in the ’80s and ’90s, braving the elements to cover storms while appearing in her signature wool cap. She was known to report snowfall totals by using her height as a marker and eventually the Boston Globe measured snow totals by “Shelbys” instead of feet. After her 1996 retirement, she continued to freelance whenever a major storm came to town.
Scott died at the age of 86 at her home in Tucson, Arizona. Scott worked at WBZ from 1965 until her retirement in 1996.
When Shelby Scott unretired for April Fool’s Blizzard pic.twitter.com/ru8XsBgrYK
— Boston Radio Watch, Part 2 (@bostonradio2) January 29, 2022