MARVIN SCOTT AND JILL NICOLINI TO VISIT LOCAL AREA SAILORS
ON USS NEW YORK AND USS HARRY S TRUMAN IN NORFOLK, VA

“PIX11 CHRISTMAS WITH HOMETOWN HEROES” LIVE BROADCASTS BEGIN DECEMBER 20

NEW YORK, NY – December 6, 2010—PIX 11′s Marvin Scott, Senior Correspondent for PIX11 News and Jill Nicolini, PIX11 Morning News reporter will again celebrate the holidays with Tri-State area servicemen and women.  Carrying on the tradition PIX11 established in 2004 to visit with solders from our viewing area at Christmas, this year Marvin Scott and Jill Nicolini will focus on the Navy and visit Norfolk, Virginia where they will join local sailors aboard the USS New York, which was built with steel from the World Trade Center in her bow. They will also be on hand to greet sailors aboard the USS Harry S Truman as it returns from a six-month deployment in the Persian Gulf.  The aircraft carrier served as a launching platform for air strikes over Afghanistan. Scott and Nicolini will broadcast live from the ships on PIX11 Morning News (Monday, December 20th through Thursday, December 23rd.)

Additionally, Scott and Nicolini will air live hookups via satellite between the sailors returning to Norfolk and their families in New York. Scott and Nicolini will also be following one local sailor, LSSN Kenneth Williams, who will be seeing his newborn son for the first time when he meets his family dockside in Virginia.

Since PIX11 began celebrating the holidays with soldiers in 2004, Scott has spent four Christmas holidays with local soldiers overseas in Iraq.  (Nicolini has traveled on two of those trips)

“This is one of the most uplifting and rewarding assignments of my career, boosting the morale of service members and letting them know they haven’t been forgotten,” said Scott.

On Monday, December 6th, Scott and Nicolini will be at JFK Airport to help load Christmas trees DHL is shipping to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Scott, who recently celebrated 50 years in broadcast journalism (30 years with PIX11) has won seven Emmy awards for outstanding journalistic achievement, winning six since  joining PIX11 in 1980. Last week, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer presented Marvin Scott with a proclamation declaring Monday, November 29th “Marvin Scott Day” in Manhattan. In addition, Congressman Peter King, Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee, issued a Congressional Proclamation “honoring Marvin Scott for his 50 years of outstanding service.” Congressman King also had an American flag flown over our nation’s Capitol on November 29th. Scott is currently the station’s Senior Correspondent and host of the weekly issues-oriented “PIX News Closeup” program, now in its 18th year.

“Marvin and Jill make us very proud with this annual series.  The troops and families appreciate it, and so do our viewers,” said Bill Carey, PIX11 News Director.