Colleen Williams serves as co-anchor of the station's weekday newscasts, NBC4 News at 5 p.m., 7 p.m., and 11 p.m. She joined the station in 1986.
An award-winning journalist for more than 30 years, she is the recipient of numerous industry honors, including multiple Golden Mike and Emmy Awards. She was recognized with a Golden Mike for team coverage of the Chatsworth train crash, and an L.A. Emmy and Golden Mike for her work on NBC4’s special ‘LA Riots: Rubble to Rebirth.’ She also earned a Golden Mike and Associated Press Award for her coverage of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games Centennial Park bombing for ‘Best Live Coverage of a News Story.’ She was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Radio & Television News Association.
Colleen was particularly visible during the trial of the century – the O. J. Simpson case which she covered for NBC4 and MSNBC, anchoring a daily report of the trial. It was after the case that she took the anchor reins for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. in 1995, assembling Southern California’s most trusted and powerful news team in the market to this day with Co-Anchor Chuck Henry and Sports Anchor Fred Roggin.
She has covered countless breaking news stories – from two Pope visits, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, the Los Angeles riots and the many infamous car chases that make Southern California unique.
Prior to joining NBC4, Colleen started her broadcast career at WOW radio in Omaha, and later joined NBC affiliate station, WOWT, also in Omaha. She went on to anchor newscasts at CBS Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Throughout her illustrious career, Colleen has worked alongside several news greats including Tom Brokaw, Lester Holt and Jess Marlow — in fact, her first live shot from Omaha was with Dan Rather and Walter Conkrite.
When she’s not in the studio, Colleen is passionate about many social causes impacting Southern Californians. For more than 20 years, she has supported Casa del Las Amigas — a residential home for women overcoming addiction. The longstanding Colleen Williams Golf Tournament is a popular annual tradition that continues to raise awareness for the community it serves. And for two decades, Colleen has also helped the Rape Crisis Center in Riverside bring more attention to reducing domestic abuse cases in the Inland Empire.
Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Colleen moved across the United States and Canada as an Air Force “brat.” She has been married for 25 years and met her husband, Jon, an Air Force officer, while covering the Persian Gulf War. Their son, Sean, recently graduated from Loyola Marymount University.
Colleen is an avid hockey fan — Go Kings! Inspired by her son and husband, who were both competitive hockey players in school, her devotion to the sport is a favorite family pastime. She also loves football, and had things turned out differently, she would have been a sports reporter.
Colleen received her bachelor's degree at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and began her professional life working in radio and television at a magnet high school. Her goal was to write and produce, and never intended to be in front of the camera. But luckily for all of us, her journey led her into millions of homes bringing the world closer through compelling news reporting.
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‘It starts today.' NBC4's Colleen Williams shares experience returning to LA with Olympic flag
The Olympic flag officially touched down in its new home city on Monday as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, 60 athletes and city leaders returned from Paris to the City of Angels. On board the Delta flight to LA was NBC4’s Colleen Williams, who shares her unique experience in returning home with the flag as the city looks forward to 2028.
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