Watkins, a graduate of
Wyoming High School near Cincinnati and the
University of Tennessee at Knoxville (during which time he was an intern reporter at
WTVK), started in television news at
WKPT-TV in
Kingsport, Tennessee, in 1978. He moved away from 1979 to 1980 but returned to Kingsport and in 1981 began anchoring the station's 11 p.m. newscast. By 1985, Watkins was working at
WTVF in
Nashville, In 1989, Watkins left WTVF; he declined a morning slot when the 5 p.m. newscast he had been hosting,
Extra, was canceled. He left for Boston with his wife, Lauren Thierry, who got a job at
WBZ-TV there. Watkins also worked at WBZ-TV, anchoring its
Evening Magazine until the program was canceled in 1991. He worked on the syndicated programs
Personalities and
Entertainment Daily Journal during this time. Watkins was hired in 1992 by
WLWT in Cincinnati to anchor weekend morning news. While in Cincinnati, Watkins's wife Thierry worked in New York for
American Journal, and he commuted there twice a month. This in part motivated Watkins and WLWT to part ways in March 1994. He was hired to host a new newscast at
WPHL-TV in Philadelphia,
Inquirer News Tonight, which launched in September 1994. Watkins left
Inquirer News Tonight in August 1995 to become the weekend anchor at
WNBC in New York. In 1998,
WPIX hired Watkins to replace
Jack Cafferty on its weeknight 10 p.m. newscasts alongside
Kaity Tong. While working at WPIX, Watkins received three
Emmy awards and an Edward R. Murrow Award for Broadcast Excellence. Watkins was
Tribune Broadcasting's lead anchor during live coverage of the
September 11 attacks, anchoring for five days. In 2014, his recollections of the tragedy, starting with the day before the World Trade Center attack, were featured in the NatGeo documentary
9/10: The Final Hours. After Watkins was demoted to weekends in 2010 when he and Tong were replaced by
Jodi Applegate, Watkins departed the station in September 2011. He then briefly worked mornings at
WTNH in
New Haven, Connecticut. == Personal life ==