R.I.P.: N-E Broadcast Journalist Jim Madigan

Jim Madigan

Jim Madigan, a fixture on public television in Western Massachusetts for decades, has died.

He was 65-years-of-age and suffered from a 'lung disease' according to New England Public Radio.

MassLive.com reports Madigan worked as a journalist for nearly 40 years. He began his career in New York before he moved to Massachusetts to accept a position with WLDM, which later became WNNZ, in Westfield. He went on to spend eight years working for ABC40 before joining PBS station WGBY in 1990.

He served as the longtime host of WGBY's "Connecting Point," a local public affairs series where he interviewed authors, politicians and local residents about issues impacting their lives.

"At that time, commercial news was changing. Soundbites were getting shorter and shorter, and the chance to let someone sit and talk, and express a full idea, was just greater in public TV," Madigan told The Republican in an interview last year.

In addition to serving as the host of "Connecting Point," Madigan produced the weekly segment "The State We're In," partnered with the Springfield Public Forum to host events and moderated seven gubernatorial debates and the 2012 U.S. Senate debate between Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren held in Springfield.

"The secret to good moderating is that there is always a producer in your ear helping you keep on track, it's not something I do alone," he told The Republican in 2017. "I love covering politics because it affects us all. Whether we like it or not, it's important."