Johnson, a veteran journalist of 45 years, began his career spinning records at a small radio station in his Marietta, Georgia, hometown, but he found his niche in TV, moving up the ranks to become the anchor for WTVC-TV Channel 9's evening newscasts as well as co-host of yearly telethons for various causes. Before he retired in 2007, Johnson reported from the scene of stories as diverse as the 1988 Moscow summit between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev just before the fall of communism and the Cape Canaveral, Florida, launch of the space shuttle's first flight after the 1986 Challenger explosion. Among his favorite projects was his long-running "Wednesday's Child" feature, which helped place children with Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
