Mike Wallace, a pioneer of American broadcasting, has died, CBS News said. He was 93.

His death was announced on CBS by the anchor of its Sunday morning program, Charles Osgood. The network did not specify when or where he died.

Wallace had been ill for several years.

As one of the original correspondents and hosts of 60 Minutes, which was started in 1968, Mr. Wallace helped to establish the television newsmagazine format.

Wallace was perhaps best known for ambush interviews of crooks and cheats, the New York Times said on its site.

In interviews after he retired, Wallace said he would want his epigraph to read, "Tough But Fair."