GOLD CIRCLE
The Gold Circle honors media professionals who began their careers in television at least 50 years ago, either in a performing, creative, technical or administrative role within the industry or in an area related to television such as TV journalism education, advertising, promotion, and public relations.
Over the course of their 50-year career, they must also have made a significant contribution to the Lone Star Chapter.
The Lone Star Chapter of NATAS has been honoring and celebrating our Gold Circle members since 2004.
Gold Circle Honorees
2024
2024
2022
2022
2022
2019
2018
2015
2012
2007
2004
SILVER CIRCLE
The Silver Circle honors media professionals who began their careers in television at least 25 years ago, either in a performing, creative, technical or administrative role within the industry or in an area related to television such as TV journalism education, advertising, promotion, and public relations.
Over the course of their 25-year career, they must also have made a significant contribution to the Lone Star Chapter.
The Lone Star Chapter of NATAS has been honoring and celebrating our Silver Circle members since 2003.
Silver Circle Honorees
2024
2024
2023
2023
2023
2023
2019
2019
2018
2017
2017
2016
2016
2016
2016
2015
2015
2014
2013
2013
2013
2012
2012
2012
2012
2011
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2007
2006
2006
2006
2006
2005
2004
2003
2003
2003
Gold & Silver Circle Honoree
Jerry Cadigan
If you’ve watched Dallas TV at any time since the 1970’s, you’ve probably seen Jerry Cadigan’s work. He worked at WFAA in its Production Department for 51 of its first 75 years, becoming the longest-tenured employee in the history of the station.
Jerry Cadigan said watching live coverage of the Kennedy assassination, he saw the network remote trucks and got hooked. After interning at WFAA in 1973 while studying at SMU, Cadigan formally joined the station’s staff on June 4 of that year. He’d never work full-time for another employer again.
Cadigan has held virtually every production position available at WFAA. It’s doubtful there was a major Dallas news story or large-scale WFAA production of the last five decades that Cadigan didn’t somehow touch.
He pushed for new technologies, including the film-to-tape conversion of the 1970s, editors and newsroom computers in the 1980s, the migration to digital equipment in the 1990s and high definition television in 2000s. Through Cadigan’s relentless efforts, WFAA became the first station in the United States to broadcast in high definition on a VHF signal.
Throughout Cadigan’s career, he worked closely with high school and college students, bringing them to WFAA for a bird’s eye view of production, news and more. He crossed department lines inside WFAA helping others, and even station lines helping colleagues at other Belo, then TEGNA, stations across Texas over the years.
During his tenure, Cadigan has been honored for his contributions in news, programming and individual craft with national and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, PROMAX and BDA recognitions, Heartland and Lone Star Chapter Emmys®. He was recognized with his final Lone Star EMMY® Award for his work on the Texas Rangers’ World Series parade in August 2024.
Jerry Cadigan worked at WFAA right up until the end, when he died unexpectedly in July 2024. A Dallas institution, he is sorely missed by colleagues who call him the “Soul of the Station.” But as much as Jerry loved WFAA, his greatest loves are his wife Caton, late son Trevor, daughter Kathleen and his grandsons who knew him simply as their beloved “Jer-Bear.”
Gold & Silver Circle Honoree
Dave Ward
A generation of Houston TV viewers grew up with Dave Ward.
As the powerful, yet calming voice behind the anchor desk, Ward delivered the news with integrity and authenticity for 50 years on ABC13 KTRK.
But his career started at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, TX, when he was bitten by the radio bug.
As the 1960s began, Dave moved to Waco’s WACO radio. This time, Dave put away the records and picked up a reporter’s notebook as he took an opening in the station’s news department.
In 1962, Houston radio came calling.
Dave packed his family up and moved to the Bayou City to work at 1230 KNUZ-AM and KQUE where he was the night news reporter. Dave was eventually promoted to news director.
For his work at the Houston AM station and his previous jobs, Dave was later inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.
In 1966, Dave left radio for, at the time, the pioneering world of television news. He was hired at KTRK as the station’s only on-the-street news reporter and photographer. Dave actually took at $50 pay cut to move from radio to TV. It made his dad question his career move.
Only a year later, Dave was put in the anchor seat at 7am for the thirty-minute newscast.
In January of 1968, Dave became the main anchor of Eyewitness News at 6 and 10.
During his career, he has interviewed people from all walks of life, from Presidents to drug dealers. From fires, explosions, earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes throughout Texas and the southern states, Dave has covered it all.
In 2011, the Lone Star Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences inducted Dave into their Silver Circle for his years of contributions to the Television Broadcast Community.
Dave became Crime Stoppers’ first on-air reporter and his unwavering passion and commitment to mitigate crimes in Houston remains steadfast to this day. Opening in late 2016, it is only fitting and appropriate that the first Crime Stoppers headquarters in the nation is named The Dave Ward Building: Crime Stoppers of Houston.
Dave’s career even put his name in the Guinness Book of World Records. Dave holds the Certificate from Guinness World Records for “The longest career as a television news broadcaster is 49 years and 218 days, achieved by Dave Ward (USA), who began working on 9 November 1966 and continues anchoring at KTRK-TV, in Houston, Texas, USA, as verified on 2 June 2016.”
Gold & Silver Circle Honoree
Dale Hansen
Dale Hansen is the face of TV Sports Anchoring in Dallas/Fort Worth serving the area for more than 38 years before retiring in 2021. It was the final stop on a career that started 50 years ago.
At the time of his retirement, Dale was the weeknight sports anchor during the 10 p.m. newscast on WFAA, Channel 8 in Dallas Texas. He also hosts Dale Hansen’s Sports Special on Sundays at 10:35 p.m. He’s well known for his acclaimed “Unplugged” segments, many of which have gone viral nationally.
Hansen began his career as a radio disc jockey and operations manager in Newton, Iowa in 1971. This was followed by a job as a sports reporter at KMTV in Omaha, Nebraska. Hansen’s first job in Dallas was with KDFW-TV (Channel 4). He joined WFAA-TV in 1983.
In 1987, Hansen was honored with the George Foster Peabody Award for Distinguished Journalism. That same year, he won the DuPont-Columbia Award for his contribution to the investigation of SMU’s football program. As a result of this investigation, the NCAA prohibited SMU from fielding a football program in 1987.
Hansen is the only local on-air broadcaster who has received the Radio Television Digital News Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award, which he received in 2019.
Hansen has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Dale Hansen also is a member of the Lone Star Emmys Silver Circle, inducted in its early years back in 2009. That was followed by his induction into the Lone Star Emmy Gold Circle in 2022, rounding out a career that spanned a half century.
Hansen’s awards and honors include:
- Lone Star EMMY® Silver Circle Honoree
- Recipient of over 20 Lone Star EMMY® Awards
- Dallas Peace and Justice Center’s 2019 Inspiration Award
- Hero of Hope Award from the Cathedral of Hope Church
- Peacemaker Award from the Turtle Creek Chorale
- Children’s Hero Award from TexProtects
- Distinguished Professional Achievement Award from the UNT School of Journalism
- Communicator of the Year by the National Speech and Debate Association
- Sportscaster of the Year on two occasions by the Associated Press
- Texas Sportscaster of the Year on four occasions by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association
- Best Sportscaster by United Press International and the Dallas Press Club
- TV Personality of the Year by American Women in Radio and Television
- Iowa Associated Press award for Best Investigative Reporter
Q&A with Dale Hansen:
1) Who are you? I’m just a small town guy from Logan, Iowa... never went to college... have had 11 jobs in my life and been fired from 9 of ’em... but I am that person who always believes there’s a better day coming... so I never give up
2) What are your interests? I have very few interests outside of tv... I love golf and cards... almost any card game .. I like wine and a good political debate with friends on both sides of the aisle... play golf... then gin rummy... a little wine and a debat... it’s the perfect day
3) What do you like about working at WFAA? I like working at Channel 8 becuz it’s just better than all the others... not perfect... but better... we have good people who do sometimes great work... and at least for me... a management team that has figured out how to ignore my flaws as best they can
4) What’s one thing people would be surprised to learn about you? I sleep with a basset hound under the covers... with her head on my pillow
Gold & Silver Circle Honoree
Bob Phillips
For more than 50 years, the back roads of Texas have been home and office for Texas Country Reporter Bob Phillips. He was born in Dallas, but spent much of his youth growing up on the family farm near Lake Texoma. It was there that Bob lived with and learned from the folks he calls the “salt of the earth.” His “Texas Country Reporter” television series is a celebration of the Texas way of life and a tribute to the “real” heroes of our time — the everyday men and women who make our state such a special, diverse place.
Bob started his television career at KDFW-TV (Channel 4) in Dallas, Texas, in 1970 while he was a student at SMU. He was a photographer, reporter and anchor and covered general news and politics. He covered several state and national political conventions and the inauguration of President Nixon, and even sports, where he spent more than a decade traveling with the Dallas Cowboys and shooting for NFL Films. His “Country Reporter” series began at KDFW-TV in 1972 and continued on that station until Phillips moved his program to WFAA-TV in October of 1986 and then syndicated the program statewide. Bob’s back roads travels have lasted 50+ years and “Texas Country Reporter” is now seen in all television markets in Texas and, since 2000, nationally on the RFD-TV network.
Bob is a 1973 graduate of Southern Methodist University where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a major in Broadcast-Film-Art. In 1976, he received a Master of Liberal Arts degree from SMU. Bob is also a Professor at Amberton University where he has taught communications classes since 1988.
The TV series Bob started 50 years ago, “Texas Country Reporter”, is now a part of Texas Monthly, the Texas magazine that started only 4-months after TCR. Bob and his wife, Kelli, a former news anchor, still produce and co-host the weekly program that is watched by more than a million viewers every week and is the longest running independently produced TV program in American television history.
Gold Circle Honoree
Phyllis Slocum
Phyllis Slocum joined the University of North Texas in Fall 2002 after a long career in the broadcast industry.
Having worked in both radio and television, her focus for the majority of her career has been television news, television management, and the broadcasting industry. During her more than 15 years with several different television stations, she served as an anchor, reporter, producer, executive producer, and news director. In those capacities, she was recognized by her colleagues for outstanding work.
Moving into the arena of broadcast consulting, Slocum worked for nearly 16 years with one of the nation’s most highly acclaimed broadcast consulting firms: Audience Research & Development, with a focus on news, marketing, management, audience, and talent development. In addition to her work on the industry and academic side, she is also a professional voice-over talent working with companies as they develop their on-air sound and with individuals in a voice-presentation coaching capacity.
At UNT she teaches upper level and graduate studies in media with an emphasis in television. Slocum teaches the capstone Television News Producing course which culminates in a special certificate for students completing the television news producing program as well as various other industry-related courses. She serves as Station Manager for ntTV (North Texas Television) the 24/7 student-programmed and -operated cable channel which has gained national recognition over the past decades for outstanding student work.
For her students the mission is simple: “My goal is to help, nurture and teach these students to enable them to take their place as dedicated, highly motivated, and competent media professionals in whatever area they choose.”
Slocum holds a B.A. in Political Science/International Studies from Kalamazoo College and an M.A. in Radio, Television and Film from UNT. She is active in various professional organizations including the World Journalism Education Congress and the Broadcast Education Association serving on panels, making presentations, and has published and co-authored numerous professional and academic papers. She is a long serving member of the Lone Star EMMY® Chapter, serves on the Board, and represents the chapter as a National Trustee to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Gold Circle Honoree
Allen Morris
Allen Morris’ career began in 1969, when as teenagers, he and his twin sister were hired to operate puppets on Through Magic Doorways, a children’s program.
In college, he produced A Journey Through Christmas, a special examining Christmas customs throughout the world.
Early in his career, Allen produced and acted in a sitcom pilot entitled, They’d Hang You in Nashville.
While working for Metromedia in Houston, he produced #26 Morning Place, a live children’s show, and Paws for the Night, a live all-night talk show featuring comedy and musical performances.
He ended his career at Metromedia traveling with the Astros baseball team.
In 1986, he traveled to Egypt, directing Alexandria: Monument to Civilization, examining the ancient city’s influence developing Western culture.
During the Gulf War, his crew traveled to Israel, bringing back the first interview in which Yitzhak Rabin said he would consider a “land for peace” initiative.
Recent live experience includes directing Fashion Houston for five years and the 100th Anniversary Celebration of the Boy Scouts of America live from Minute Maid Park.
Among his award-winning documentaries are People Who Make a Difference: Dr. Emil J Freireich, about the pioneer who discovered the cure for childhood leukemia; An American Rhapsody, a visual history of America edited to Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue;” and One Man Four Lives, a profile of Holocaust survivor and philanthropist William J. Morgan.
Allen is currently sharing producer/director credits on Star Film Ranch, a feature-length documentary about the first film studio in Texas that operated from 1910-1911.
The company brought actors and crews from New York, supplementing their needs by employing local Hispanic cowboys, producing some 90 western titles, including the first film about the Alamo.
Allen has been honored with one national Emmy® Award and four regional Emmys®.
He shared the national Emmy® with Nancy Ames and Danny Ward for The Night the Rains Came, detailing the devastation wrought on Houston by 2001’s Tropical Storm Allison.
Throughout his career, Allen devoted 25% of his time to philanthropy, raising $200+ million.
In 2009, he was named Humanitarian of the Year by Houston’s Children’s Assessment Center.
Allen is currently the First Vice President on the board of the Lone Star Chapter of NATAS and serves as a National Trustee.
Gold Circle Honoree
Nancy Ames
The daughter of old Washington and diplomatic society in the nation’s capital, and granddaughter of Ricardo Joaquín Alfaro, Panama’s 7th president, Nancy Ames (born Nancy Hamilton Alfaro) graduated from The Holton-Arms School before going to Bennett College and finishing her last two years as one of Mrs. Harwood Kammerer’s chosen 12 American girls to live and study in Europe.
Her performing career included the Broadway stage, television, recordings, supper clubs, and concerts.
Her “on camera” television years included starring for two years on NBC TV’s That Was The Week That Was as the program’s singing and acting signature, the TW3 Girl.
That exposure led from the mid-60s through the late 70s to twelve years as a guest headliner on Ed Sullivan, The Hollywood Palace, and a gamut of star-hosted variety shows ranging from The Andy Williams Show to The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (for whom Nancy co-wrote the theme song with Mason Williams).
After moving to Houston, she starred in her own variety/talk show, The Nancy Ames Show, from 1975 through 1979 on KPRC Channel 2.
It was after doing that local program in Houston that Nancy saw the need for a special events company that could plan, manage, produce and direct turn-key events like those companies that had produced corporate events for companies like IBM, Kodak and others for which she was the concert headliner.
Thus, with her husband and musical director, Danny Ward, was born Ward & Ames Special Events, now recognized as one of the nation’s premier event planning companies.
Ward & Ames produced five Presidential Inaugural events during the Reagan/Bush, Bush/Quayle, Clinton/Gore, and Bush/Cheney Inaugurations.
While much of the company’s forte is producing live events, especially fundraisers for various philanthropic organizations, many of their projects include live, televised elements.
A prime example of that is an event for which Nancy was both creative director and one of the producers.
To help raise funds that would go directly to people affected by the devastation of Tropical Storm Allison, the company co-produced a short feature entitled The Night The Rains Came, which was used to secure corporate funding to finance the production costs of a live telethon, One Houston United, organized by Ward & Ames under the auspices of the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast.
The feature was also used to promote the broadcast, which was simulcast on every television station in the Houston market, and was included as the opening segment of the broadcast, to provide background context for the viewers.
The telethon was staged at Houston’s Minute Maid Park stadium and was hosted by Houston natives Clint Black and his wife Lisa Hartmann Black.
It featured performances by a slate of well-known country music performers and incorporated a huge phone bank manned by Houston city leaders and its most notable citizens who took donor calls.
The telethon raised $3.5 million and its producers were awarded a national Emmy® Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for the feature The Night The Rains Came.
Most of the event projects Nancy works on raise funds for philanthropic causes.
To date, she has been the strategic creative force behind events that have raised hundreds of millions of dollars benefiting a wide range of organizations: The MD Anderson Cancer Center; Memorial Hermann; Houston Methodist; Texas Childrens Hospital and Cancer Center; Hurricane Katrina Relief; Super Bowl 38 Kick-off benefitting the City of Houston; The Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation; Ronald MacDonald House; DePelchin Children’s Center; The George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M; The Lone Star Flight Museum; and many others.
*Photo by Francesco Scavullo
Gold Circle Honoree
William G. Moll
Bill Moll’s career can be summarized with one word – Localism. By his description, Moll has always “had a decent set of pipes.”
When he turned 16, Moll called his hometown radio station and made an appointment to meet the GM and talk about breaking into the broadcast business. Three days later, he was on the air…and he’s never stopped since.
He continued to work at local radio and television stations throughout college – doing everything from on-air work, to traffic, sales and copy-writing.
Moll graduated with an English degree from Southeast Missouri State University and earned his Master’s degree in Communications and Education at the University of Texas in Austin.
From there, he went to work for the Southwest Texas Educational Television Corp. They held the license for the public television facility serving San Antonio and Austin. Moll was part of the team that signed-on the station – KLRN-TV – in 1962. He would spend the next five years as station manager, based in San Antonio.
For the next 30 years, Moll’s career would take him all around the US: VP/GM of WSMW-TV Worcester, Mass., President/CEO of KENS-TV San Antonio, President/CEO of WNBC-TV New York and President/CEO of WKRC-TV Cincinnati.
In 2000, he returned to San Antonio as President/CEO of Clear Channel Television, and later served as Chairman. By the time Clear Channel sold the TV division it had expanded to 56 television stations in 25 markets under Moll’s leadership.
After nine years with Clear Channel, Moll returned to his roots at KLRN-TV. He served as President and CEO of the Alamo Public Telecommunications Council until 2014
He has or is currently serving on the boards of directors of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, San Antonio Area Foundation, United Way of San Antonio & Bexar County, University of the Incarnate Word, Masters Leadership Program of San Antonio and the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, among others.
Moll says he has no plans to retire.
To him, broadcasting has never been a “job” – it’s a way of life.
Gold Circle Honoree
Bob Turner
Bob Turner is recognized as one of the foremost experts in broadcast technology. Bob joined WFAA-TV, in 1953, as a camera operator and floorman. Four years later he became a director. In 1963, Turner directed the first “live” cut-ins on Dallas television of the John F. Kennedy assassination, staying on duty for 56 straight hours, and feeding the entire ABC television network. In 1970, Turner became WFAA’s Production & Operations Manager.
In 1981, he moved to engineering and became WFAA-TV’s Systems Engineer for Capital Planning, and he continued in that capacity for fifteen years. In 1995, he was honored by his peers as the Employee of the Year at WFAA-TV. In 1996,Turner became the Corporate Director of Capital Planning for all of the Belo television properties and was charged with directing the conversion of 20 Belo stations to digital broadcasting. In 1998, he became the Corporate Vice-President of Engineering where, that same year, he helped sign-on WFAA-DT as the nation’s first station to broadcast high definition television on a VHF signal. In the year 2000, he received the William H. Seay award, a Belo award for integrity, loyalty, journalistic standards and community commitment. Also, in the year 2000, Bob was inducted into the Silver Circle of the Heartland Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. After retirement, Bob directed the design and building of a TV production facility at SMU, which was funded by Belo.
We honor Bob’s accomplishments and his 50 years of dedicated service by bringing his lifetime achievement recognition home to Texas and the Lone Star Chapter of NATAS with induction into the prestigious Gold Circle.
Gold Circle Honoree
Ben Molina
In 1954, television was an exciting new medium. The equipment was sometimes makeshift and every day was a new experience in experimentation and pushing the limits of what could be done to put quality, entertaining and enlightening television on the air. In 1954, KRLD-TV which later became KDFW-TV, had been on the air for five years.
It was in 1954 when the station hired a young man named Ben Molina. Benny, as his friends call him, was hired as a studio hand, but his love was floor directing or “stage managing” as it came to be known. It was a job and a station he would retire from after forty years, only to return to and continue to work part-time. Fifty-three years later, Ben Molina is still part of the weekend studio crew and he is still an inspiration to all KDFW-TV employees past and present.
Ben has met and worked with a half-dozen U.S. presidents during station interviews. He was on hand for the Eisenhower funeral, and worked tirelessly around the clock during the hours and days following the Kennedy assignation.
Prior to the mid-1970’s, KDFW produced and filmed hundreds of television commercials for local advertisers such as Sanger-Harris, Zales jewelry and dozens of automobile dealers. Ben was instrumental in re-tooling the floor crew duties and assignments when the station made the change to multiple hours of daily news coverage. He has also stage managed hundreds of parades through downtown Dallas and Fort Worth.
Outside of the station, Ben was a regular on CBS network television crews. For more than twenty years, Benny was the “white glove man” on the sidelines of all local Dallas Cowboys games. The white glove man is a position that notifies game officials when it is time for a “television time-out”, and indicates to officials when the commercials are over and the game is once again on air. Ben was also a CBS main-stay on crews in locations across the country including the Cotton Bowl, the Sun Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl.
In 1986, new portable satellite technology allowed KFDW to take its newscasts on the road in a big way. For the entire month of May, KDFW moved its entire anchor team, and dozens of support people, around to all corners of Texas, broadcasting newscasts live from a different city or remote location each night. It was one of the most ambitious projects in station history, and thousands of viewers followed along on the journey. And of course, Ben Molina was there managing crews and stage-managing newscasts.
For a period of time, Ben was an instructor at a Dallas’ Video Technical Institute where he passed along his knowledge and experience to students hoping to begin careers in broadcasting.
Long-time KDFW anchor Clarice Tinsley says, “Benny Molina is an anchor’s best ally. As stage manager he was always in control and efficiently relayed information from the producer. Last second changes were never a problem for Benny to handle. He handled newscasts and production shoots with the highest level of excellence.”
Ben lives in Dallas with his wife Beatrice. They have been married 49 years.
Gold Circle Honoree
Bobbie Wygant
Bobbie Wygant’s career spans the entire era of television in Texas. For more than a half century, she has brought the glamour of Hollywood to the plains of North Texas. She has given viewers insight into the lives of local and national newsmakers through “thousands” of interviews. And Bobbie has been an inspiration and guiding force behind many television careers.
Fresh out of Purdue University in Indiana, Bobbie came to work at the first television station in Texas, WBAP-TV (now NBC 5/KXAS-TV), which signed on in 1948. Bobbie wrote live entertainment programs, pitched products and hosted quiz shows.
In 1960, Bobbie became the first woman to host and produce a general interest television interview program in the southwestern United States. “Dateline” was not simply about food and fashion. Historic astronauts, First Ladies and newsmakers told their stories to Bobbie. She interviewed a local newspaper reporter named Bob Schieffer following his trip to cover the Vietnam War. After appearing on Bobbie’s show, Schieffer was offered a reporter position at WBAP-TV. Bobbie was on the air live on November 22, 1963 when news broke that President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas.
In the 1970s, “Dateline” ended and Bobbie moved to the news department. She began sharing anchor duties on a 5:00 p.m. newscast called “Inside Area 5” with Chip Moody.
Bobbie moved to full-time arts and entertainment reporting by the 1980s. She is so widely respected by the film making community that she could count among her best friends the late Bob Hope.
In addition to her revealing Hollywood interviews Bobbie brought the local arts to the NBC 5 audience with her probing coverage of the Kimbell Art Museum, The Modern Museum, Casa Manana and the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, and the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center and Fair Park Music Hall in Dallas.
Bobbie retired from NBC 5 in 1999. But she still files freelance reports for the station’s 4:00 newscast.
Bobbie has interviewed many heartthrobs and action stars in her career, but her leading man was Phil Wygant, a long time program director at WBAP-TV. Her husband of 38 years died in 1986.
Away from the screen, Bobbie has also worked hard for North Texans. She has raised money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the Women’s Shelter of Tarrant County and the Alzheimer’s Association. She was also one of the original local hosts of the Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon on NBC 5.
Perhaps Bobbie’s greatest contribution is within the newsroom itself. NBC 5 journalists turn to her advice on everything from how to handle difficult contract negotiations to what you say to the co-worker who just stole your story from under your nose. She’s got an answer. And she usually delivers it with a smile.
Television is a medium that’s seen an evolution of change from its start. But in Dallas/Fort Worth, television viewers have a steady, pleasant and polished trailblazer in Bobbie Wygant.
Silver Circle Honoree
Sue Calberg
Sue Calberg is a multimedia journalist at KENS 5 in San Antonio, Texas. In her 23rd year at KENS 5, and 45th as a dogged San Antonio journalist, she is honored to be writing the everyday history of her hometown.
Calberg’s storytelling roots are as deep as local television. Her uncle, Rex Stanley, was the first film cameraman hired when the local newspaper branched out into the newfangled world of broadcasting in 1950 and launched KENS 5.
More often than not, Sue goes beyond the headlines of the day to examine the impact of events on the people she calls her neighbors. Armed with an Associate Degree from San Antonio College and true grit, she has helped tell many of the most important stories of our times.
During the epic flood of October 1998, that killed 31 people and caused over $1 billion in damage, Sue was in the air and slogging through flood ravaged neighborhoods for the catastrophic event and its heart-wrenching aftermath.
Sue reported live from Sutherland Springs in 2017 when the wounded were still being treated at First Baptist Church. 26 people died and 22 were injured when a gunman opened fire on Sunday worshippers.
Sue was also involved in covering the massacre at Robb Elementary in Uvalde and the death of 53 migrants in a big rig just weeks later in 2022.
As a photographer, producer, assignment desk manager and now a reporter, Sue has used the capital in her bank of experience to seek out stories that matter. Sue says she enjoys giving ordinary folks a chance to be heard.
In her spare time Sue has raised two kids, volunteered with many community-building projects and is a passionate advocate for Salado Creek, Bexar County’s last, best wild waterway, which flows through her backyard.
Silver Circle Honoree
Antonio Guillen
Antonio Guillen immigrated to San Antonio from Los Mochis Sinaloa, Mexico in 1988. His passion for journalism began at an early age. His father, Mr. Antonio Guillen, spent his entire career working for newspapers in Mexico. He instilled a strong work ethic in Antonio, and he has carried his father’s legacy with him to this day.
From age six, Antonio spent his summer vacations running around newsrooms and tagging along with reporters, covering everything from crime stories to sports events. The newsroom was Tony’s playground. Antonio graduated from the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, Jalisco school of journalism, where he was also the president of the school’s student body, a sign of what was to come for this inspiring student.
He worked for the university’s newspaper and spent two years teaching at the American School Foundation of Guadalajara before migrating to the United States.
Antonio Guillen started his career in 1988 at Univision channel 41 in San Antonio, where he quickly adapted and thrived in a whole new atmosphere—the perfect setting to hone his craft. Antonio has taken on many roles since he arrived. He worked several years as anchor of the 10 p.m. newscast and co-anchored the 5 p.m. newscast with Monica Navarro.
Tony possessed an immense knowledge of politics. He was also named host of the award-winning weekly political show Tu Capitolio, which aired statewide on Univision. Antonio had an exclusive interview with then-candidate Barack Obama during his visit to San Antonio. He was also granted interviews with Hillary Clinton and with then-Republican candidate the late Senator John McCain.
Tony uses every piece of equipment in his arsenal, including his favorite DSLR camera, a GoPro camera and a smartphone, to get the whole story. Antonio’s work has evolved from telling the story solely with moving images to his recent additions and compelling still photographs. Antonio believes that adding still photography enhances the journalistic view of the news and adds a different perspective.
He has also been featured in art galleries, where his work is on display. Antonio has been awarded five EMMY’s, received eight Emmy nominations, and received two Telly Awards for excellence in journalism.
Antonio was a pioneer in using his phone to produce news stories. He began using his tool for news gathering with the iPhone 4. He believes that this little gold two device has revolutionized the industry forever. Antonio covers politics, organized crime, border and immigration issues, and investigative reporting.
Silver Circle Honoree
Michael Humphries
Mike Humphries is the Chief Photographer at KENS 5 in San Antonio and has worked in Texas television news since first starting out 1988. A native of Kenedy, Texas, he went to work in TV in order to pay the bills after getting laid off from his one and only newspaper job and ended up preferring moving pictures to photographs. Mike says that for the first four years that he worked in TV news, he was actually trying to get out and do some other kind of video work but eventually concluded that being a photojournalist was probably his first, best destiny and stuck
with it.
After starting at KVCT in Victoria and a stop at KBTX in Bryan/College Station, Mike moved to San Antonio in 1993, first working at KSAT before moving to KENS four years later. He says he’s chosen to stay in San Antonio for so long because, historically, producing storytelling-style journalism there has always been more challenging than in other television markets and he wanted to prove that it could be done in an “if it bleeds it ledes” environment.
Because of that, over his long career in the Alamo City Mike has been rewarded by becoming the most award-winning television journalist in San Antonio history, with nearly 300 wins from the Emmys, National Press Photographers Association, RTDNA, and many more. Mike says he’s proud to tell the stories of the people of San Antonio and South Texas.
In addition to his role as a photojournalist, Mike has risen to the rank of chief photographer at three of the four stations where he has worked. Since 2012, Mike has led the photography and multi-skilled journalist staff at KENS and, in 2019, his staff won General Station of the Year in the NPPA Quarterly Clip contest, an honor that no other San Antonio television station has ever achieved.
In addition to members of his own staffs, Mike has also coached, trained, and mentored other photojournalists, editors and reporters in newsroom across North America. By making those connections and developing relationships, he’s been a tremendous talent recruiter for KENS and for other stations within Tegna, the corporate owner.
Mike says he could not have had the career he’s had without the support, encouragement, and endless patience of his wife of more than 30 years, LeAnn, and their two daughters, Kaeli and Taylor.
Silver Circle Honoree
Carolyn Mungo
Carolyn is the Vice President and Station Manager at WFAA in Dallas. She was promoted to VP in 2019 after serving seven years as the station’s Executive News Director. She currently oversees several departments at the station, including content, marketing, production, and technology. Under her leadership, WFAA has been honored with ten National Edward R. Murrow awards including Overall Excellence in 2023, two du Pont Columbia awards, three national IRE awards for excellence in investigative journalism, and multiple wins for Station and News Excellence from the Lone Star Emmy® organization.
In 2018, she was named News Director of the Year by Broadcasting and Cable Magazine. She continues to transform a legacy media property to meet the needs of an evolving audience, with a particular focus on innovation and digital excellence.
She is a storyteller at heart, having worked as an Emmy® and Murrow award winning reporter in Austin, Minneapolis, Phoenix, and Houston before moving into management. She has served on the national advisory board for the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and is a frequent speaker and storytelling coach.
Carolyn is committed to the future of the journalism industry, personally mentoring many top talents in Texas right now both in front of and behind the camera. She currently serves on the board of the Texas Association of Broadcasters.
Carolyn has a deep insider knowledge and respect for journalism across Texas working at KHOU and KRIV in Houston as well as KVUE in Austin before moving to WFAA in Dallas. She was one of the driving forces to help create the Lone Star Emmy® Chapter in 2002.
Carolyn has two daughters, Abbey and Morgan. One followed in her journalistic footsteps, and another is working in finance.
Silver Circle Honoree
Ron Kabele
In the late 1980’s, Ron was a video producer at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He asked if he could do a documentary about the hospital’s summer camp for kids with cancer, but he was told there was no budget available for the project. So, he took a week of vacation, bought a couple boxes of beta tapes, and got permission to take one of the hospital’s Ikegami cameras and spend a week videotaping the kids at camp. For the next year, he spent every weekend on his own time writing and editing the program. When it was completed, the thirty-minute documentary aired nationally on PBS (following a 90-minute episode of Frontline). The program went on to win a Suncoast Regional Emmy®, Ron’s very first one.
For the next six years, Ron returned to the summer camp for a week every spring as a volunteer counselor. It was a prophetic experience, because just a few years later, Ron began his own twenty-year battle with various cancers, including colorectal adenocarcinoma and Leiomyosarcoma.
Ron began his TV career after celebrating his 20th birthday. He and his friend John Ahrens both got jobs at Houston Public Television as Master Control Switchers. Ron would walk across the parking lot from his dormitory and sign the station on, working 5am to 9am. He often wondered about the logic of station management to literally pluck a 20-year-old off the street and give him the responsibility of signing on the station every morning.
After graduation, Ron found himself WAY over his head as a news editor at KPRC-TV. Scared and intimidated, he was befriended by two people, Jerry Hattan and Charlie Hadlock, who introduced him to the incredible world of the National Press Photographers Association. What a revelation, to be able to plagiarize the ideas and techniques of many of the country’s best photojournalists. Ron took the NPPA philosophy as gospel, even though he really wasn’t any good.
But after attending five NPPA workshops in Norman Oklahoma, and under the guidance and encouragement of Jeff Weiss, KUHT’s crew chief, he got a few years of experience as a photojournalist/editor and began to suck much less.
After ten years in the business, Ron finally made the transition to writer and editor. This was a good move for him, because he could hide his sad weaknesses as a photographer within his fairly good editing skills.
Then came an opportunity with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Television Series, which airs state-wide on PBS stations. Now, he was a true one-man-band, just like his NPPA heroes.
Ron travelled across the state, producing / shooting / editing / writing / logging eight-to-ten-minute documentary-style segments for the show. And he evangelized the NPPA philosophy of allowing the characters to tell the story, using sound and music to create people-oriented stories about the unsung folks working in the world of conservation and the environment.
Silver Circle Honoree
Raul Peimpert
Raul Peimbert is a Mexican/American newscaster] who also served as General Coordinator of Media Affairs for the Government of the Mexican State of Veracruz.
Peimbert was born in Livermore, Ca (1962). He got his start in television at a young age, as a news editor for a station in Guadalajara. He went on to anchor the news first in Xalapa Ver., Mexico for Channel 4 (TV_MAS) and later in the city of Veracruz, for the local Televisa Station.
Raul Peimbert began his career in Spanish-language television in the US, first as co-anchor at Univision Network and later at Telemundo Network as main anchor. Raul started a new program titled “América Habla con Raul Peimbert” a one-on one interview show allowed him to be one of the few Hispanic journalists that has interviewed more than 40 Latin American presidents, among them: Felipe Calderón Hinojosa(México), Vicente Fox Quezada[2] (México), Carlos Salinas de Gortari (México), Ernesto Zedillo (México), Carlos Saúl Menem (Argentina), Alberto Fujimori (Perú), César Gaviria (Colombia), Ernesto Samper (Colombia), Eduardo Frei (Chile), Ernesto Pérez Balladares (Panamá), Armando Calderón Sol (El Salvador), Rafael Caldera (Venezuela), Jaime Paz Zamora (Bolivia), Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (Bolivia), Juan Carlos Wasmosy (Paraguay), Carlos Roberto Reina (Honduras), José López Portillo (México), Miguel De la Madrid (México), Joaquín Balaguer (República Dominicana), Antonio Saca (El Salvador), Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua), Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Leonel Fernández (República Dominicana) William Clinton (USA)
His work goes beyond the News boundaries, “America Habla” allowed him to interview remarkable personalities such as writers, singers and artists, Placido Domingo, Rigoberta Menchu, Isabel Allende, Jacobo Zabludoysky, Carlos Fuentes, Joan Manuel Serrat, Elena Poniatowska, Mercedes Sosa, Oswaldo Guayasamin Jose Luis Cuevas, Alberto Cortes, and Facundo Cabral among others.
Other special assignments include all the visits of John Paul II to Latin America, the on-going news coverage of the murdered presidential Mexican candidate, Luis Donaldo Colosio, the Los Angeles Earthquake, the Federal Building Explosion in Oklahoma, the terrorist attack on the twin towers in New York, the LA fires, and the floods in the state of Tabasco, Mexico in 2007.
The National Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences has recognized Raul Peimbert with 35 nominations and 28 Emmy® Awards.
In 1995, the Hispanic Council of United States of America, bestowed the award of “Don Quijote” in recognition of his extraordinary labor in favor of the Hispanic culture and tradition. In 1998, he joined Radio Unica, a Hispanic Radio Network, where he hosted “Muy Temprano”, with his wife Fulvia
Peimbert. He also presented the news for MVS Noticias in Mexico City and eventually became the News Anchor at the Telemundo in Los Angeles.
In 2002, he was hired as a General Coordinator of Media Affairs for the government of the State of Veracruz, Mexico. He gave up the position in 2004 after Miguel Alemán Velasco, the former governor, left the office. In 2007 The George Foster Peabody Awards has granted recognition to Raul Peimbert for his participation in “Ya Es Hora”, a social campaign produced by Univision Communications.
From November 2005 to November 2011, Peimbert worked for KMEX Univision in Los Angeles as a primary anchor.
In 2012 he took a lead anchor position at KXLN, Houston’s Univision affiliate.
Silver Circle Honoree
David Strickland
David Strickland is a 40-year broadcast journalist veteran with the last 25 years as a television Vice President and News Director. He is a multi-disciplined journalist with additional experience as a newspaper sports editor, reporter, producer and radio sports color commentator.
David began his career while working toward his degree at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. His first job was during the summer of his freshman year as an announcer and Disc Jockey at KGUS-FM in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Dave was then hired at KSAM/KHUN as a disc jockey and sports color commentator for Huntsville High School football games.
The football commentating opened the door for a sports career. Dave interned at KTRK for legendary sportscaster Bob Allen. After his summer internship, he returned to college and was hired at the Huntsville Morning News as the Assistant Sports Editor. Six months later, he was back in Houston after being hired at KTRK Television as the Sports Producer. He spent the next five years covering every major sporting event from the Olympics to the Super Bowl.
In the late 1980’s, Dave transferred from sports to news. He produced the KTRK morning news before being promoted to Managing Editor of the flagship 6pm news.
In 1994, Dave left Houston and moved into management taking a job as Executive Producer at WAVY Television in Portsmouth, Virginia. A year later he was promoted to News Director. While running the 10 On Your Side news operation, Dave took the station to a dominant #1 market position. A leadership position they still hold more than 25 years later.
In 2000, Dave returned to Houston and KTRK as Vice President and News Director. During the next 15 years, the station’s ratings returned to #1. Dave was the leader of an outstanding news operation anchored by the legendary team of Dave Ward, Gina Gaston, Marvin Zinder, Bob Allen and Ed Brandon. It was an incredible time for news in the wake of 9-11, the war in Iraq, the death of Pope John Paul II and countless hurricanes including Katrina, Ike and tropical storm Allison. The staff was honored with numerous Emmys® and national awards for their exceptional work.
Dave left KTRK in 2015. A year later, he was hired to be the News Director at KPRC, the NBC affiliate in Houston. He took a news department mired in 2nd and 3rd place and turned them into a competitive news operation that became #1 in 2022. During his tenure, the station moved into a new building and newsroom. He was also at the helm during Hurricane Harvey, the Astros World Series Championship and the COVID lockdown.
Since leaving broadcasting in 2022, Dave owns his own consulting firm where he helps business leaders understand how media operates. Using his decades of experience, he teaches executives how to craft their corporate messaging for maximum effectiveness. Dave also coaches C-Suite executives and managers from all levels helping them become strong communicators across multiple media platforms.
David has been the recipient of multiple national awards and numerous Emmys®. His work has been honored by FBI Director Robert Mueller, CrimeStoppers and Houston Children’s Charity.
Silver Circle Honoree
Jason Anderson
Jason is a nine-time Emmy® Award winning producer and writer. He wrote and produced the regionally syndicated television program Texas Country Reporter for twenty-seven years beginning in 1986. As senior producer for Phillips Productions, Inc, Jason traveled to the four corners of the state and around the world producing television programs, commercials and corporate films.
Jason also spent several years producing news. He was hired by KDFW-TV as the 6:00am and noon news producer in 1985 –four days after graduating from Stephen F. Austin State University. He went on to produce all of the station’s scheduled newscasts including the 10:00pm news when he was just 22 years old. He was instrumental in coordinating special projects including the “Salute Texas” newscast series where the entire newsroom went on the road for three weeks to demonstrate the latest satellite technology by broadcasting complete newscasts from remote parts of the state. He worked on the national level as a coordinating producer for all seven stations of the Times Mirror Company on the floor of the Republican National Convention in the summer 1984.
In all, it is estimated that Jason has written, produced and edited more than 5,000 hours of television in his career.
In 2013, Jason retired from his full-time job as Vice President of Phillips Productions, Inc., to purchase and operate his photography business – Pendleton Photography. Jason has produced product photography, architecture, and environmental portrait work for hundreds of clients from Fortune 500 CEOs to high school seniors.
While he is retired from full-time television production, Jason continues to produce programming on a free-lance basis including national television programming on the RFD-TV network.
Jason has a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and Master’s degree in Human Behavior and Development.He is a regular guest speaker at many schools and universities for both his television and photography expertise. He is a teacher of photographic lighting for the Professional Photographers of America.
He is currently 1st Vice Chair of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, past president of the Board of Governors of the Lone Star Emmy® Awards and is a past National Trustee to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Jason and his wife Nicole live in Arlington, Texas.They share their home with their two children Olivia and Drake, a dog, two cats, two guinea pigs, one turtle and a bearded dragon.
Silver Circle Honoree
Don Kobos
Don Kobos is a native of Salem, Massachusetts. He attended Wake Forest University on a football scholarship and graduated with a bachelors and masters degree.
Before becoming a television reporter, Don was a teacher and coach for two years, teaching junior and senior high school students in North Carolina and Virginia.
Don joined KTRK-TV and ABC/13 Eyewitness News in 1982. As a member of Houston’s #1 rated news organization, he received numerous awards for reports covering crime, corruption, medicine, law, mental health, sports, documentary and investigative work.
In 2000, Don was promoted to ABC/13’s Assistant News Director.
In addition to his dedicated work at the television station, Don wrote a weekly sports and education newspaper column for over two years between 1989 and 1992. “Play-It S.A.F.E. /Student-Athletes For Education” appeared in fifteen weekly papers in Greater Houston and was recognized by the two largest teachers associations in Texas as the best education column in the state. In addition, Don also authored an award winning study skills booklet that has been published in English, Spanish and Braille.
He’s also served on a number of boards and worked with community organizations including: Chairman of the 1997 American Heart Association’s Paul “Bear” Bryant College Coach of the Year Award; the Rotary Club of Houston; the Orton Dyslexia Society; and the Lombardi College Lineman of the Year Award benefiting the American Cancer Society.
After a successful 32 years at KTRK ABC/13 and 40 years in the television news business, Don Kobos retired on September 17, 2014.
Silver Circle Honoree
Martha Kattan
Born and raised in Mexico City. Martha. began her broadcast career in radio in 1980, immediately after graduating from High School.
Martha C. Kattan joined Univision Houston in November 2011.
Prior to her current assignment, Kattan led Dallas Univision’s News department for 13 years. During her tenure, the News Team achieved record performance in A.C Nielsen’s Survey of the Dallas-Fort Worth Television Market outperforming its English and Spanish-language counterparts.
The News Department grew sizably in professional staff with the launch of the first weekend Spanish Newscasts in July 2000 and the first Spanish Morning News in North Texas in April 2011.
In 2010 Kattan Supervised Univision affiliate Sports/News World Cup coverage in South Africa
Notable Achievements:
2000 – Kattan and the Dallas Univision News Team received the DEA’s award for Community Service and were nominated for the Attorney General’s Award in Washington D.C.
2002 – Joined the Lone Star Emmy® Chapter and was named to the Board of Governors in representation of Spanish speaking Media for the State of Texas
2005 – Awarded her first Lone Star Chapter EMMY® for Directing and Producing a 30-minute special on the importance of the Latino Vote
2005 – Named Lone Star Trustee for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
2008 – Named Lone Star Emmy’s® Chapter Treasurer
2009 – Recipient of Lone Star Chapter Station Excellence EMMY®
2009 – Named Lone Star Emmy’s® Chapter President
2013 – Recipient of Lone Star Chapter News Excellence EMMY®
2015 – Recipient of Lone Star Chapter Continued Coverage EMMY®
Prior to Univision, Kattan experienced the joy and satisfaction of launching CNN En Español, 24- hour Spanish News Network, where as Supervising Producer, had the fortune of working alongside experienced leaders and renowned Latin-American journalists.
During her tenure at CNNE Kattan assumed sole responsibility for all areas of news coverage, leading major international breaking news coverage such as:
- The Death of Princess Diana, August 1997: Produced live coverage with live shots from Paris and London.
- The Marriage of Infanta Cristina, October 1997: Produced live coverage from Spain.
- Chiapas Massacre, December 1997: Produced live-breaking news and follow-ups.
- Peruvian Hostage Crisis, April 1997: Produced live coverage of hostage release.
- Pope John Paul’s visit to Mexico and US, January 1999: Field Producer, producing live coverage from Mexico City and St. Louis, Missouri.
- Iraq/UN Agreement: Supervised and produced breaking news and follow-ups with live coverage from Baghdad and New York.
- Kosovo War, 1999: Supervised and produced breaking news with live coverage.
- Copa America, 1997: Supervised and produced 2-week live coverage from Bolivia.
Proud and blessed mother of three adult children and grandmother of 8 year-old Natalia & 6 year old Mateo and 3 year old Camila.
Silver Circle Honoree
Deborah Knapp
Deborah Knapp is an Emmy® award-winning anchor who celebrated her 30th anniversary at San Antonio’s KENS 5 in early 2017. Deborah helms the top-rated newscasts at 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., and also regularly reports. She has had numerous national and international assignments including covering the tragedy at Columbine and was in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit and provided live reports for South Texas viewers. She regularly reports on religious issues and traveled to the Vatican to cover the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
Deborah has been inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame. She was honored in Washington D.C. with the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award for her years of community involvement and leadership in San Antonio.
In 1999, she helped launch the KENS 5 Excel Award, recognizing an outstanding public school teacher from every local district. Education and community service are important to Deborah and in 1994 she established a scholarship at her Alma Mater, The University of Texas at Austin. Each year a San Antonio student who has demonstrated a commitment to community is awarded the Deborah Knapp Scholarship to help pay for his or her education.
Active in the community, Deborah is currently serving on the boards of the Boy Scouts of America and the Old Spanish Missions which restored and now maintains San Antonio’s historic Mission churches which are now a World Heritage Site. Deborah is the mother of two children and grandmother of three.
Silver Circle Honoree
Kenny Boles
In 1971, happiness was Lufkin, Texas in my rear view mirror. Growing up working in my father’s supermarket, I was terrified at the prospect of spending the rest of my life stocking shelves and sacking groceries. I wanted to see the world. I had to escape. Television news was my ticket out.
At the age of 17, I went to work at KTRE-TV in Lufkin during my junior year in High School. Starting as the studio floor cameraman, I was soon promoted to weathercaster and Sports Director. Two years later, I landed the overnight police reporter job at KPRC-TV in Houston. My first day on the job the Houston Mass Murder story broke with 23 young men killed in a sex-torture ring. Spot news would follow me the rest of my life. I’m a magnet for the stuff.
At KPRC, I moved up to reporter, producer, covered the Texas Legislature, and then news anchor. In 1980, I was offered an Executive Producer position at KDFW-TV in Dallas. Afterward, I would return to KPRC as Managing Editor.
Over the next ten years I worked as Executive Producer at WLS-TV and WBBM-TV in Chicago, and as a producer for ABC News. Stationed in ABC’s Chicago Bureau, I covered presidential campaigns and many major national news stories. Too much travel sent me back into local news as Executive Producer in Orlando, Florida and then on to the position of Managing Editor at KNBC-TV in Los Angeles.
Five years on the west coast put me in the middle of the Rodney King Beating, riots, the Northridge Earthquake, O.J. Simpson and, oh yeah, Michael Jackson and the children. My priorities and dreams began to change. I wanted to get back to East Texas, closer to my family and friends.
In 1996, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to take the job of News Director at KLTV in Tyler, Texas, just a few miles up the road from my hometown. I’m privileged to work with an outstanding group of professionals at KLTV who help fill every day with exciting challenges… and to this day, lots of spot news.
45 years in the broadcast news business. The last 20 years as KLTV and KTRE News Director. It’s been an honor to work in this profession. I can truly say I helped make a difference in the lives of so many people through thousands of stories we’ve done.
And there are some Emmys® on the shelf along with some other hardware. I am blessed to have found my passion and calling so early in life. I wouldn’t change a thing.
The Lone Star Chapter lost one its brightest stars on February 14th 2018 with the passing of Kenny Boles, news director at KLTV and KTRE. He grew up in the Deep East Texas town of Lufkin, the son of a groceryman. As a junior in high school, he went to work for KTRE in Lufkin. He immediately saw a career in television as the way to put Lufkin, and the grocery business, in his rear-view mirror. He was hired to work for KPRC by Ray Miller, one of the most highly respected news directors in Texas. Kenny was mentored by Miller, which led to his working in major market television news including Dallas, Chicago, Washington DC and Los Angeles. He was lured back home in the mid-nineties, by happenstance, right back where he started. The difference was, when he came back he came with a solid reputation of his own as one of the best news directors in the business. Today, we mourn his passing, and we share this tribute from Kenny’s induction into the Silver Circle, produced by his friend who was a witness to the beginning of an illustrious career.
Silver Circle Honoree
John Jenkins
Viewers in Texas may not know his name but John Jenkins has helped shape television news coverage throughout the Lone Star State since 1968. His life story began in Hitchcock, Texas, just 15 miles from Galveston. Jenkins was one of 11 children. “There was always plenty of food, plenty of clothing and my folks believed in work… there was always plenty of work,” said Jenkins in a 2016 interview. Jenkins cherished reading as a child and was encouraged by his family with daily book reports before dinner.
Jenkins persevered in education despite feeling the sting of racial segregation. “White people told black people what to do and only allowed them to do so much,” said Jenkins. “If there were white people walking down the sidewalk, there were black people who would step off.”
Jenkins attended North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) with dreams of being a Pulitzer winning writer. He was on a campus stroll when sportscaster Bill Mercer persuaded him to look into broadcasting. Soon there was a job posting at KRLD-TV (now KDFW) in Dallas. “The job was posted a week after the FCC said that radio and TV stations needed to reflect the communities that they serve,” said Jenkins. He became a newsroom trainee and was among the first African-American journalists hired in the Dallas/Fort Worth market.
Later, Jenkins became a full-time photographer at WFAA-TV. It was during an interview with a woman who had lost her father in a police involved shooting, that he realized his calling.
“I was on a medium shot and I just moved [the camera] in a little bit and she looked at me,” said Jenkins. “She said ‘my dad is gone. They said he had a gun. I don’t know, I don’t care. I don’t have a dad anymore’. I just held that shot on her face. Tears came down and I was behind the camera crying. And at that moment, it was ‘oh my goodness, this thing [camera] was powerful’.”
After years on the streets, meeting Presidents and celebrities and covering fires and weather, Jenkins moved into news management at KDAF-TV in Dallas. A News Director role in Tyler followed. Management roles at KHOU-TV in Houston and KDFW-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth followed. Jenkins is a champion of diversity, both at KXAS-TV for the past 16 years, and within NBC. One colleague says, “John Jenkins doesn’t make excuses. He only demands excellence.”
He is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, helping to form the DFW chapter, and the Society of Professional Journalists. He will take time to talk to the college intern just starting their career. And there are veteran journalists — news directors, anchor/reporters, photojournalists — who say they owe their careers to Jenkins’ guidance.
“I’ve been doing this for 46 years and the more things change, the more they remain the same,” said Jenkins. “This job is about people. Respecting people. Empowering people. Giving people what they need.”
Silver Circle Honoree
George Riba
George Riba retired from Channel 8 on February 20, 2015 after working at WFAA TV for 37 years and five months. He spent nearly 42 years on Dallas Fort Worth Television having also spent time at KTVT TV Channel 11 and KXAS TV, Channel 5.
He joined Channel 8 in September 1977 and worked as a sports reporter, weekend sports anchor, executive sports producer and sports director. Long time Channel 8 sports anchor Dale Hansen estimated that Riba filed more than 8,000 stories during his years at WFAA.
Riba was raised on a farm and ranch in Stonewall, Texas and began his broadcasting career in 1966. At the time he was a student at Fredericksburg High School in the Texas Hill Country. His first job included being a country disc jockey for radio station KNAF in Fredericksburg, Texas. He later worked for radio stations in Fort Worth, Texas, including KWXI, KFJZ and KFWD before turning to television.
During his years at Channel 8, his contributions have helped the News 8 Sports Department win numerous awards, including the Texas Association of Broadcasters award for Best Sportscast, the State Associated Press award for Best Sports Feature as well as Regional Emmys®.
George Foster Peabody Award:
- 1986 WFAA Sports for “SMU Investigation”, Contributing Reporter
Texas AP Broadcasters:
- 1982 Best Sports Feature “Pony Express”
- 1997 Best Sports Story, George Riba & Arnold Payne
- 2006 Best Sportscast, Dale Hansen & George Riba & Linda Ting
- 2012 Best Sportscast, Dale Hansen & George Riba & Sean Hamilton
UPI Broadcasters of Texas:
1983 Best Sports Story
Katie awards, given annually by the Dallas Press Club:
- 1987 Best Sportscast for team coverage in the Southern Methodist University investigation.
- 1988 Best Sports feature for “Day Care Basketball.”
- 1989 Best Sports Story for “David Richards NFL Draft Story.”
- 1990 Best Sports Story for Duncanville basketball and their “Third Straight State Championship.”
- 1995 Best Sports Story for – ‘Replacements Replaced.”
- 1997 Best Sports Feature for “Derric Evans- Renewing the Dream.”
- 2000 Best General News Story “Special Delivery” Fort Worth Tornado Coverage.
- 2001 Contributing Reporter for Best Sportscast “Eating Worms” OU-Nebraska
Lone Star Emmy®:
- 1995 Contributing Reporter for Monday Night Live
- 2004 Contributing Reporter for Monday Night Live
- 2007 Best Sports Feature, Granny Ball
Riba is an avid runner, having logged 30 marathons. He has run the White Rock Marathon in Dallas on 23 different occasions with a personal best of 3:01
Riba is a graduate from the University of Texas in Arlington with a bachelor’s degree in Speech-Communications. He is married with no children.
Silver Circle Honoree
Tim Smith
KRGV Chief Meteorologist Tim Smith is one of the most recognized faces in South Texas. As part of the CHANNEL 5 NEWS team for more than 30 years, Tim’s work off camera has been even more significant than his work on camera.
While growing up in Batesville, Indiana, Tim was already practicing for his broadcast career by being a PA announcer for high school sporting events and a sideline reporter for the local newspaper during football and basketball games. Tim earned a Broadcast Journalism degree from Indiana University in 1981.
After graduation, Tim served as News Director at WRBI-FM. In December of 1981 when KRGV News Director Rick Diaz (2004 Silver Circle Inductee) called Tim to offer him a weekend weather job, Tim jumped at the opportunity. Falling quickly in love with weather, Tim found his niche. He was promoted to Chief Forecaster in 1983 and in August 2004, Tim completed Mississippi State’s Broadcast Meteorology Program, changing his title to Chief Meterologist.
Tim has led CHANNEL 5 NEWS’ weather coverage through hurricanes, tornadoes, freezes and even a rare Christmas 2004 snowstorm.
Tim has always been very active in the community. He visits with thousands of school children each year making presentations about weather. For more than ten years, his “Kids You Should Know” feature, highlighted special young people of our community. His “Tim’s Coats” project has helped bring in more than 100,000 coats for the less fortunate of the Valley over the last 30 years. And, for more than three decades, along with Letty Garza and the Channel 5 Toy Drive, Tim delivers Christmas gifts to every child in every hospital in the Valley during the Christmas season.
Tim has served numerous community and professional organizations across South Texas, the Urban Science Initiative (VP), American Red Cross, Intl. Museum of Arts and Sciences, and Edinburg Rotary to name a few. He’s also Co-founder and Coordinator of the National Tropical Weather Conference.
In addition to the Lone Star EMMY® Silver Circle, Tim has been named the Easter Seal Society’s Volunteer of the Year. He’s received the Hispanic Excellence Award from the Mission School District, and the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Texas – Pan American.
The Texas Associated Press Broadcasters have called Tim’s weathercasts “The Best in Texas” and he awarded a Lone Star EMMY® in 2013 award for his work.
Tim and his wife Nora have three children, Justin, Maya and Taylor and one beautiful grandchild.
Silver Circle Honoree
Robert Hadlock
Robert Hadlock is a weeknight anchor on KXAN News at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. Robert has worked in his present position at KXAN since 1990, making him the longest continuously serving news anchor in Austin television.
For years, KXAN News viewers have seen Robert reporting on numerous breaking news events, many connected with significant severe weather outbreaks. One of the most memorable and tragic was the tornado that hit the Williamson County town of Jarrell in 1997, taking 27 lives. In 2005, Robert reported from southeast Louisiana on the night of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall. The following day he took KXAN viewers on a tour of the devastation in New Orleans aboard the station’s helicopter.
In 2001, Robert filed a report from New York City after the September 11th terrorist attacks.
He was one of the first Austin reporters on the scene in Nacogdoches when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas in 2003. Two years later he reported live from the Johnson Space Center on the return to flight for the shuttle program.
He was on hand for the tragic end of the Branch Davidian standoff outside Waco in 1993.
Robert covered the late Pope John Paul II on three pilgrimages for KXAN; Toronto in 2002, St. Louis in 1999 and Cuba in 1998. In Havana, he was one of the few American journalists, and the only one from Austin, allowed by the Cuban government to report live via satellite. His reports on the people of Cuba earned KXAN the prestigious “Texas Headliners Award” for Best Hard News coverage.
During his years at KXAN, he has served on the boards of several community groups and organizations and has emceed numerous charitable functions for organizations such as CASA of Travis County, Easter Seals-Central Texas, Catholic Charities, Hospice Austin, and the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. Robert is a graduate of UT Austin as well as a Life Member of the Ex-Student’s Association. In 2012 he spent two weeks in Europe as part of a broadcast journalism fellowship with RIAS Berlin Commission.
Silver Circle Honoree
Monica Navarro
Monica Navarro is an investigative and medical reporter and producer for Mano Amiga and A Su Salud community and health segments at Univision in San Antonio, Texas. Navarro was part of a pioneering newsroom at KWEX, the nation’s first Spanish-language television station, and the beginning of what would become the nation’s top Spanish-language network.
Navarro was a broadcast pioneer even before she got here, as the first woman in Mexico to serve as a national sportscaster. She earned her degree from the prestigious Anahuac University with a brand-new specialty in mass media, while she worked at Televisa, first as a sports reporter and then, in 1979, as a news reporter so she could cover Pope John Paul II’s visit to Mexico.
A mention of a family visit to San Antonio during a chance meeting with Televisa owner Emilio Azcárraga led to an introduction to Emilio Nicolas at KWEX, a Spanish-language TV giant in San Antonio. A year later, Navarro began her U.S. career by anchoring the Spanish International Network’s news breaks, “Mundo al Instante,” from San Antonio every half-hour, reaching millions on her first day.
As SIN became Univision, Navarro would serve as KWEX’s anchor in San Antonio. She anchored for 28 1Ž2 years, which might make her the city’s longest-serving anchor.
As the business has evolved, she reinvented herself, honing a specialty in medical reporting and winning fellowships and awards.
Last year, her peers honored her with the Henry Guerra Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Journalism. Named for the beloved broadcaster and announcer, the prize is awarded by the San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists, a 26-year-old organization whose mission is to encourage diversity in the newsroom by awarding scholarships.
Silver Circle Honoree
Steve Smith
A Hoosier by birth, and a graduate of the University of Indiana, Steve followed a two-year stint as a U.S. Army Intelligence Officer by getting a job in Houston as a reporter-anchor at KPRC. That was in 1966. He spent seven and a half years with KPRC, most of them as lead anchor. After a two-year detour to Pittsburgh, where he anchored for KDKA, Steve came back to Houston, this time to KHOU. Steve served as KHOU’s lead anchor for 23 years – from 1976 until his retirement from television in 1999.
As KHOU’s lead anchor, Steve covered most of the major stories happening in and around Houston – the moon landings; the Challenger disaster; the Bush presidencies; and, of course, the hurricanes. His reporting assignments also took him across the globe – to the North Sea, the British Isles, Japan, Singapore, Cairo, Israel, Kuwait, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin. Steve was the only Houston anchor actually on the scene when the Berlin Wall came down.
Steve chose to remain in the Houston area after leaving television news. He now contributes his time and talents to local arts and charity groups, and is an avid Galveston Bay fisherman.
Longtime viewers will recognize Steve’s voice on the air now and then in commercials produced by his company, Anchor Communications. In fact, one of Steve’s voiceovers recently made news – his work in Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom.
Silver Circle Honoree
Bert Shipp
The early days of television journalism in Texas required the craft’s pioneers to be enterprising, persistent and determined. They had to have a thick skin and the ability to “fly by the seat of their pants.” A good sense of humor didn’t hurt either.
These requirements sum up the storied and colorful career of longtime DFW newsman Bert Shipp. Over his 45-year career in TV news, Shipp served as reporter, photographer, assignment editor, assistant news director and news director. His work in the field won wide acclaim and the respect of his peers. In management, he got the best work out of his news team, helped build one of the most respected news operations in the country, and helped shape the course of television news in Texas.
Like many of the early Texas TV legends, Shipp started his career in newspapers, first at the Abilene Reporter News, then at the Dallas Times-Herald. But the legendary Amon Carter, owner of powerhouse TV station WBAP-TV Channel 5 (now NBC’s KXAS) and the Fort Worth Star Telegram, knew the potential of this budding industry and began hiring industrious and aggressive newspaper reporters to lead the TV news revolution. Among the pioneers of this group was Bert Shipp.
Shipp was hired in 1959 to be part of the team covering Dallas for the Fort Worth-based station. He took on the new role with gusto and became the ultimate one-man band. Shipp many times told stories of the days when he shot the news with a film camera and lit his subjects with a harsh Fritzo light. Adding to that, he also had to report the story and get it all on the last bus to Fort Worth in time for the station to process the film, edit the story, and then air it on that night’s episode of The News of Texas at 10:00 pm.
Bert Shipp’s grit and determination in covering everything from crime scenes to city hall did not escape the notice of competing station, WFAA-TV. At the time, Channel 8’s newsroom was a very young, up and coming operation. In 1961, they brought Shipp in as assistant news director. It ended up being one of several roles Bert played at the station.
Two years after joining the WFAA-TV team, Bert Shipp became a key figure in covering President Kennedy’s fateful trip to Dallas. Much of what the rest of the country saw and heard that day was from WFAA’s coverage, which was carried nationally on ABC News. Those tragic days were a turning point for broadcast news, as the power of live TV helped a grieving nation come together as one.
Bert is remembered as being a mentor and a leader, capable of pushing his news staff to do their very best. He helped lift the WFAA newsroom to nationwide prominence, and he let everyone who joined that operation know they were expected to live up to the standard he helped set.
Bert Shipp’s career, lasting nearly half a century (1959-2004), allowed him to be involved in the coverage of many historical events and get up close and personal with many of the memorable people who shaped the Dallas-Fort Worth region, the state of Texas and the nation.
Silver Circle Honoree
Eddie Barker
Edmund Asa “Eddie” Barker Jr. played a leading role in the birth of television news in Dallas, from its inception in 1949 and its coming of age on Nov. 22, 1963.
Eddie Barker began his broadcasting career in 1994, at a San Antonio radio station while still a junior in high school. He later joined the KRLD news staff when the television station went on the air in 1949, eventually becoming the news director. Mr. Barker was the longtime news director of Dallas CBS affiliates KRLD Radio and KRLD-TV (now Fox affiliate KDFW-TV) when Kennedy made his fateful visit to Dallas in 1963.
Eddie was stationed at the Dallas Trade Mart, where Kennedy was to have given a speech, when word arrived that an attempt had been made on the president’s life. The motorcade raced past the Trade Mart to Parkland Memorial Hospital.
He was the first to report the death of President John F. Kennedy, making the announcement on a CBS feed from Dallas five minutes before network reporters confirmed the tragic news.
One of Mr. Barker’s accomplishments included getting the first interview with Marina Oswald, the wife of the presidential assassin, according to former Dallas Mayor Wes Wise, Mr. Barker’s friend and former KRLD-TV colleague.
Mr. Barker became a Dallas broadcast icon in the 1960s and was the anchor for Channel 4’s 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts. Mr. Barker left Channel 4 in 1972 and became executive vice president of the VanCronkhite & Maloy Public Relations firm in Dallas. In 1973, he bought the company, which became Eddie Barker Associates Inc. After retiring in 1994, he continued to host a daily talk show on a radio station in the small town of Paris, 90 miles northeast of Dallas, until declining health forced him off the air in 2010.
Mr. Barker was a board member and president of the Radio-Television News Directors Association and President of the Press Club of Dallas, which named him a Living Legend.
Silver Circle Honoree
Don Emilio Nicolas, Sr.
Who would have thought that a young Mexican immigrant from Coahuila, seeking to become a chemist and biologist would become one of the leading pioneers to spearhead the first Spanish Language television station in the United States. Don Emilio Nicolas, Sr. graduated from St. Mary’s University in 1951 with a minor in Math and then received his Masters degree from Trinity University. Nicolas quickly started working for Southwest Foundation where he worked in the development of the polio vaccine. But his destiny was far from being in a lab wearing a white coat. After a couple of years, in 1955 Don Emilio left Southwest Foundation and began working at KCOR TV channel 41 in San Antonio where he produced the live shows at night and directed the news departments of the Radio and the Television stations during the day.
In 1961 a group of businessmen, including Nicolas bought the station from Mr. Raoul Cortez and Nicolas renamed the station KWEX. Nicolas or “Nicky” as he was known to close associates became the stations President and General Manager. Soon after, both Nicolas and his partner Rene Anselmo began lobbying Congress to mandate that all Television sets come equipped to receive both VHF and now UHF channels. The success of this effort changed the face of UHF Television forever.
Among the many projects Mr. Nicolas initiated, the Teleton Navideño. An event to raise funds for the under privileged of San Antonio during the Holiday’s. In 1976 Nicolas also initiated the first national broadcast of a Catholic mass as a public service for its predominantly Catholic Viewers on the SIN television Network, Spanish International Network. This mass continues to be broadcasted from the Cathedral in San Antonio and broadcast on Univision stations.
Several years later, Nicolas and Emilio Azcarraga’s collaborated to make Galavision the third Spanish Language Television Network in the United States.
Nicolas bought several Low Power Television (LPTV) permits and entered into a ten (10) year contract with Galavision to distribute its signal.
In 2002 Univision and Entravision entered into a contract to purchase two (2) of NCC’s stations for Telefutura, the nations Fourth Spanish Language television network
Nicolas was Chairman of the National Association of Spanish Broadcasters (NASB) He has served on the Board of Trinity University for 25 years. He was on the Board of San Antonio Savings Association, The University of the Incarnate Word, Southwest Research Foundation, The University of Texas College of Communications, The University of Texas Health Science Center, The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund or MALDEF, The San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, The National Board of the USO and many others.
Today, Don Emilio Nicolas is semi-retired, working with his son, Guillermo and enjoying life in San Antonio and on his ranch with wife Irma of over 50 years.
Silver Circle Honoree
Gary DeLaune
With a career spanning five decades, iconic San Antonio broadcaster and journalist Gary DeLaune helped change the way news was reported.
With his list of “firsts” DeLaune became an icon. From being the first to announce Tom Laundry’s 10 year contract, to being the first newsman to broadcast the bulletin that President Kennedy had been shot by a sniper in Dallas, LeLaune’s voice has brought breaking news to the ears of listeners across the nation.
Originally from Kansas, he graduated from Oklahoma University with a BA in Communications. After serving in the U.S. Army he worked as an assistant to Chick Hearn at KNX in Los Angeles.
He began his Texas radio and television broadcast career in 1960, first at WFAA, KLIF and KDFW-TV in Dallas, then KNUZ and KQUE in Houston and finally at KENS-TV in San Antonio, where he worked for 28 years as a reporter, producer and sports anchor.
DeLaune has received numerous journalism awards including the Associated Press Best Radio Documentary Award for “Jack Ruby’s Eleventh Hour”; (1967), the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Best Television Sports Feature (1975 and 1990), the AP Best Feature Award (1975) and the Associated Press Best Spot News Award (1979).
In 1968, he was the first to report on a multi-organ transplant performed by Dr. Michael DeBakey. In 1973 he was the first San Antonio sportscaster to become a member of the Spurs basketball broadcast team. He has been a two-term president of the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Association.
He has appeared in two Universal Studio Movies, playing the part of a sportscaster. DeLaune owns Gary DeLaune Productions which has produced 15 sports and news documentary which included “Hail Mary... 20 Years Later” the story of the famous pass from Roger Staubach to Drew Pearson and the German production, “Deutschlandt Democracy After The Wall”.
Silver Circle Honoree
Bruce Friddle
Bruce Friddle began his career in the mid 1960’s working for SWAV-TV in Savannah, Georgia as the only news photographer. Highlights of his career include working on the Grand Ole Opry, serving on the crew of the first live telecast of the Masters Golf Tournament, being invited to join the “Wide, Wide, World,” and working on the Dinah Shore “Chevy Show.”
While in Peru for 15 years, Friddle produced 36 documentaries for the U.S. Information Service, and produced two daily soap operas in Spanish. He was part of the location crew for the movie “The Old Man and the Sea,” and was an associate producer for the Academy Award nominated feature film “The Gallant One” from Disney.
In 1988, Friddle joined the City of Plano to launch the Plano Television Network. In little more than a decade, he grew a staff of three to a staff of twelve. During his tenure, Friddle took pride in recruiting and training volunteers to form the backbone of the fledgling network. Many of these volunteers have gone on to successful careers at major-market broadcast stations. As a visionary in the ever-changing world of television technology, Friddle assisted the Collin County Community College in creating their Applied Graphic Design Technology program. The curriculum trains today’s artists and designers in computer aided communication design.
When he retired in May of 2001, he left the Plano Television Network staff with a legacy of almost 200 awards, including 4 regional Emmy® nominations, 13 Cable Ace nominations and 3 Cable Ace winners. Friddle’s staff credited him with encouraging them to beat the odds to prove that a municipal cable access station can be competitive in “real world TV.”
Silver Circle Honoree
Doug Fox
An old advertising campaign at WFAA-TV once boasted, “If it touches your life, it’s on News 8.” Veteran journalist Doug Fox is now retired after reporting the news, and touching lives, for 48 years. Fox covered news as a working street reporter for WFAA Channel 8 in Dallas-Fort Worth for almost three decades, a record unparalleled in a business where jumping from job to job, from market to market is so often mistaken for professional accomplishment.
Fox was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and grew up in Dallas. He is a graduate of the University of Texas in Austin. Out of college, he worked for several years in news radio before joining KWTV-TV in Oklahoma City, where he worked as a weekend anchor, political reporter and director of special projects. In 1974 he returned to Texas. He retired in 2003 as the Chief Political Reporter at Channel 8. Doug was often called a “reporter’s reporter.” He had the remarkable ability to encapsulate the moment, to capture the tone and emotion of a situation, and to translate it into words and pictures understood by all.
Over his distinguished career, Fox mentored or teamed with a veritable “Who’s Who” of broadcasting professionals, including (to name only a few) CBS’s Scott Pelley, former ABC correspondent Peggy Wehmeyer, CBS anchor Russ Mitchell, CNN’s Eddie Lavendera, and Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly. Doug also touched the lives of countless other young journalists by always having the both the time and the patience to guide interns through what for most was their first professional experience.
Doug is married and has three children. He and his wife of 36-years, Penny, now live in Estes Park, Colorado. Their children all live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area so he gets back to Texas occasionally. He and Penny are active in a variety of church, civic, and community activities in Estes Park.
Silver Circle Honoree
Scott Murray
From U.S. Presidents to U.S. Opens, the World Series to the World Cup, the Olympic Games to 30 straight Super Bowls, Scott Murray has covered them all. He spent three decades with NBC television as a multi Emmy Award-winning television sports anchor and broadcast journalist, including close to a quarter of a century at NBC 5. Scott was named Sportscaster of the Year 17 times and is a recipient of the prestigious Silver Circle Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Although Scott has retired from nightly television news, he’s returned to NBC 5 as host of the weekly TV public affairs/philanthropic program, Talk Street. He’s also back on the radio hosting topics on “leadership and philanthropy” on The Scott Murray Show every Sunday night from
7-8pm on 570 KLIF. Scott continues to be a sought-after inspirational/keynote speaker, a published author of two books (Whatever It Takes and Bring Out The BEST), and regularly serves as a TV/radio spokesperson and an emcee/moderator for corporate and charitable events. In addition, Scott is Chairman/CEO of Murray Media, a video/HD/television production and A/V event media company.
Scott stays active in the north Texas community as a volunteer, serving on the board/advisory boards of countless children’s, civic, charitable and non-profit organizations. His commitment to community has resulted in his being honored with such awards as Man of the Year, Citizen of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, Humanitarian of the Year, recipient of the Governor’s Award, Director’s Award from the FBI and the US Department of Justice, George Washington Medal of Honor Freedom Award, National Youth Leadership Council Gift of Leadership Award, Honorary Member of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, Champion for Children Award, Tom Landry Award of Excellence, Boy Scouts of America God and Service Award, United Way Hercules Award, Komen for the Cure National Individual Community Service Award, Philanthropy Hall of Fame Inductee, Texas Baseball Hall of Fame-Honorary Inductee, and his two most cherished awards, Dad of the Year & Father of the Year.
Silver Circle Honoree
Clarice Tinsley
Clarice Tinsley, or CT as we call her in the newsroom, has been in the Television industry for 37 years. Clarice grew up in Detroit, the Motor City, and since her 5th grade English class knew that she wanted to motor out of there and become a reporter.
She began her career as a reporter in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in July 1975 at WITI-TV. In just three years she had become a noon and weekend anchor. Then it was time to move to KDFW in Dallas, as the main anchor. 34 years later, she’s weekday the solo anchor at 5pm and 10pm. Her pride and joy is “Clarice’s Hometown Heroes,” which each week honors an outstanding North Texas volunteer. She also covers hard news and has earned the George Foster Peabody Award, the Du-Pont Columbia Citation, two Emmys® and three Dallas Press Club Awards. Clarice covered the fall of the Berlin Wall; Texas troops in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in Operation Desert Storm and the training of FBI Special Agents at Quantico, Virginia. Clarice also flew with the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels, pulling 6.3 g’s…she didn’t get sick or pass out.
On the anniversary of her 20th year in television, the Dallas-Fort Worth community held an event honoring her years of service to North Texas viewers. It was a huge party, and gave the community a chance to say thanks to a person who gives so much back every day. FOX4 produced 30 minute specials for her 25th and 30th year anniversary on FOX4 News.
Silver Circle Honoree
Joan Hallmark
A native East Texan and graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Joan Hallmark began her television career at KTVT, Channel 11, in Dallas where she was host of the award-winning “The Joan Hallmark Show”.
For the past 30 years Joan has been at KLTV 7 News in Tyler, where her “Proud of East Texas” has long been an audience favorite. She’s also the producer of “Freedom Fighters”, which profiles military men and women both past and present. Joan’s features have aired on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “ABC News One,” and various ABC stations across the country.
In addition, Joan has anchored KLTV newscasts and created the station’s “MedTeam” report, awarded the State’s top medical reporting awards. Her news reports have and features have also won Associated Press awards and national awards from The American Cancer Society and the Vietnam Veterans Association .
Joan has interviewed hundreds of “Headliners,” including both Presidents Bush, Nancy Reagan, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, George Foreman, Hank Aaron, Carol Burnett and many more. She also was selected to cover Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Texas. Joan’s “Proud of East Texas,” appears weekly on KLTV 7 News at 10 pm on Sundays. Freedom Fighters airs on Fridays at 10 pm.
Silver Circle Honoree
Chris Marrou
Chris Marrou’s career in broadcasting began as a reporter with WOAI-TV in San Antonio. After a brief stint in Dallas at KRLD radio, he returned to San Antonio in 1973 and signed on as anchor of KENS 5 news on Christmas Eve. He joined the legendary team of Jud Ashmore and Dan Cook that gained popularity for the on-air antics and ad-libs during the trio’s “accidental” open mike pauses before commercial breaks.
Throughout his career, Marrou has earned numerous broadcasting awards including: Best Anchor in San Antonio 2007, San Antonio Current Reader Picks; Best TV Newscast, 1995 and 1997, Texas Associated Press Broadcasters; Best TV News Writing 1988, Texas Associated Press; Best TV News Series 1988, Texas Associated Press Broadcasters; Top Local News Anchor 1985, Television and Radio Age Magazine; and, Best Documentary 1976, Texas Associated Press Broadcasters.
Marrou was born in Nixon, Texas and grew up in Castle Hills, Texas where he graduated from Robert E. Lee High School. Before starting his broadcasting career, he attended Princeton University studying Political Science from 1964 to 1967. In 2007, he earned a Juris Doctor from St. Mary’s University School of Law and passed the Texas bar exam. Since his retirement in November 2009 Chris has earned his Master of Science Technology Commercialization from The University of Texas Red McCombs School of Business. Also since his retirement in Chris has been sworn in as a Municipal Judge in Von Ormy, Texas.
Silver Circle Honoree
Karin McCay & Abner Euresti
For most in the television world, working in a small to medium market is a starting point – merely a stepping stone to the large market newsrooms. Anchor teams constantly change as personalities come and go – except at KCBD-TV in Lubbock where Karin McCay and Abner Euresti have made the South Plains their permanent TV home. The two have been anchoring the evening newscasts together for nearly 30 years – making them the longest running anchor team in the United States!
Both Karin and Abner began their television careers at KCBD, and both remain there today. KCBD consistently dominates the ratings in Lubbock, often enjoying a 40+ share of household viewers. Together, Karin and Abner have received the “Hero’s Award” from the Lubbock Area Foundation, the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from Children’s Miracle Network, the “Good Scout Award” from the Boy Scouts, and the “Dean’s Distinguished Service Award” from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
Karin McCay is a Texas Tech University graduate and started her career at KCBD in 1978 as a reporter. Karin is the most recognized and respected health reporter in Lubbock. She is a 17-time winner of the Anson Jones Award, which is selected by the Texas Medical Association. She has won the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award three times and earned an Emmy® nomination for best news documentary and a recipient of a Lone Star Excellence in My Market Award (EMMA) this year. She has co-hosted the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon since 1984 and has helped raise more than $12 million for the Children’s Hospital at University Medical Center.
Karin is married to Lubbock County Commissioner Bill McCay. They have two children and a first grandchild who was born in September.
Abner Euresti is a graduate of Texas Tech University and has lived in Lubbock his entire life. He began his television career at KCBD in 1974. In addition to his anchor duties, Abner doubles as Managing Editor. Abner has received numerous awards for excellence in education reporting, including statewide awards from: the Texas State Teachers Association, the Association of Texas Professional Educators and the Texas Parent Teacher Association. In addition, Abner has been recognized numerous times by the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Division for his work at NewsChannel 11.
Abner has served on several boards including the Libraries Board, the Lubbock Area Foundation, Women’s Protective Services, United Way Speaker’s Bureau the Texas Tech Mass Communications Alumni Council.
Abner is a strong advocate for education and spends much of his time speaking to schools, particularly events and activities that target at-risk students. For that, he received a State Board of Education Hero Award.
Abner and his wife Tara are the proud parents of twin daughters, Kiersten and Kelsie.
The secret of their success and long-time teamwork? Karin and Abner say they are best friends, on and off the set.
It is with great honor we welcome Karin McCay and Abner Euresti into the Silver Circle of the Lone Star Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for their three decades of outstanding contribution to television broadcasting.
Silver Circle Honoree
Larry Beaulieu
Larry Beaulieu’s broadcasting career began in radio in 1965. He was an engineering student at Texas Tech but, on a dare, he auditioned for the 10-watt campus station KTXT-FM. Almost immediately, he was allowed to do Saturday morning station IDs during carriage of the “Texaco Metropolitan Opera.” Soon his silky-smooth voice was heard on many on-air announcer shifts. Larry was hooked. He changed his major to broadcasting and began a career that would take him to radio station KLLL as a Country and Western DJ for his first commercial radio job. Larry was both station announcer and reporter – and his talents got him noticed. Television came calling. KLBK news director Duncan Ellison had seen Larry reporting news for KLLL radio and offered him a job as a reporter for both radio and television news. Larry would report from the field on the radio and then rush back to the station to anchor the 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. television news.
Larry’s next television opportunity came at KFDA-TV in Amarillo. He spent five years chasing tornados and covering spot news while at the same time producing and anchoring the evening broadcasts. In 1974, KFDM-TV, in Beaumont, Texas, hired Larry as news director. Since Larry was used to doing double and triple duty, he served as news director, anchor and anything else asked of him to keep KFDM the number one station in the market. Thirty-four years later, Larry’s attitude and his station’s position has not changed. Larry is now vice president and general manager of KFDM-TV and still anchors the 6:00 p.m. news.
Co-workers and community leaders alike recognize Larry as the dean of local broadcasting. It has been said that Larry’s team at KFDM would “walk through a wall for him.” More than a manager, employees look at him as a leader, mentor and friend. He is commonly referred to as “Uncle Larry.”
Larry is very active in his community and has been recognized by many charitable organizations for his tireless support. Larry has been honored by the Texas Association of Broadcasters with its Pioneer Broadcasting Award, the Freedom Corporation, which owns KFDM, has awarded him with the Freedom Leadership Award, and both Texas Tech and Lamar University honor him as a distinguished alumnus.
It is with great honor we welcome Larry Beaulieu into the Silver Circle of the Lone Star Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for his 34 years of outstanding contribution to television broadcasting.
Silver Circle Honoree
Vern Dailey
Vern Dailey’s first job was as a film processor for the Eastman Kodak Company. He then spent two years with the Sixth Armored Division of combat engineers for the United States Army.
Vern joined the WFAA family in December of 1955 and stayed for the next 41 years. Starting in the film department, he went on to work as a film editor and projectionist. Vern produced and directed numerous shows for the station including: “Romper Room,” “The Julie Benell Cooking Show,” “The Murry Cox Farm Show,” Ed Hogan’s “Dialing for Dollars,” Jerry Haynes’ “Dallas Bandstand,” as well as many week-end newscasts and commercials.
Vern co-wrote, directed, designed sets, and created and operated puppets for the popular children’s show, “Mr. Peppermint,” from 1961 until 1969 and for the new, “Peppermint Place,” until 1996. He also directed “News Eight Jr.” and edited film until 1975.
Vern is a much published cartoonist and poet. He illustrated letters from viewers for Mike Shapiro’s, “Let Me Speak to the Manager,” show and is a long time member of Poets of East Texas (P.O.E.T.). Vern is a proud member of the Dallas Songwriter’s Association, where he was recognized as “Songwriter of the Year” three consecutive years. He has received many songwriting awards, and is a two-time first-place winner in American Songwriter Magazine’s lyric contest in Nashville, Tennessee. Vern has six songs covered by independent artist in Nashville, Houston and Austin. He is currently co-writing, with Doug Gabriel, the Doug Gabriel-Roy Clark show in Branson, Missouri. Now working as director for The Van Zandt Community Theater in Wills Point, Texas, Vern has appeared in several of their productions. He keeps Muffin, and other Peppermint puppets, alive on his “KID’S KORNER” page of COUNTY LINE magazine, which covers all of East Texas.
Vern was a two time widower with three children, six grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.
Silver Circle Honoree
Jerry Haynes
Jerry Haynes who leaves behind the lovable legacy of “Mr. Peppermint,” has died at the age of 84. He passed away Monday, September 26, 2011 from complications of Parkinson’s Disease. Mr. Haynes captured the imagination of three generations of children with his 35 year TV run and more than 6,000 broadcasts: Mr. Peppermint 1961-1969 and Peppermint Place 1975-1996. The shows were locally produced in Dallas.
To honor his memory, his family has requested donations be made to the Lone Star EMMY® Educational Foundation. The Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit entity which will help promote education and media literacy, encourage professional development and recognize the contribution of longtime TV professionals with the Silver and Gold Circles.
To make a donation please send to:
Lone Star EMMY® Educational Foundation
P.O. Box 192393, Dallas, TX 75219
In 1961, WFAA asked Jerry Haynes to star in a children’s show, which would take place in a music shop. Two weeks before the program was to begin airing, Jerry was sitting at a traffic light at the corner of Garland Road and Buckner Boulevard. The name, “Mr. Peppermint,” came to him. He had borrowed the idea of a striped coat and straw hat from the movie, “The Music Man,” and decided he needed a striped name to go with it.
The first nine years of “Mr. Peppermint” were aired live. The program was broadcast in color starting in 1968. The show returned in 1975 as “Peppermint Place,” with a new co-star, Muffin Bear, created and controlled by Vern Dailey. Jerry and Vern had made more than 6000 episodes when the show ended in 1996.
Jerry was a native Dallasite. He graduated in 1944 from Woodrow Wilson High School and from SMU in 1950. Jerry then attended the American Theater Wing in New York and worked as a sports director and variety show host/announcer. He has been active in the Dallas theater scene and acted in more than 50 movies and television shows including: “Walker, Texas Ranger,” “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” and “Places in the Heart.”
Married to Doris Gibson for more than 52 years, Jerry and she have three children: Carla, Gibby and Andy, and four grandchildren: Andrea, Molly, Mathew and Curtis.
Silver Circle Honoree
David Finfrock
David Finfrock is the NBC 5 Weather Plus Chief Meteorologist and can be seen weekdays on NBC 5 News at 5PM, 6 PM, and 10 PM. David has been honored by the Dallas Press Club with a Katie Award for Best Weathercast in Texas. David was also honored with the Fort Worth Star Telegram’s Viewers Choice Award for Best Meteorologist. He has also been honored as a finalist for Emmy and Katie Awards for the work that he did as a documentary host. David was a pioneer in the NBC Weather Plus project; working on a committee to bring the idea to life. Thanks to his efforts, NBC 5 Weather Plus can now be seen on NBC 5.2, nbc5i.com and local cable systems 24 hours a day.
David joined NBC 5 in 1975 as a Meteorologist after spending time as a field researcher on the Juneau Icefield Research Program in Alaska. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology and also completed some graduate work while at Texas A&M. He is a professional member of the American Meteorology Society and is also a member of the Advisory Board at the Center for Greater Southwestern Studies at University of Texas Arlington. He is also an active volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, delivers Meals on Wheels every month, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Texas Map Society.
In addition to countless hours spent in the studio working on forecasts, and warning viewers of impending weather, David has also filed numerous field reports. Most recently, he reported on Hurricane Ivan.
In his spare time, David enjoys participating in walks and runs for various charitable organizations including the Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth. David enjoys camping, traveling, gardening, genealogy and antique maps. He is also an avid nature conservationist. In his spare time, David has volunteered for several EarthWatch Expeditions including trips to Baja California and Easter Island. David’s quest for science also takes him to some unique vacation spots; taking part in Adventure tours to places like Antarctica.
David and his wife Shari have two children, Jennifer and Ryan... and two adorable grand daughters.
Silver Circle Honoree
Chuck Rooke
He was born Chris C. Rooke III in New Orleans on April 5, 1959. But we knew him as Chuck. Raised in Jackson, Mississippi, it didn’t take Chuck long to set on the path for television. With degree in hand from Southern Mississippi State University, he headed for WDAM in Hattiesburg, then WLBT in Jackson. That was the heyday of 3/4 inch decks on one shoulder, a Sony camera on the other, a tripod the size of a Humvee and light belts that weighed more than a rookie reporter. For Chuck, those were the salad days. Single, no mortgage, no worries, he would run the streets at night. Chuck always said… he didn’t know what other career he would choose. His dedication would win him several AP awards.
Chuck then joined long-time friends Joe Lanford and Charles Hobson at KRIV 18 years ago. That trio of photographers/live truck operators from Mississippi held tight to their small town roots while getting settled in the big city of Houston. Chuck ran the live truck for the morning show, then assumed the photographer role covering the courts, which he knew like the back of his hand. He never complained and always worked hard.
After marrying Rose, in 1997, Chuck dressed better, ate better and was so happy. He loved music, his grandchildren and eating crawfish.
Chuck had two families. He had Rose, his parents, siblings, children and grandchildren. But he also had a family at KRIV.
Chuck was known for never losing his temper, keeping his southern charm and letting fly with wicked one-liners that could not be repeated in civilized company. But there are many more stories of his generosity. Too many to list, suffice it to say, we benefited from his dedication, time, and attention. We are better for it.
A heart attack in May of 2005, sent Chuck to ICU. The parade of colleagues in and out of his room probably did not endear us to the medical staff, but we just had to say goodbye. At his funeral, live trucks from every station in Houston stood guard outside the chapel and at his gravesite. It gives you an idea of just how much he was respected, not just by KRIV co-workers, but with colleagues across the board. We wish you could have known him… you would have liked him.
Silver Circle Honoree
Tracy Rowlett
Tracy began his professional career as a sports reporter for The Wichita Beacon in Wichita, Kansas. During four years in the Air Force, he was editor of a base newspaper and a magazine writer. He later worked for Armed Forces Radio and Television at Wheelus Air Base in Tripoli, Libya. He was on duty in Tripoli when John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas, and for the next three days and nights, grabbing only short naps when he could, Tracy reported the events surrounding the assassination and Kennedy’s funeral. That experience convinced him to switch from print to radio and television.
Upon discharge from the military, Tracy worked at KFH Radio and as news director for KAKE Radio and Television, Wichita, Kansas; as news director at KMNS in Sioux City, Iowa; state capitol correspondent for KTOK and the Oklahoma News Network, Oklahoma City; and anchor, reporter and managing editor at KWTV, Oklahoma City.
Tracy moved to Dallas / Fort Worth in April 1974 as an investigative reporter for WFAA-TV, and became the 6pm and 10pm anchor in August 1975, a position he held until signing with CBS 11 News in April 1999.
His distinguished career includes two Dupont-Columbia awards (considered the Pulitzer Prize for broadcast journalism), the Murrow award, two silver gavel awards from the National Bar Association, several Emmy® Awards, various Associated Press and United Press International awards, a dozen Dallas Press Club Katie awards, for a total of more than 100 awards in all. He has been honored by the TCU journalism department with its Ethics Award, and is recipient of the Dallas Press Club’s Buck Maryatt award for a lifetime dedicated to the best in journalism.
Tracy received a B.A. in broadcasting and journalism from Wichita State University and an M.A. from the University of Texas at Dallas.
Along with his wife, Jill, Tracy is deeply involved in community activities in Dallas / Fort Worth, serving such organizations as The Autism Treatment Center, Children’s Medical Center, Easter Seals, The Heart Association, The Kidney Foundation, The Arthritis Foundation, The March of Dimes, United Way, The Epilepsy Foundation, and many others. He has received numerous community awards for his charity work, and was twice named “Father of the Year.”
Silver Circle Honoree
Mike Snyder
Mike Snyder co-anchors NBC-5 News at 5, 6 and 10PM. Mike joined NBC 5 in 1980. Before coming to NBC 5, he reported and anchored for KHOU-TV in Houston, was News Director and Morning Drive anchor for KLIF Radio in Dallas and reported and anchored for KOA-Radio-TV in Denver.
Mike started his broadcasting career in 1971 at KTTS-Radio and TV in Springfield, Missouri. He attended Southwest Missouri State University on a Debate Scholarship, was a director of the College Union Board and member of the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity.
Prior to assuming the anchor desk at NBC 5, Mike traveled the world reporting for NBC 5. During his tenure as Chief Correspondent Mike widely covered politics from Austin to Washington, broadcasting from every GOP and Democratic National Convention over the last quarter of a century. Other highlights include coverage of the Gulf War in Saudi Arabia, the fall of the Soviet Union from Russia, earthquakes in Mexico City and California, the riots in Los Angeles and the Oklahoma City bombing.
Among his numerous professional awards, the Texas Governor’s Committee Barbara Jordan Award for reporting on people with disabilities; Jack Evans Award, from the Dallas Mayor’s Committee on employment of the handicapped, twice recognized by the United Press as Best Reporter in Texas; Dallas Press Club Katies for investigative and documentary reporting; honored by the National Guard Association for his coverage during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He is a member of the Investigative Reporters and Editors Association and the Society of Professional Journalists and National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Mike is a eight time winner of the coveted Pat Weaver Gold Medal Award from the Muscular Dystrophy Association for his series on neuromuscular disease.
In addition to journalism organizations, Mike is a member of the Fort Worth Air Power Council, an honorary Colonel in the Air National Guard, and he enjoys flying numerous military aircraft. He chaired the 2005 Sky Ball that raised over half a million dollars for the families of deployed military.
Since 1991, Mike has been a co-anchor for the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon. He makes countless appearances for MDA, is also actively involved with the Salvation Army, Junior Achievement, The American Cancer Society, and many other charitable organizations.
Silver Circle Honoree
Rick Diaz
“(Rick) Diaz is unquestionably a role model in an industry where he was one of the first Hispanics to play a leading role at a television station in a mid-to large sized market.”
— Patty Sandoval Bazzani, McAllen Monitor
Rick Diaz’s distinguished career as a television newsman spans three decades and has undoubtedly earned him place in the Lone Star Silver Circle. Not only has he blazed trails for Hispanics in Television, he’s also invested countless hours giving back to the community of the Rio Grande Valley.
The son of migrant farm workers, Rick Diaz, or Mr. D as he was fondly referred to by co-workers, began his career at KRGV as a night time photographer back in 1967 while still pursuing a degree at the University of Texas Pan American. His natural talent, resourcefulness and ability to get people to open up earned him a promotion to reporter and weekend news photographer. A few years later Rick became Weekend News Anchor … then, eventually the 6 o’clock News Anchor.
In 1976, Rick Diaz blazed trails for minority journalists across the state by becoming the first Hispanic News Director. For almost two decades, under the leadership of Rick Diaz, KRGV-TV has been number one in news in the Rio Grande Valley.
In June of 1998, Rick retired after 31 years, 22 of which were spent as News Director and News Anchor. We quickly realized what an impact he had and what a true community “anchor” Rick Diaz really was. There was such an outcry from the viewers to bring him back, KRGV convinced him to come out of retirement to anchor the 6 p.m. news.
Rick has also served as a mentor to countless Broadcast Journalists throughout the years, many of whom are now shining stars in their own respective markets. He can always be found giving advice and encouragement to frazzled young reporters. It was his guidance that pushed me and many others to strive for journalistic excellence on a daily basis.
Rick Diaz has been honored with numerous awards throughout his career. During his tenure as News Director, Rick was invited to the White House in Washington on several occasions. Under Rick Diaz, KRGV took on a mission of helping improve the lives of the Rio Grande Valley Community.
The first time he was honored by former president Reagan was in 1984, for spearheading a program that helped find nearly 2,000 jobs for Valley residents. He later received a special invite to the White House as Reagan unveiled a commemorative postage stamp honoring Hispanics in America.
In 1988, Reagan and the NAB presented Rick Diaz with an award for his news department’s continuing community projects. Finally, he was invited by former president Bill Clinton to take part in a discussion about the federal budget. He’s also been honored by a host of community organizations throughout the years.
Silver Circle Honoree
Marvin Zindler
Marvin Zindler was a Texas original. He had been a member of the Houston media for more than 50 years. During his career Zindler has reached out to lend a helping hand to thousands of people in his role as a broadcaster, pioneering a brand of advocacy journalism at ABC-owned KTRK-TV. In his trademark booming voice, “Marvin Zindler, Eyewitness News” has helped Texas viewers cut through red tape and overcome frustrating obstacles on matters involving consumer, medical, legal and governmental issues and more.
He joined KTRK on January 1, 1973, and from his first day on air his flamboyant investigative reporting style made headlines. Over the years his office has been known to receive nearly 100,000 letters a year on subjects ranging from consumer complaints, requests for medical help and food stamps, to Social Security, IRS issues, housing and immigration problems. He responded to every letter.
Marvin Zindler’s broadcasting career began in 1943 as a part-time radio disc jockey while working for is family’s clothing store. In 1950 he became a reporter and cameraman for Southwest Film Production Company, which produced the 6p.m. news for KPRC-TV, and later joined Scripps Howard’s as a crime reporter and photographer. In 1962 he took a significant career detour and joined the Harris County Sheriff’s Department. Zindler transferred to the department’s Fugitive Squad, and was later assigned by the Sheriff and District Attorney to establish a Consumer Fraud Division with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, a department that remains operational today. It was during this time that he got his first taste of advocacy work. During his initial years at the station, Zindler made headlines when he exposed the infamous “Chicken Ranch” of prostitution in LaGrange, Texas. The story was spectacular and later became the basis for a Broadway musical, and a motion picture, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”. He made history when he signed an unprecedented lifetime contract with Capital Cities/ABC and KTRK.
Born in Houston in 1921, Zindler attended public schools and John Tarleton Agricultural College in Stephenville. The World War II veteran has been recognized with numerous awards including the Scottish Rite Masonry’s 33rd Degree, their highest honor. He has also been honored by numerous charity groups as well as news and health-related organizations. One of Zindler’s most public recognitions came from the Plastic Surgeons of America for his frankness in discussing his own 14 cosmetic surgeries and for lending support for charity patients who desperately need reconstructive surgery.
The irascible, flamboyant 85-year-old television personality had been diagnosed in July 2007 with inoperable pancreatic cancer that spread to his liver died July 29, 2007
Even in his last days, Zindler continued to work, filing reports from his hospital bed. In his last report, broadcast Saturday, July28, 2007, in which he helped a 45-year-old U.S. citizen secure a Social Security card necessary for employment, Zindler appeared thin and his voice was weak. Still, he signed off with a hearty “MARVIN ZINDLER, eyewitness news” — his trademark for 34 years with KTRK Channel 13.
“Marvin Zindler was unique,” said Dave Ward, the station’s longtime anchor and one of the people responsible for Zindler being on the air, as well as being the 2003 Silver Circle Inductee. “There’s never been anyone who lived life more than this man or who wanted to do more than this man. This is a personal loss to me and to everyone at this station — and to every man, woman and child, really, who lives in Southeast Texas.”
Mr. Zindler’s first wife, Gertrude Zindler, died in 1997 after 56 years of marriage. Survivors include his wife of four years, Niki Zindler of Houston; five children from the first marriage; nine grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Silver Circle Honoree
Troy Dungan
Weather in Texas can often be literally a matter of life and death. For more than a quarter of a century, north Texans have overwhelmingly trusted one man to bring them timely and accurate weather information, without sensationalism and hype.
Troy Dungan is the dean of Dallas-Fort Worth weathercasters. After graduating from Baylor, the Hillsboro native began his career in Texas at Waco’s KWTX and worked in markets including Orlando, Detroit and Houston before returning to the Dallas area more than 25 years ago. Today Dungan remains the market’s most-watched and respected weathercaster. His intimate knowledge of the small towns, back roads and the weather nuances of the region have made him north Texas’ most trusted source of weather information for years. He has also helped guide the careers of many young meteorologists starting out in broadcasting, including several protégés whom he now competes against in his own market.
Dungan pioneered many of the weather technologies in universal use today, including animated weather maps, color satellite depictions, computer weather graphics, and chroma-key – all techniques now used to produce almost every television weathercast seen anywhere in the world. Dungan also led the
development of WFAA’s “Doppler Net,” the station’s advanced, one-of-a-kind combination of C-band and S-band radar systems strategically located north and south of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.
Troy’s commitment to the community goes well beyond his on-air duties. He has long been involved in a variety of charitable causes including the Gladney Center for Adoption, the nation’s oldest adoption agency, located in Fort Worth.
But Troy is probably best known for Santa’s Helpers, WFAA’s annual toy drive that began 34 years ago, and now routinely collects nearly $1-million worth of toys every holiday season for distribution to underprivileged kids. Truckloads of new bikes, dolls and other toys of every description arrive at the station each year, all donated in the name of Dungan and Santa’s Helpers.
Too often a friendly personality viewers see on their television may not always measure up to the real person behind the screen. But with Troy Dungan, who you see is who you get: a warm and caring man, dedicated to his profession of meteorology, and, equally importantly, dedicated to the residents of north Texas he so faithfully serves.
Silver Circle Honoree
Byron Harris
Veteran WFAA reporter Byron Harris has distinguished himself many times in many ways. It was nearly three decades ago that his intelligent brand of news reporting began to establish a new standard in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. Today, Harris’ work continues to raise the jump bar against which other broadcast journalists measure their work.
Shortly after joining WFAA, Harris was honored with of one of the station’s seven duPont-Columbia Awards for his investigative work. He was later awarded a second duPont for his investigation, “Other People’s Money,” an uncompromising series of reports that broke the stinging news of the savings and loan scandal to the world.
A University of Michigan graduate, Harris was hired by WFAA along with a group that included reporter Doug Fox, a 2002 Colorado Heartland Chapter Silver Circle inductee himself. Harris and Fox, both from a station in Oklahoma City, comprised part of the core of an extraordinary reporting staff that would come to redefine television news in Dallas-Fort Worth. Led by news director Marty Haag, WFAA quickly began to set new standards for coverage and commitment to local news.
While Byron, or “Barney” as his co-workers affectionately refer to him, watched WFAA colleagues including ABC News correspondents Dennis Troute and Bob Brown, CNN’s Paula Zahn, CBS’ Scott Pelley, Verne Lundquist, Andrea Joyce and others, move on to network newsrooms, he continued to call WFAA home. In 1995, Byron’s investigation into the dangerously antiquated Soviet space program so impressed network executives that they devoted an entire ABC News Nightline program to his story. It was the first time reporting from a local affiliate had been featured in such a high profile fashion on the network’s signature program.
Byron’s travels have taken him all over the globe and influenced his life in dramatic fashion. The grueling weeks he spent with U.S. Marines on the front lines of the Iraq war produced compelling stories, live satellite updates and online columns on the war that were an important source of information and comfort for families at home. Making an impact is one of the true hallmarks of Byron Harris’ career in journalism. He is both a mentor to younger reporters, and a steadfast source of information for the north Texas community he has served for nearly 30 years.