Local news anchors in Dallas-Fort Worth in 1985?

April 27, 2018 3:24 PM

Simple enough, but my Google skills are failing me: Who were the local news anchors for the major network affiliates in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 1985?

Those are WFAA, channel 8, the ABC affiliate; KXAS, channel 5, the NBC affiliate, and KTVT, channel 11, the CBS affiliate. Any idea where I can figure out who their news anchors were 33 years ago? I need it for a writing project.

posted by Pater Aletheias to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

I usually start with Wikipedia and go to sources from there. So with WFAA you can get to Marty Haag who was the news director then and I suspect you'll find stuff branching out from that.
posted by jessamyn at 3:40 PM on April 27, 2018

Best answer: YouTube turned out to be my friend. WFAA had Tracy Rowlett and Midge Hill.

And here are all the Dallas stations noon and five o’clock openings from 1986. (Really close!) In the evening, Channel 4 had Steve Dawson and Suzanne Moss. KXAS 5 had Jane McGarry and Reggie Harris. WFAA again has Rowlett and Hill.

Should’ve gone to YouTube first!

Thanks, Jessamyn. Your suggestion led me down a trail that got me to YouTube, where I struck gold.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 5:11 PM on April 27, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Depending on what month your story takes place, the anchor at WFAA with Tracy Rowlett might have been Iola Johnson, whose last date as anchor was May 2, 1985.

I dredged this out of my memory... in the mid 1980's I was a cashier at Target in Dallas and Iola Johnson came through my line. After she left, all the other cashiers came over to see her charge slip and signature to prove it was her. I had no idea who they were talking about because I did not have a TV at the time.
posted by CathyG at 6:42 PM on April 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

In 1985, KDFW was still the CBS affiliate.
posted by Gridlock Joe at 6:48 PM on May 1, 2018