Dwight Lauderdale
Dwight Lauderdale | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | News anchor Commentator |
Dwight Lauderdale (born in Columbus, Ohio)[1] is a former TV news anchor. He was the first African American news anchor in South Florida and became one of the state's most watched and longest running anchors.[3]
Early life[edit]
Dwight Lauderdale was born and raised in a working-class suburb of Columbus, Ohio.[4] He describes his parents as "hardworking". "My parents" he says " were strict disciplinarians, and while I thought it was unfair back then, I'm glad they were that way because it kept me out of trouble " His father, in particular, taught him the importance of being himself. "My father" he says " taught me to never allow anyone to define who I am, that I am the only one who can do that. He taught me to not think of myself as a victim "[4]
He took this lesson to heart and started on a path that would include entering and winning many oratorical (speech) contests that eventually led to him being publicly recognized in local newspaper articles. One such article would lead to a phone call that would set him on the path to become South Florida's first black anchor.
Career[edit]
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At age 17, after winning an oratorical contest, Lauderdale received a job offer from the news director at WTVN-TV (ABC) in Columbus.[2][5] He accepted the job and started work in November 1968, part-time at night, processing film.[5] (Some sources claim it was WSYX-TV).[5] He did not have to drop school to accept the job.[6] He did everything from processing film, to writing news copy, to producing, and for on-air talent. He completed his education at Ohio University, majoring in Communications and graduating cum laude in 1973.[2]
In 1974, Lauderdale moved to South Florida for a reporting opportunity at Channel 7 (WCKT-TV, at the time). Two years later, WPLG offered him a three-year contract as a reporter/weekend anchor, and he accepted the job. He quickly established himself as a prolific street reporter, working half a dozen stories per day, including the Mariel Boatlift. He also managed to score the first one-on-one interview of Bill Clinton's presidency. More than anything, he remembers the rigid ground rules: " Seven minutes only, and they were standing there with a stopwatch".[7] He was bumped up to the weeknight anchor desk in June 1985 on an interim basis, which was made permanent the following January.[6] His first anchor partner was Ann Bishop and later shared anchoring duties with Diane Magnum, Kristi Krueger and Laurie Jennings.
Lasik[edit]
In July 2004, Lauderdale had his Lasik surgery televised. Lauderdale, who was farsighted, learned that he might be a candidate for corrective eye surgery after viewing a news story about this surgery on his own station. Lauderdale sought a consultation when he realized just how critical the surgery was to his job performance. He never had a problem reading the teleprompter, which was 20 feet away from him, but did have a problem one time when he had to read from a script without his glasses. Lauderdale was treated by monovision and modified monovision (two strategies to treat each eye, one for reading and one for distance).[8]
Retirement[edit]
On February 25, 2008, Dwight Lauderdale announced that he would be retiring in May of that year.[2] WPLG's final broadcast with Lauderdale as an anchor was on May 22, 2008.[9]
Awards[edit]
Dwight Lauderdale has been awarded the N.A.T.A.S Silver Circle Award, The Ohio State Award, and two Florida Emmy's, as well as a Sun-Sentinel reader's award in 1998 as the number one Anchor in the market. South Florida Magazine named him best news anchor in 1990.[5] Additionally, Dwight Lauderdale has a scholarship in his name (The Dwight Lauderdale Scholarship) at Barry University which is awarded to students in broadcast communications each seminar.[10]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c "Dwight Lauderdale Signing Off After 32 Years". Archived from the original on August 5, 2011. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
- ^ a b c d Angelique Gayle (2007-11-09). "Dwight Lauderdale: The roads that led to Success: Part of the Famous person Interview class project". The Harbinger. Archived from the original on 2013-04-14. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
- ^ "Miami Herald (Archived) (fee-based article retrieval)
- ^ a b "Interview". Archived from the original on 2008-09-23.
- ^ a b c d "Interview with Dwight Lauderdale". Miami Night Out. Archived from the original on August 19, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
- ^ a b Tom Jicha (25 February 2008). "Channel 10's Dwight Lauderdale to retire in May". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
- ^ "Miami Herald"
- ^ "Millennium Laser Eye Center" Archived May 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Tom Jicha (14 May 2008). "How Channel 10 anchor Dwight Lauderdale will spend his retirement". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
- ^ "Barry Scholarship Named In Honor Of Dwight Lauderdale". Local 10 News. Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. 2008-05-09. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2008-12-05.