Dave Moore
Encyclopedia
David Dalrymple "Dave" Moore (June 4,1924 – January 28, 1998) was a popular Minnesota
television
personality who was one of the most well-recognized figures in the area from the 1950s through the time of his death. Moore hosted the evening news on WCCO
channel 4 from 1957 until he retired to a more leisurely schedule in 1991. When recounting Moore's life story, area journalist
s never forget to include the fact that he was only offered the anchor post after Walter Cronkite
turned it down. Like Cronkite, Moore reported the news like an everyday man off the street—which he always contended he was. The string of good luck that let Moore become such an influence in the area was sometimes a source of guilt for him. His humble nature and commitment to hard journalism is considered a major contributor to the high quality of Twin Cities newscasts through the 1990s.
Dave Moore was born in Minneapolis
and grew up there. He only briefly left the area to work at a Battle Creek, Michigan
radio station
in 1949, but returned to Minneapolis when he heard of job openings at channel 4 in 1950. Within an hour of walking into the station, he was working. At this time, the station was known as WTCN
, but was purchased by WCCO radio in 1952. The WTCN call sign was recycled a few years later for channel 11, which eventually became KARE
. Moore had a variety of jobs in the early years of channel 4, announcing and hosting for multiple shows. He began anchoring the news at 10 p.m. in 1957, then also started hosting the station's 6 p.m. newscast in 1968.
Moore, along with several other station personalities, had a penchant for comedy
. In 1962 he began The Bedtime Nooz, originally the Midnite News,a satirical late Saturday night news show that also featured weatherman
Bud Kraehling and others from the station. This lasted for about a decade, a period during which Moore also appeared in some local stage performances and received acting
training at the University of Minnesota
. Moore had originally wanted to become a stage actor, so The Bedtime Nooz and some of the other shows he appeared in offered outlets for his creativity. One of his most revered stage performances occurred at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul, MN, in 1992. Dave starred in a production of "On Borrowed Time," by Paul Osborne. Playing the part of "Gramps," the production was unique as it was directed by Moore's son, Peter. The production was considered so successful, that the company decided to revive the show in 1993, due in no small part that the show's co-star, child actor Kirk Hall, Jr. (1982-), was going to "out-grow" the part of "Pud," the grandson of Gramps.
WCCO is considered by many to have originated the "happy talk
" that is often used to attract viewers in modern local newscasts, at least among stations in the Twin Cities. It has been said that Moore's happy talk was merely a result of the camaraderie among the newscasters rather than any contrived plan, although his acting ability certainly could have fooled people easily. Beyond that, however, Moore actually resisted many of the other changes made over the years to increase viewership. He was not very fond of crime
reporting, and didn't like putting those stories as lead-ins for the news. Also, while Moore was a strong supporter of women's rights
, he didn't like it when he was placed next to a female co-anchor in the 1970s. Moore felt that having two people read the news distracted from the stories being told. His first co-anchor was Susan Spencer
, replaced a few years later by Pat Miles.
Moore was a heavy smoker
, which contributed his voice becoming raspier over the years. Even as he grew older and sported graying hair, he continued to be a popular figure. He kept very busy, hosting the 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 10 p.m. newscasts along with making periodic hour-long documentaries
under the name The Moore Report, for which the station won many prestigious accolades. 1984's "Hollow Victory: Vietnam
Under Communism
" won a George Foster Peabody Award
. It was made after the station spent a year and a half negotiating for a 35-day visa to visit the country.
The anchorman's humble nature meant that he did not push for high salaries
. While reporters in other significant markets around the country negotiated more and more expensive contracts, Moore and other newscasters in the Twin Cities were more modestly paid.
In 1985, Moore stepped down from the 10 p.m. newscast, eventually retiring from the evening news in 1991. From then until he became ill in 1997, he hosted Moore on Sunday.
In 1986, Moore published a book of his memoirs and correspondence with viewers throughout his career, titled A Member of the Family (ISBN 0-9617-4230-5).
Two of Moore's sons, Andy and Pete Moore, began working on a play
to remember their father's life. They struggled for a long time to find a good way to structure the play, eventually deciding to base it on their own stories and recollections rather than creating a dramatic piece with an actor portraying the newscaster. Called Sons of the Bedtime Nooz, it was performed at the Great American History Theatre in Saint Paul
in early 2005.
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
personality who was one of the most well-recognized figures in the area from the 1950s through the time of his death. Moore hosted the evening news on WCCO
WCCO-TV
WCCO-TV, is the CBS owned and operated television station that serves the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota. Its transmitter is at the Telefarm complex in Shoreview, Minnesota.- History :...
channel 4 from 1957 until he retired to a more leisurely schedule in 1991. When recounting Moore's life story, area journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
s never forget to include the fact that he was only offered the anchor post after Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
turned it down. Like Cronkite, Moore reported the news like an everyday man off the street—which he always contended he was. The string of good luck that let Moore become such an influence in the area was sometimes a source of guilt for him. His humble nature and commitment to hard journalism is considered a major contributor to the high quality of Twin Cities newscasts through the 1990s.
Dave Moore was born in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
and grew up there. He only briefly left the area to work at a Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek Rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Calhoun county...
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
in 1949, but returned to Minneapolis when he heard of job openings at channel 4 in 1950. Within an hour of walking into the station, he was working. At this time, the station was known as WTCN
WWTC
WWTC is a long-standing radio station serving the Twin Cities region. Despite its up-and-down history, the station spawned two of the area's major television stations and had some very innovative and unusual periods in its history...
, but was purchased by WCCO radio in 1952. The WTCN call sign was recycled a few years later for channel 11, which eventually became KARE
KARE
KARE, digital channel 11, is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota and portions of western Wisconsin. It also operates KARE WX NOW, formerly known as NBC Weather Plus on its second digital subchannel...
. Moore had a variety of jobs in the early years of channel 4, announcing and hosting for multiple shows. He began anchoring the news at 10 p.m. in 1957, then also started hosting the station's 6 p.m. newscast in 1968.
Moore, along with several other station personalities, had a penchant for comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
. In 1962 he began The Bedtime Nooz, originally the Midnite News,a satirical late Saturday night news show that also featured weatherman
Weather forecasting
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia, and formally since the nineteenth century...
Bud Kraehling and others from the station. This lasted for about a decade, a period during which Moore also appeared in some local stage performances and received acting
Acting
Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....
training at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. Moore had originally wanted to become a stage actor, so The Bedtime Nooz and some of the other shows he appeared in offered outlets for his creativity. One of his most revered stage performances occurred at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul, MN, in 1992. Dave starred in a production of "On Borrowed Time," by Paul Osborne. Playing the part of "Gramps," the production was unique as it was directed by Moore's son, Peter. The production was considered so successful, that the company decided to revive the show in 1993, due in no small part that the show's co-star, child actor Kirk Hall, Jr. (1982-), was going to "out-grow" the part of "Pud," the grandson of Gramps.
WCCO is considered by many to have originated the "happy talk
Happy talk
Happy talk, also called banter, is the additional and often meaningless commentary interspersed into news programs by news anchors and others on set. It may consist of simple jokes or simply a modified wording in asking a question of another reporter...
" that is often used to attract viewers in modern local newscasts, at least among stations in the Twin Cities. It has been said that Moore's happy talk was merely a result of the camaraderie among the newscasters rather than any contrived plan, although his acting ability certainly could have fooled people easily. Beyond that, however, Moore actually resisted many of the other changes made over the years to increase viewership. He was not very fond of crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
reporting, and didn't like putting those stories as lead-ins for the news. Also, while Moore was a strong supporter of women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
, he didn't like it when he was placed next to a female co-anchor in the 1970s. Moore felt that having two people read the news distracted from the stories being told. His first co-anchor was Susan Spencer
Susan Spencer
Susan Spencer is an American television news reporter and correspondent for 48 Hours Mystery.Spencer was born in Memphis, Tennesseee. She graduated from Michigan State University in 1968 with a Bachelor's degree in Journalism. The following year, Spencer completed her Master's in...
, replaced a few years later by Pat Miles.
Moore was a heavy smoker
Tobacco smoking
Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the resulting smoke is inhaled. The practice may have begun as early as 5000–3000 BCE. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes...
, which contributed his voice becoming raspier over the years. Even as he grew older and sported graying hair, he continued to be a popular figure. He kept very busy, hosting the 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 10 p.m. newscasts along with making periodic hour-long documentaries
Television documentary
Documentary television is a genre of television programming that broadcasts documentaries.* Documentary television series, a television series which is made up of documentary episodes....
under the name The Moore Report, for which the station won many prestigious accolades. 1984's "Hollow Victory: Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
Under Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
" won a George Foster Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
. It was made after the station spent a year and a half negotiating for a 35-day visa to visit the country.
The anchorman's humble nature meant that he did not push for high salaries
Salary
A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis....
. While reporters in other significant markets around the country negotiated more and more expensive contracts, Moore and other newscasters in the Twin Cities were more modestly paid.
In 1985, Moore stepped down from the 10 p.m. newscast, eventually retiring from the evening news in 1991. From then until he became ill in 1997, he hosted Moore on Sunday.
In 1986, Moore published a book of his memoirs and correspondence with viewers throughout his career, titled A Member of the Family (ISBN 0-9617-4230-5).
Two of Moore's sons, Andy and Pete Moore, began working on a play
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
to remember their father's life. They struggled for a long time to find a good way to structure the play, eventually deciding to base it on their own stories and recollections rather than creating a dramatic piece with an actor portraying the newscaster. Called Sons of the Bedtime Nooz, it was performed at the Great American History Theatre in Saint Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
in early 2005.
External links
- Dave Moore at the Pavek Museum of BroadcastingPavek Museum of BroadcastingThe Pavek Museum of Broadcasting is a museum in St. Louis Park, Minnesota which has one of the world's most significant collections of vintage radio and television equipment. It originated in the collection of Joe Pavek, who began squirreling away unique radios while he was an instructor at...
- An image of Dave Moore and a much younger Don Shelby.
Additional resources
- The Dave Moore Papers are available for research use at the Minnesota Historical Society.