Dick Nourse is a retired

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

. He most recently worked for KSL 5 Television. Nourse joined the KSL news team in 1964 as the station's weekend anchor/reporter. Six months later, he was named the station's weekday anchor. He concluded his 43-year career with his final newscast on November 28, 2007, a record term for a Utah television news anchor. Nourse's longevity as an American news anchor comes second to that of the late Hal Fishman, whose career spanned 47 years. Nourse began his broadcasting career in

Grand Junction, Colorado Grand Junction is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 65,560 at the 2020 United States Census, making Grand Junction the 17th mo ...

, at radio stations KDTA and KREX. He attended Mesa College in Grand Junction and

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

in Provo, Utah. Nourse moved to Salt Lake City in 1964 and applied at

KUTV KUTV (channel 2) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside independent station KJZZ-TV (channel 14) and St. George–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate K ...

channel 2 and KCPX channel 4, but neither hired him. The next day, he applied across the street at KSL channel 5 and was hired.

Nourse, Welti and James

The birth of KSL's franchise product was on the evening of July 13, 1965. On that day, Nourse was first paired with weatherman Bob Welti and sportscaster Paul James, recently poached from KCPX-TV, which had long been the leading news station in Utah. Despite its newspaper roots, KSL-TV had long been a ratings also-ran. However, within a short time, Nourse, Welti and James catapulted channel 5 to first place—a lead it held for over four decades. The trio would remain together for 26 years until James and Welti both retired in 1991. At that time, they were the longest-running evening news team in the nation.

Personal life

Nourse, along with his second wife Debi, is the father of five children. With his first wife, Jan (1957–1997), he had a daughter (March 22, 1985 – April 15, 2007).

Cancer

In 1980, Nourse learned he had

Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tirednes ...

, a form of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. He was off-the-air and in the hospital for

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

treatment. His co-anchor at the time, Shelly Thomas, interviewed him and his doctor. His doctors were unsure of his chances at survival, but Nourse survived cancer twice (he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996) and has since been involved in fundraising for cancer research. However, Nourse was diagnosed with

throat cancer Head and neck cancer develops from tissues in the lip and oral cavity (mouth), larynx (throat), salivary glands, nose, sinuses or the skin of the face. The most common types of head and neck cancers occur in the lip, mouth, and larynx. Symptoms ...

in late 2012; in an interview with competing station KUTV, he said that it had gone into remission by early 2013.

Career highlights

* In 1967, Nourse toured

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

for one month interviewing military personnel from Utah. In 1997 – 30 years later — he returned to renew acquaintances in that country and attempt to resolve some of his own unrest since the war. * In 1977, he was listed as one of America's Outstanding Young Men. * Has served such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists; Camp Kostopulos and the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation. * Has been honorary chairman of the

Muscular Dystrophy Association The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is an American 501(c)(3) umbrella organization that works to support people with neuromuscular diseases. Founded in 1950 by Paul Cohen, who lived with muscular dystrophy, it works to combat neuromuscular d ...

and the American Cancer Society. * In 1989, was honored by

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Ronald Reagan as an outstanding survivor of cancer. * Founded the Dick Nourse Center for Media Innovation at Dixie State College of Utah

Retirement

On November 28, 2007, Nourse signed off the air for the final time. After a career that began at KSL in 1964, Nourse passed the reins to his long-time colleague and former co-anchor, Bruce Lindsay.

Past news team members

*Nadine Wimmer, Kevin Eubank, Tom Kirkland (2006–2007) ''Eyewitness News, HD at 10'' *Nadine Wimmer,

Mark Eubank Mark Edwin Eubank is a retired Salt Lake City, Utah television broadcasting meteorologist who served as chief meteorologist for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Career Eubank joined the KSL-TV channel 5 Television news team in 1990 as their chief meteor ...

, Tom Kirkland (2002–2006) ''Eyewitness News at 10'' *Ruth Todd, Mark Eubank, Tom Kirkland (1998–2001) ''Eyewitness News at 10'' *Ruth Todd, Mark Eubank, Craig Bolerjack (1994–1998) ''Eyewitness News at 10'' *Carole Mikita, Mark Eubank, Craig Bolerjack (1991–1994) ''Eyewitness News at 10'' *Shelly Thomas, Bob Welti, Paul James (1979–1991) ''Eyewitness News Tonight at 10'' *Bruce Lindsay, Bob Welti, Paul James (1979–1991) ''Eyewitness News at 6 & 10'' *Bob Welti, Paul James (1965–1991)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nourse, Dick 1940 births American Latter Day Saints Brigham Young University alumni Colorado Mesa University alumni Utah Tech University people Living people Television anchors from Salt Lake City People from Grand Junction, Colorado