Dave Moore (newscaster)

David Dalrymple "Dave" Moore (June 4, 1924 – January 28, 1998) was a popular Minnesota television personality and beloved figure 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, journalists never neglect 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 contended that he was. The string of good fortune that led to Moore becoming influential 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 briefly left the area to work at a Battle Creek, Michigan radio station in 1949, but returned to Minneapolis when he learned 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 programs. He began anchoring the news at 10 p.m. in 1957, then anchored the station's 6 p.m. newscast in 1968. In the mid-70's, Moore hosted a news magazine show on WCCO TV called "Moore on Sunday", which he hosted until he fell ill in 1997.

Moore, with 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 appeared onstage and received acting training at the University of Minnesota. Moore had wanted to become a stage actor, so The Bedtime Nooz and other shows he appeared in offered outlets for his creativity. A most revered stage performance occurred at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul, MN, in 1992. Dave starred in a production of "On Borrowed Time," by Paul Osborne. Playing "Gramps," the production was unique as it was directed by Moore's son, Peter. The production was considered so successful, that the company revived the show in 1993, due in no small part that the show's co-star, child actor Kirk Hall, Jr. , was going to "out-grow" the part of "Pud," the grandson of Gramps.

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