Adele Arakawa (born August 31, 1957) is a retired American evening news anchor for NBC affiliate station

KUSA-TV KUSA (channel 9) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KTVD (channel 20). The two stations share studios on East Speer Boulevard in Denver' ...

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. As of June 2007, she provides the female voice of the airport train system at

Denver International Airport Denver International Airport , often referred to by locals as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At , Effective Ju ...

. She retired on June 30, 2017. She is also the former voice of the Denver International Airport Automated Guideway Transit System.

Early life and education

Born Adele Hausser, Arakawa was raised in Hawaii and later east Tennessee. At age 16, she began taking college courses at Tennessee Tech University and working as a radio disc jockey in her hometown of La Follette, Tennessee. She also attended the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

but dropped out after her freshman year.

Professional career

Following her entry into radio, Arakawa worked as a radio news anchor at WYSH in Clinton, Tennessee and as a disc jockey at WRJZ in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

. In 1981, Arakawa made the transition to television news, working at WTVK (now

WVLT-TV WVLT-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with CBS and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Media alongside Crossville, Tennessee, Crossville-licensed dual The CW, CW/Telemundo affiliate WBXX-TV ...

) in weather in Knoxville where she began using her mother's maiden name, Arakawa, at the suggestion of news director Hal Wanzer. Two years later, she moved to Raleigh, North Carolina to coanchor weekday evening newscasts for

WRAL-TV WRAL-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Research Triangle area. It is the flagship station of the locally based Capitol Broadcasting Company, which has ...

with Charlie Gaddy and weatherman Bob Debardelaben. Arakawa's career next took the family to Chicago in 1989, where she again anchored weekday evening newscasts, this time for CBS O&O

WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's CBS network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington St ...

. In 1993, she became a weekday evening newscast anchor for

in Denver. On December 6, 2016, she announced her retirement after 40 years in broadcasting. Her last day was June 30, 2017. Arakawa was president of the Asian American Journalists Association in 1992 in Chicago and is a member of both the Japanese American Citizens League and the Japanese American Service Committee. Two of her grandparents were from Okinawa, Japan.

Personal life

Arakawa married her husband, Barry Tiller, in July 1977. Since retiring, she has lived in Tucson, Arizona. Arakawa used to race cars competitively, and as of her retirement was still driving a race car on a road course.

Awards

*1992: National Award, Asian American Issues (Television), Asian American Journalists Association *1997: Best News Anchor, Heartland Chapter, National Television Academy *1999: Best News Anchor, Heartland Chapter, National Television Academy *2001: Outstanding Daily Newscast, Markets 1-50 (with team), Heartland Chapter, National Television Academy : Best Interview / Discussion Program (with team), Heartland Chapter, National Television Academy *2004: Best News Anchor (tie), Heartland Chapter, National Television Academy

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arakawa, Adele 1957 births American writers of Japanese descent Television anchors from Denver Living people People from LaFollette, Tennessee American women television journalists American women journalists of Asian descent 21st-century American women writers