Paul David Kerley III (born May 30, 1957), known professionally as David Kerley, is an American journalist who was a correspondent for

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Early life and education

A native of Southern California, Kerley earned a bachelor's degree from

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or Cal Poly) is a public university in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States, - Cites the location of the university and shows that the university ...

. During college, Kerley, who grew up near

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

, worked at the theme park's

Tomorrowland Tomorrowland may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Tomorrowland (Disney Parks), a theme land at a number of Disney theme parks around the world * Tomorrowland (festival), an annual electronic dance music festival in Boom, Belgium * ''Tom ...

Professional career

Kerley began his broadcasting career in radio, as the news director for KCPR-FM in

San Luis Obispo ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

. He then shifted to television, first at nearby KCOY in Santa Maria as 11 p.m. anchor and 6 p.m. sports anchor from 1978 to 1981 (see him in from that era). He then moved to

KTVB KTVB (channel 7) is a television station in Boise, Idaho, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on West Fairview Avenue (off I-184) in Boise, and its transmitter is located on Deer Point in u ...

Boise Boise ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and nor ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

, for three years and then to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

for fifteen years. He started at

KIRO-TV KIRO-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with CBS and Telemundo. Owned by Cox Media Group, the station maintains studios on Third Avenue in the Belltown, Seattle, Belltown section of Downtown ...

in 1983, moved to rival

KING-TV KING-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Everett-licensed KONG (channel 16), an independent station. The two stations share studios at the Hom ...

in 1986 for nearly six years, then back to KIRO until 1998. In November 1998, Kerley joined

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 ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. In early 2001, he became the station's lead news anchor—anchoring the 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts—after previously having filled in as the station's 10 p.m. anchor in late 2000. In late 2001, however, the station announced that it planned to replace Kerley. In early 2002, Kerley was officially replaced by

Antonio Mora Antonio Mora (born December 14, 1957) is a multiple Emmy Award winning journalist and television news anchor. He is best known for his years at ABC News, including his four years as the news anchor and chief correspondent for ''Good Morning Amer ...

. In February 2004, Kerley joined

as an overnight anchor and reporter for ''

World News Now ''World News Now'' (or WNN) is an American overnight news broadcast seen on ABC and ABC News Live. Airing during the early morning hours each Monday through Friday, the program features a mix of general news and off-beat stories, along with ...

'', '' World News This Morning'', and ''

ABC News Now ABC News Live (a.k.a. ABCNL) is a U.S.-based streaming video news channel for breaking news, live events, newscasts, and longer-form reports and documentaries operated by ABC News since 2018. The channel is available through various streaming ...

''. "I consider ABC to be the premier broadcast journalism company in the country, possibly the world," he told friends, according to a February 11, 2004 ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' article. "Quite an adventure lies ahead." Since joining ABC News, Kerley has traveled to

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, covered

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

, and covered the 2005

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economy , economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Following the success of Association of Southeast Asia ...

summit. In 2004, Kerley was named a general assignment correspondent for

. As of July 25, 2017, he has been

's Senior Transportation Correspondent.

Personal

Kerley and his wife, Janet Myers, reside in

McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population of the community was 50,773 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is ...

. Myers was also a reporter at KTVB in Boise in the early 1980s and later at KING-TV in Seattle.

References

External links

ABC News Profile

David Kerley on Forth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerley, David Living people 1957 births Television anchors from Chicago American television reporters and correspondents