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

ABC News ABC News is the journalism, news division of the American broadcast network American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other progra ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Early life and education

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

California Polytechnic State University California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...

. During college, Kerley, who grew up near

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, 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. Disney initially envisi ...

, worked at the theme park's

Tomorrowland Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions ...

Professional career

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

KCPR KCPR (91.3 FM) is a non-commercial radio station that is licensed to San Luis Obispo, California. Owned by California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, the station is operated by students from its on-campus studio lo ...

-FM in

San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly h ...

. He then shifted to television, first at nearby

KCOY KCOY-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Santa Maria, California, United States, serving the Central Coast of California as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Dabl. It is owned by VistaWest Media, LLC, which maintains ...

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 at the Bogus Bas ...

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and W ...

, for three years and then to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

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 section of Downtown Seattle, and i ...

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 independent station KONG (channel 16). Both stations share studios at the Home Pl ...

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, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington S ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. 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, Havana, Cuba) 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 ''Go ...

. In February 2004, Kerley joined

as an overnight anchor and reporter for World News Now, World News This Morning, and

ABC News Now ABC News Live (a.k.a. ABCNL) is an American 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 newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

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

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...

, covered Hurricane Katrina, and covered the 2005

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

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 community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proxi ...

. 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
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerley, David Living people 1957 births Television anchors from Chicago American television reporters and correspondents ABC News personalities