Dick Nourse (March 8, 1940 – May 18, 2023) was an American television news anchor in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

. 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 Harold Fishman (August 25, 1931 – August 7, 2007) was a local news anchor in the Los Angeles area, serving on-air with Los Angeles-area television stations continuously from 1960 until his death in 2007. Fishman was the longest-running news anc ...

, whose career spanned 47 years. Nourse began his broadcasting career in

Grand Junction, Colorado Grand Junction is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat and largest city of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. Grand Junction's population was 65,560 at the 2020 United St ...

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

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Utah County, Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front, and lies between the cities of Orem, Utah, Orem to the north and Springville, Utah, Springville to the south ...

. 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, Utah, St. George–licensed MyNetwor ...

channel 2 and

KCPX KCPX (1490 AM) is a news/talk formatted broadcasting radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestri ...

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.

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 tiredn ...

, a form of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

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

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

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 Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

in 1996) and was later involved in fundraising for cancer research. However, Nourse was diagnosed with

throat cancer Head and neck cancer is a general term encompassing multiple cancers that can develop in the head and neck region. These include cancers of the mouth, tongue, gums and lips ( oral cancer), voice box ( laryngeal), throat ( nasopharyngeal, orophar ...

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, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

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 The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...

; Camp Kostopulos and the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation. * Has been honorary chairman of the

Muscular Dystrophy Association Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is an American nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting people living with muscular dystrophy, ALS, and related Neuromuscular disease, neuromuscular diseases. Founded in 1950 by Paul Cohen, who lived wi ...

and the

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. The ACS publishes the journals ''Cancer'', '' CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians'' and '' Cancer Cytopathology''. History The society w ...

. * 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. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

as an outstanding survivor of cancer. * Founded the Dick Nourse Center for Media Innovation at

Dixie State College of Utah Utah Tech University (UT), formerly named Dixie State University (DSU), is a polytechnic four-year public university in St. George, Utah, in southwest Utah (also known by the longtime nickname of "Utah's Dixie" region). UT offers doctoral degrees ...

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.

Personal life and death

Nourse, along with his second wife, Debi, was the father of five children. With his first wife, Jan (1957–1997), he had a daughter (March 22, 1985 – April 15, 2007). Nourse died on May 18, 2023, at the age of 83.

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 mete ...

, 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 Kyle Craig Bolerjack (born May 16, 1958) is an American sportscaster. He is currently calling Utah Jazz telecasts on KJZZ with Thurl Bailey. He also calls games for CBS, ESPN, and CBS College Sports Network in a national broadcasting career ...

(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 2023 deaths American Latter Day Saints Brigham Young University alumni Colorado Mesa University alumni Utah Tech University people Television anchors from Salt Lake City People from Grand Junction, Colorado