Doug Adair (May 29, 1929 – April 29, 2019) was an American television news anchor and journalist who worked in the

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Columbus, and

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

markets.

Career

Born in

Xenia, Ohio Xenia ( ) is a city in Greene County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located in southwestern Ohio, it is east of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton and is part of the Greater Dayton, Dayton metropolitan area as well as the Miami Valley region. As o ...

, Adair got his start in journalism in television in Dayton in the early 1950s. In 1958 he moved to Cleveland and joined then-

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

-affiliated

WJW-TV WJW (channel 8) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside independent station, independent WBNX-TV (channel 55). The two s ...

as a reporter and anchor. Starting in 1964, Adair was paired with

Joel Daly Joel Daly (August 21, 1934October 22, 2020) was an American news anchor, most known for serving as an anchor for WLS-TV (an ABC-affiliate) in Chicago, Illinois, for 38 years from 1967 to 2005. Daly served as co-anchor on the 4 pm news broadcast a ...

and the duo co-anchored ''City Camera News'', the first two-man television newscast in Cleveland. ''City Camera News'' was notable for equipping reporters with Polaroid

instant camera An instant camera is a camera which uses instant film, self-developing film to create a chemically Photographic processing, developed print shortly after taking the picture. Polaroid Corporation pioneered (and Patent, patented) consumer-friend ...

s, allowing them to take pictures that can be used on the air. The format was successful, and the Adair/Daly team anchored the most-watched newscast in Cleveland. Both men were offered jobs at

WLS-TV WLS-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's ABC network outlet. It has been owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division since the station's inception. ...

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 ...

around 1968; Adair chose to stay in Cleveland while Daly accepted. During his time at WJW-TV, Adair's colleagues also included

Ernie Anderson Ernest Earle Anderson (November 12, 1923 – February 6, 1997) was an American radio and television personality, horror host, and announcer. Known for his portrayal of " Ghoulardi", the host of late night horror films on WJW Channel 8 on Cle ...

, who played horror movie host " Ghoulardi";

Tim Conway Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway (December 15, 1933 – May 14, 2019) was an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. Conway is perhaps best known as a regular cast member (1975–1978) on the TV comedy ''The Carol Burnett Show'' where he port ...

, future co-star of ''

McHale's Navy ''McHale's Navy'' is an American sitcom starring Ernest Borgnine that aired 138 half-hour episodes over four seasons, from October 11, 1962, to April 12, 1966, on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network. The series was filmed i ...

'' and ''

The Carol Burnett Show ''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harv ...

''; legendary Cleveland

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

Dick Goddard Richard Duane Goddard (February 24, 1931 – August 4, 2020) was an American television meteorologist, author, cartoonist, and animal activist. From 1966 until his retirement in 2016, he was the evening meteorologist at WJW-TV in Cleveland, O ...

; and

Bob "Hoolihan" Wells Robert D. "Bob" Wells (born September 27, 1933), known as Bob "Hoolihan" Wells, is an American former television and radio personality and actor, who is best known to Cleveland, Ohio television viewers for his appearances on the then-CBS affiliat ...

and "Big Chuck" Schodowski, the duo whose ''Hoolihan and Big Chuck'' movie show replaced Anderson's "Ghoulardi." In 1970 Adair left WJW-TV and joined

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

as co-anchor of the evening news programs at network-owned

WKYC-TV WKYC (channel 3) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. Its studios are located on Tom Beres Way (a section of Lakeside Avenue in Downtown Cleveland named after the station's longt ...

. While at WKYC, Adair worked with notable co-anchors Virgil Dominic, Dave Patterson, and Judd Hambrick; future ''

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

'' meteorologist

Al Roker Albert Lincoln Roker Jr. (born August 20, 1954) is an American weather presenter, journalist, television personality, and author. He is the weather anchor on NBC's ''Today'', and occasionally co-hosts '' 3rd Hour Today''. He has a lapsed Ameri ...

; and Mona Scott, a reporter-turned-weathercaster-turned anchor who would later become his second wife. In early 1983, Adair moved to Columbus to assume anchor duties at

WCMH-TV WCMH-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located on Olentangy River Road near the Ohio State University campus, and its trans ...

, that city's NBC affiliate. Mona Scott joined him several months later, and their on-air partnership catapulted WCMH's evening newscasts to the most-watched in Columbus. However, the couple divorced—both on-air and off-air—in 1990. Adair remained at WCMH until 1994, when he retired from television news. Adair was inducted in the Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1992.

Personal life

Adair was married three times. His first marriage produced three children, and his marriage to former colleague Mona Scott gave him two stepchildren. His third wife, Jean, is a former

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

, and they resided for many years in the

Dublin, Ohio Dublin is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. A suburb of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, it falls within the jurisdictions of Franklin County, Ohio, Franklin, Delaware County, Ohio, Delaware, Union County, Ohio, Union, and Madison County, Ohio, Madison ...

area. Adair was involved in harness racing and owned horses. He died in

Pleasanton, California Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the Amador Valley, it is an upscale suburb in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 79,871 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 cens ...

in 2019 at the age of 89.Award-winning TV anchor, Xenia native, dies
''Xenia Daily Gazette'', May 1, 2019

References

External links

at Cleveland Seniors' Website

Where Are They Now? Doug Adair and Mona Scott, accessed 2015-12-12 {{DEFAULTSORT:Adair, Doug 1929 births 2019 deaths Television anchors from Cleveland People from Xenia, Ohio People from Dublin, Ohio