American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
broadcaster who worked for many years as a television
News presenter
A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...
and reporter in
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 ...
.
Early life and education
A native of
Minnesota
Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
, Duncanson majored in journalism at the University of Minnesota, but left before earning his degree.
Professional career
Duncanson began his career working for
Greenpeace International
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity" and focuses its ...
. He was featured in Rolling Stone magazine in November, 1981, for his efforts as a lead organizer of the largest anti-nuclear protest in U.S. history to stop the opening of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California. The report featured Duncanson’s approach to maximizing media attention to environmental activism as well as his arrest on conspiracy charges for his role in the protest. The charges were later dropped.
In 1983 he began his journalistic career as a freelance photographer in
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
,
Nicaragua
Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
and
El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
, working for
UPI
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...
with occasional assignments from ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' Magazine. He then worked as a television reporter and presenter for WDIO-TV in
Duluth
Duluth ( ) is a Port, port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. The population ...
from 1984 until 1985,
WFTV-TV
WFTV (channel 9) is a television station in Orlando, Florida, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Cox Media Group alongside WRDQ (channel 27), an independent station. The two stations share studios on East South Street ( SR 15) ...
in
Orlando
Orlando commonly refers to:
* Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States
Orlando may also refer to:
People
* Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name
* Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...
from 1985 until 1988, and
KCRA-TV
KCRA-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Sacramento, California, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Stockton-licensed dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate KQCA (channel 58). The two stations shar ...
in
Sacramento
Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...
from 1988 until 1992. He also traveled through
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
in November 1992 and taped the fighting in that country on his home video camera, winning an
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
in the San Francisco/Northern California region.
In total he covered wars as a freelance reporter in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras and later in Colombia for KCRA-TV(NBC) as well as Croatia,
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
and Serbia for KCRA and for WBBM-TV and WFLD-TV in Chicago. On 24 February 1992 he 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 ...
in Chicago as a general assignment reporter. He won two more Emmys in the Chicago/Midwest region for reports from Bosnia. In 1994 his efforts were documented in the French film ''The Troubles We've Seen - A History of Journalism in Wartime'', by Academy Award-winning director
Marcel Ophüls
Marcel Ophuls (; 1 November 1927 – 24 May 2025) was a German-French and American documentary filmmaker and actor, renowned for his notable works such as '' The Sorrow and the Pity'' (1969) and '' Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Ba ...
. The film received the International Critics' Award at the
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.WFLD-TV in Chicago as a 6 am news presenter, which also included providing special reports for the station's 9 pm newscast. The following year he became news presenter for WFLD's 7 am to 9 am newscast also.
In 1996 Duncanson made a cameo appearance in the movie ''Primal Fear'' as a location reporter.
In August 1997 Duncanson and his wife, TV presenter/reporter
Sylvia Gomez
Sylvia may refer to:
People
*Sylvia (given name)
*Sylvia (singer), American country music and country pop singer and songwriter
* Sylvia Robinson, American singer, record producer, and record label executive
* Sylvia Vrethammar, Swedish singer cr ...
, left WFLD to travel the world together. They traveled to
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
,
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
,
Panama
Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
,
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
and
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, logging more than 30,000 miles over a five-year period. Nine months were spent sailing from
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, into the
Sea of Cortez
The Gulf of California (), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Vermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California peninsula from ...
Puerto Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican resort city near the Bahía de Banderas on the Pacific coast of the Mexico, Mexican state of Jalisco. Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadalajara ...
, where they purchased a seaside villa. After their first child was born in 2002 the couple received an offer from
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 ...
and settled down in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
and began working again as national correspondents.
In 2003 Duncanson and Gomez returned to Chicago's airwaves, rejoining WBBM-TV on 30 June 2003 as husband-and-wife weekend news presenters and general assignment reporters. Duncanson won his fourth Emmy covering the
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...
in 2005 reporting from
Banda Aceh
Banda Aceh (; , Jawi script, Jawi: ) is the capital and largest city in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra and has an elevation of 35 metres. The city covers an area of and had a population of 223,446 peopl ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
. In January 2006 Duncanson and Gomez were moved from their weekend news anchoring duties to full-time general assignment reporting duties. Duncanson was a returning guest lecturer on Journalism and Media Issues at Columbia College in Chicago, as well as at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
's
Medill School of Journalism
The Medill School of Journalism (branded as Northwestern Medill; formally the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications) is the journalism school of Northwestern University. It offers both undergraduate and graduat ...
. He served as Master of Ceremonies for the University of Chicago Hospitals Cancer Survivors Day event for three consecutive years. The events were headed by Michelle Obama, at the time VP of Marketing for U of C Hospitals. The couple left WBBM-TV at the end of 2006 and moved to their home in Mexico.
In 2007 Duncanson was named the public relations chief of a Mexican importer/exporter and national distributor of microbrewed craft beer.
Since January 2007 Duncanson and Gomez have been running Aviana Productions, a video/strategic media company in the San Francisco Bay Area and Mexico. In March 2009 Duncanson was invited to the
West Wing
The West Wing of the White House is the location of the office space of the president of the United States. The West Wing contains the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room (White House), Cabinet Room, the White House Situation Room, Situation Room, a ...
of the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
and discussed how the
Obama Administration
Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...
could use
viral video
Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...
and social media to promote its political image and agenda. In 2010 the couple produced a campaign film and served as advisors for Mario Lopez Valdez, the sitting federal senator from Sinaloa, Mexico, in his campaign for governor there. In a surprise upset, Lopez Valdez won the election. In July 2010 Duncanson and Gomez, through Aviana Productions, won a North American Aegis Award for a marketing film produced with golfing legend
Jack Nicklaus
Jack William Nicklaus (; born January 21, 1940), nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is an American retired professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greate ...
. At year's end the couple won two more Aegis Awards for films produced for the luxury Mexican resorts Palmasola, and Imanta Resorts, both located near Puerto Vallarta. Aviana’s clients have included Accel Partners, Atlassian, Intel Corp., Deloitte, Greg Norman, Punta Mita, and Stanford University, among others. Duncanson and Gomez broadened their company to include coaching C-Suite executives for public presentations, TEDTalks and IPO tours. Since its inception, Aviana Productions has garnered 40 communications awards. Duncanson has continued lecturing on media issues at various locales including the Mita Tech Talks in Punta Mita, Mexico as well as at Stanford University Law School. He was featured with his wife, Sylvia, on the Sirius XM satellite radio show, Launch Pad in 2018, sponsored by the Wharton School of Business.
Personal
In 1992, Duncanson began dating Chicago TV reporter Sylvia Gomez. The couple was engaged early in 1995, and married on October 13, 1995 in a ceremony presided over by Cook County Clerk and former Chicago Mayor
David Orr
David Duvall Orr (born October 4, 1944) is an American Democratic politician who served as the Cook County Clerk from 1990 to 2018. Orr previously served as alderman for the 49th ward in Chicago City Council from 1979 to 1990. He briefly serve ...
. Their first child, Ian Gomez Duncanson, was born in June 2002.
The couple have homes in California and in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.