Remembering Sioux City TV icon Dave Nixon, Sr.

EMMETSBURG, Iowa (KTIV) – A “celebration of life” will probably be held in April for former KTIV and KCAU information anchor Dave Nixon, Sr. Nixon died January seventeenth, at his Emmetsburg, Iowa, house on the age of 83.

Nixon’s outstanding profession spanned a long time in each radio and TV. Not simply in Sioux Metropolis, however in Minneapolis and Des Moines, as properly.

KTIV’s Matt Breen took a glance again on Nixon’s broadcasting legacy.

In a 2002 interview, Dave Nixon, Sr. remembered rising up exterior Dakota Metropolis, Nebraska, the place he might see the lights of a close-by radio broadcast tower. Little did Nixon know that he’d later work at that station– KMNS Radio– and at two native tv stations, as properly, changing into an icon of the business.

Nixon’s tv profession began at KCAU-TV in 1972. Six years later, he left for a job at WHO-TV, in Des Moines.

However, it wasn’t lengthy earlier than KTIV Normal Supervisor Invoice Turner satisfied Nixon to come back again to Sioux Metropolis, and Channel 4. That was 1980. At KTIV, Nixon anchored protection of a number of the greatest occasions of the day. From a 1986 twister outbreak, to the fateful day United Airways Flight 232 crashed at Sioux Gateway Airport.

In a 2009 dialog with Nixon, on the twentieth anniversary of the crash, the veteran broadcaster instructed Breen the feelings had been nearly overwhelming. “I needed to battle the feelings all through that afternoon, all through that whole ordeal,” mentioned Dave Nixon, Sr. “I might catch myself squeezing the anchor desk.” 112 folks died within the crash. However, miraculously, 184 survived.

When Breen and Nixon spoke once more, in 2014, on the twenty fifth anniversary of the crash, Nixon instructed hime crash of Flight 232 modified his life.”At the moment might be your final day, so that you’re going to dwell your life in the best way that I consider I’ve carried out by having fun with all the things in life as a result of it might be my final day,” mentioned Dave Nixon, Sr.

“18-months after the crash, Nixon left KTIV to maneuver into schooling. He began the broadcasting program at Iowa Lakes Neighborhood School. He later served as the manager dean of the faculty’s Emmetsburg campus. Nixon then moved to Michigan to take a job as president of a Monroe County Neighborhood School.

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