Longtime KTRK anchor Dave Ward, who was out for more than a month earlier this year after breaking his hip in a fall minutes before a newscast, has a bold prediction: “They’ll probably carry me out of here feet first.”

“KTRK-TV is like my home, I’ve been here so long,” Ward told TVNewsCheck recently. “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t come into work every day. I still feel like I contribute to the newscast and they seem to want me here.”

Ward joined KTRK in 1966 and has been anchoring the station’s 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts since 1968. Read more

After breaking his hip in a fall that occurred shortly before a newscast last month, longtime KTRK anchor Dave Ward returned to the air this weekend, assuming his regular role as anchor of the station’s live coverage of the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Parade.

At the beginning of the Saturday broadcast, Ward’s co-anchor Gina Gaston welcomed him back to work.

“We’re happy to have you back,” Gaston told Ward.  “Some people have been asking, ‘Where’s Dave?’ and ‘When’s he coming back?’  So we’re glad to see you here today.”

“I had to wait for the livestock show and rodeo parade,” Ward replied. Read more

Longtime KTRK anchor Dave Ward seemed to disappear from the ABC-affiliate’s 10 p.m. newscast on Friday, the 13th.

As Houston blogger Mike McGuff points out, Ward appeared in news teases during primetime on Friday but was missing from KTRK’s actual 10 p.m. newscast, which Melanie Lawson anchored solo from the station’s newsroom.

It turns out that Ward suffered a fall minutes before the newscast and KTRK had to press on without him, according to a statement released by the station on Monday. Read more

At 72, Dave Ward will celebrate his 45th anniversary with the ABC owned-and-operated KTRK in Houston tomorrow, marking what is believed to be the longest tenure of any broadcaster at a single station. The 6 and 10 p.m. anchor talks to the Houston Chronicle about the challenges of his job:

“Being objective in news reporting is damned near totally impossible,” he said. “You’re a human being, and the way you raise your eyebrows can sometimes say things to people. But the more you can do in a factual way gives the viewer a chance to make up his own mind rather than putting your own opinion out there.

“I think that is one reason I have been successful. I have tried steadfastly to keep it on the straight and narrow.” Read more

Anchors from nine stations were in Washington, DC yesterday for a local press blitz that included interviews with President Obama and unprecedented access to the White House.

Most of the stations, which were largely located in swing states, billed the Presidential interview as an “exclusive.” Norfolk’s WAVY went one step further: anchors in the studio tossed to live shots with Tom Schaad by calling him “the only local anchor in the nation’s capital today.”

The biggest star for the visitors, however, wasn’t on the schedule: first dog Bo Obama trotted out to the South Lawn unannounced. “That’s the only time I saw things get really ugly with the reporters,” KGW‘s Tracy Barry (pictured) said. “They were practically pushing each other out of the way to get to the dog.”

Watch the reports filed from the White House, after the jump. Read more

The White House is welcoming nine anchors today for a local round of press that will include interviews with President Obama and comprehensive behind-the-scenes access to the White House.

In addition to their “brief” individual interviews with the President, the participating anchors will broadcast evening newscasts (during sweeps-month, as Politico’s Mike Allen points out) from the South Lawn of the White House, on special risers built for the occasion. The anchors will also have lunch with David Plouffe, interview a White House staffer from the station’s home market and get an on-camera tour of the building with a curator. Finally, they will ask one question each of Jay Carney at the daily press briefing.

The latest local push is significantly more involved than past interviews Obama has done on the local level, which have been limited to seven-minute sit-downs with the President on one predetermined topic. Read more

WSHM, a CBS-affiliate serving the Springfield area of western Massachusetts, announced this week that Dave Ward would lead its newsroom.

Ward, who most recently worked as assignment manager at WFSB in the nearby Hartford-New Haven market, succeeds Doug Lezette as news director.  Lezette left WSHM earlier this year to join Providence’s WJAR.

“Dave’s depth of experience and talents will enhance CBS 3 Springfield’s continued growth and success,” said WSHM (channel 3) station manager John Hesslein. “He has played a major role in developing strong and lasting community relationships in Connecticut and I look forward to that same success in Springfield.”

Ward, a native of Massachusetts, said that he is looking forward to working with the “talented professionals” at WSHM to “engage the community with a wide range of stories.”

Both WSHM and WFSB are owned by Meredith.