PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE


12/83 - Present (Except as noted in next entry)
FREELANCE ANCHOR, PRODUCER, WRITER
AND NETWORK NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER/VIDEOTAPE EDITOR.
Dallas, Texas

I'm a storyteller. Today I work as a freelance television news producer, photographer, and Final Cut Pro X / Motion editor. I work for the major network news and magazine shows through their Dallas bureaus. I have produced, shot and edited stories for a national audience for NBCs Today Show, Nightly News, CBS Evening News and other network news and magazine shows. I've been a cable network news bureau managing editor, directed both television and radio news departments, I've won awards for journalism, produced evening newscasts, and have extensive anchoring experience in both television and radio. I think on my feet. My mantra is "On time is late". I have the most fun, however, when shooting, writing, voicing and editing my own stories.
1975 -WFTV, Orlando, Florida

• My years of anchor work and the shooting and editing of my own stories as a reporter prepared me for doing it all and doing it well. I’ve shot everything from presidential campaigns (travelled with George Bush for CBS in '84 and '88, and with Bill Clinton for NBC in '92) to plane crashes. I've covered earthquakes, hurricanes and football for the networks. I was the daytime camera for CBS during the Branch Davidian stand-off in Waco. If you watched the building burn on any CBS station you were watching my camera. I’ve also been the on-camera talent for several industrial videos.

11/98 - 2/00
REPORTER/PHOTOGRAPHER - The News of Texas, Dallas Bureau.
• My position was unique among the 20 reporters at The News of Texas. I was the only person in the network that functioned as a reporter who shot his own stories. Even better, my job was to produce human interest stories such as the lady in Muleshoe (18 miles from Earth) who runs a television channel in her upstairs bedroom or the passing of the drive-in movie theater era. I traveled around north Texas to produce these stories.

Mexico City - 1985

Mexico City - 1985
I was there for NBC. We chartered out of Houston. All flights to Mexico were held over the Texas border but for reasons unkown, Mexico ATC called and allowed us to land in Mexico City. As far as I know, I got the only aerials of Mexico City burning. Our producer bribed an official since flights over Mexico City were banned at the time and I rode in the back of a Cessna 206 with my legs dangling out the baggage door and my soundman holding on to my belt. I'll never forget the pictures I took of the still smoking city.

 Don with Ross Perot.
Ross Perot gave me a tour of his office when I arrived early to shoot an interview for NBC Nightly News. The "Spirit of '76" painting? It's an original, of course.

Medico City - 1985
I'm holding the camera and working with Tom Brokaw doing a 'walk and talk' with then Mexico President De la Madrid. We were walking through the rubble of the '85 quake and fighting off the crowd. Wayde Duncan is my sound tech by my left hand.

12/81 - 12/83 SATELLITE NEWS CHANNEL BUREAU CHIEF.
SOUTHWEST BUREAU - San Antonio, Texas.
• Anchored five-minute hourly cut-ins for my five-state area in addition to managing a staff and daily bureau duties. Coordinated news gathering and satellite distribution for the southwest region. The job terminated when SNC was sold to Ted Turner, who turned it into CNN Headline News.

Don on Air Force Two with George H.W. Bush.I'm on the right. '84 Bush campaign. CBS's Phil Jones is interviewing George H.W. Bush. This was about twenty minutes before Air Force Two dove to avoid a mid-air with a single-engine plane. I floated near the roof. Don with George Foreman"60 Minutes" shoot with George Foreman. 1997. Very nice man. It's true that he has a picture of a hamburger on the mats of his car.


6/80 - 12/81 KTXS T.V., Abilene, Texas.
News Director and Anchor.
• Anchored the 5, 6, and 10pm newscasts.

6/79 - 6/80 KIII T.V., Corpus Christi, Texas.
• Assistant News Director and anchor.

4/77 - 6/79 KENS T.V., San Antonio, Texas.
Anchor/Reporter.
• Anchored Noon and 5p.m. Newscasts.
• General Assignment Reporter

1976-1977 KRAV Radio, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
News Director.

1971-1976 WFTV T.V., Orlando, Florida.
• Weekend Anchor.
• Weekday Reporter.

First radio job at KRSY in Roswell, NM. 1964.
 1964 (while finishing my senior year at Roswell High School) - My my first job in broadcasting at KRSY Radio in Roswell, NM. I worked the midnight-to-6 shift for $1.25 an hour. At school, you could set your watch to the 10am thump of my head hitting my desk.		 My senior picture from the 1964 Roswell (NM) High School yearbook.Don's High School Picture from 1964.

RADIO TALENT SINCE 1964
• KRSY, Roswell, NM. - 1964
• KKUB, Brownfield, TX. - 1965
• KONO, San Antonio, TX. - 1965
• KSEL, Lubbock, TX. - 1970
• WLOF, Orlando, FL. - 1971
• KVIL, Dallas, TX - 2001
• KRLD, Dallas, TX - 2007-2012
• Sirius Satellite Radio Weekly 2-Hour Segment - 2002 - 2004


MILITARY SERVICE
• 2/67 - 2/70 U.S. Army - Germany and Vietnam. Air Defense Radar.
• Wuerzberg, Germany, 1968.
• Near Qui Nhon, South Vietnam, 2/69-2/70.
• Vietnam Commendation Medal
• Vietnam Service Medal


EDUCATION
• Two years of college at Florida Technological Institute. Orlando, FL. Radio-Television Major.
• Graduated from Roswell, NM High School.


PERSONAL
• Married with three children.
• Touch-Type 65wpm.
• Fast, creative writer.
• Awards for writing and news photography.
• Macintosh computer enthusiast to include Web development and online database creation.
• Commercial pilots’ license with an instrument rating (not current).
• Amateur Extra Class amateur radio license (KK5DON).
• Close-up magic.