Dwight Lauderdale was the first African American news anchor in South Florida and became one of the state's most watched and longest running anchors.
16 Facts About Dwight Lauderdale
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Dwight Lauderdale was born and raised in a working-class suburb of Columbus, Ohio.
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At age 17, after winning an oratorical contest, Lauderdale received a job offer from the news director at WTVN-TV in Columbus.
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Dwight Lauderdale accepted the job and started work in November 1968, part-time at night, processing film.
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Dwight Lauderdale did not have to drop school to accept the job.
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Dwight Lauderdale did everything from processing film, to writing news copy, to producing, and for on-air talent.
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In 1974, Dwight Lauderdale moved to South Florida for a reporting opportunity at Channel 7.
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Dwight Lauderdale quickly established himself as a prolific street reporter, working half a dozen stories per day, including the Mariel Boatlift.
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Dwight Lauderdale managed to score the first one-on-one interview of Bill Clinton's presidency.
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Dwight Lauderdale was bumped up to the weeknight anchor desk in June 1985 on an interim basis, which was made permanent the following January.
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Dwight Lauderdale, who was farsighted, learned that he might be a candidate for corrective eye surgery after viewing a news story about this surgery on his own station.
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Dwight Lauderdale sought a consultation when he realized just how critical the surgery was to his job performance.
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Dwight Lauderdale never had a problem reading the teleprompter, which was 20 feet away from him, but did have a problem one time when he had to read from a script without his glasses.
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Dwight Lauderdale was treated by monovision and modified monovision.
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On February 25,2008, Dwight Lauderdale announced that he would be retiring in May of that year.
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Additionally, Dwight Lauderdale has a scholarship in his name at Barry University which is awarded to students in broadcast communications each seminar.