Dick Nourse


Dick Nourse is a retired Salt Lake City, Utah television news anchor. He most recently worked for KSL 5 Television. Nourse joined the KSL news team in 1964 as the station's weekend anchor/reporter. Six months later, he was named the station's weekday anchor. He concluded his 43-year career with his final newscast on November 28, 2007, a record term for a Utah television news anchor. Nourse's longevity as an American news anchor comes second to that of the late Hal Fishman, whose career spanned 47 years.
Nourse began his broadcasting career in Grand Junction, Colorado, at radio stations KDTA and KREX. He attended Mesa College in Grand Junction and Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Nourse moved to Salt Lake City in 1964 and applied at KUTV channel 2 and KCPX channel 4, but neither hired him. The next day, he applied across the street at KSL channel 5 and was hired.

Nourse, Welti and James

The birth of KSL's franchise product was on the evening of July 13, 1965. On that day, Nourse was first paired with weatherman Bob Welti and sportscaster Paul James, recently poached from KCPX-TV, which had long been the leading news station in Utah. Despite its newspaper roots, KSL-TV had long been a ratings also-ran. However, within a short time, Nourse, Welti and James catapulted channel 5 to first place—a lead it held for over four decades. The trio would remain together for 26 years until James and Welti both retired in 1991. At that time, they were the longest-running evening news team in the nation.

Personal life

Nourse, along with his second wife Debi, is the father of five children: TIffani, Brittani, Dayne, and Derek. With his first wife, Jan, he had a daughter, Giana.

Cancer

In 1980, Nourse learned he had Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, a form of cancer. He was off-the-air and in the hospital for chemotherapy treatment. His co-anchor at the time, Shelly Thomas, interviewed him and his doctor. His doctors were unsure of his chances at survival, but Nourse survived cancer twice and has since been involved in fundraising for cancer research.
However, Nourse was diagnosed with throat cancer in late 2012; in an interview with competing station KUTV, he said that it had gone into remission by early 2013.

Career highlights

On November 28, 2007, Nourse signed off the air for the final time. After a career that began at KSL in 1964, Nourse passed the reins to his long-time colleague and former co-anchor, Bruce Lindsay.

Past news team members