[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 111 (Thursday, July 31, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8515-S8516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO DAVE NAKDIMEN

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Mr. Dave 
Nakdimen, an outstanding newsman, who retired after a wonderful career 
in television news.
  Dave served the Louisville area for 36 years on WAVE television news.
  Dave was born in London, KY, and became interested in journalism by 
listening to the radio at an early age. After years of listening to 
political news and election-night returns, Dave decided to study 
journalism at the University of Kentucky. After graduation in 1955, he 
took a job as a sports writer with the Lexington Leader. While working 
in Lexington, he met his future wife, Wanda, who was moving to 
Louisville to take a job at a local hospital. After they became 
engaged, they packed their bags and headed to Louisville, where Dave 
landed a job at WAVE-TV. The rest is history.
  WAVE was his first job in broadcast media. Dave was assigned to cover 
city hall, and there he met and interviewed some of the most important 
men and women in the last half of this century. Dave covered the civil 
rights movement of the 1960's, where he interviewed Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr. during an open-housing march. He also interviewed Ronald 
Reagan, George Bush, David Brinkley, John Wayne, and countless other 
memorable personalities.
  Dave won't be resting during his retirement, though; he's returning 
to WAVE-TV after a brief vacation to produce weekly commentaries for 
the station's 6 o'clock newscasts. When asked by the the Courier-
Journal if he would repeat his experience in journalism, Mr. Nakdimen 
responded: ``I think so. I really enjoyed it. It was a lot of hard 
work, but it was a lot of fun, too.'' Dave's colleagues also remember 
him fondly. Kathy Beck, the news director at WAVE-TV, said Dave is ``a 
man of great integrity'' throughout the news world.
  All those who know Dave know that he gives his endeavors his all. He 
is a deacon at his church, and he shows intense faithfulness in 
supporting his beloved University of Kentucky Wildcat

[[Page S8516]]

basketball team. Dave's retirement means he will be able to do more of 
the things he loves, including spending time with his wife, Wanda, and 
his daughter, Suzanne.
  Mr. President, I ask that you and my colleagues join me in paying 
tribute to the career of Dave Nakdimen. It surely has been a memorable 
one.
  Mr. President, in the world of television news it is extremely 
difficult to develop expertise in covering politics. Most of the 
political reporters that we deal with who are really talented in 
covering what the occupant of the Chair and myself do everyday tend to 
be in print journalism.
  There is one real exception to that: Dave Nakdimen. Dave was the only 
expert political reporter I ever met in local television. He had a 
distinguished career. We will all miss him greatly. He is a man of 
great principle, a personal friend. I remember meeting him when I was 
in my twenties sitting in the office of a local official in Jefferson 
County, that is, Louisville, KY. He was doing his job then. He is a 
superb individual, a fine man with deep religious convictions who will 
be missed in the reporting of political news in my hometown.
  Mr. President, I wish Dave Nakdimen well in his retirement years.
  I ask unanimous consent that an article from The Courier-Journal be 
printed in the Congressional Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

          [From the Louisville Courier-Journal, July 11, 1997]

              WAVE's Nakdimen Is Retiring After 3 Decades

                            (By Tom Dorsey)

       Today is the last day on the job for WAVE reporter Dave 
     Nakdimen after 36 years.
       ``I plopped down here in 1961 and have been in the same 
     spot ever since,'' said Nakdimen. The soft-spoken journalist 
     with the dry sense of humor has been a fixture on the local 
     TV scene.
       ``He's a wonderful guy and clever writer,'' said WAVE 
     colleague Jackie Hays. ``If I had a question on anything--but 
     especially politics--I knew he'd know the answer.''
       Nekdimen, 64, probably holds the record for the most years 
     as a TV reporter in Louisville.
       He remembers covering political races in which candidates 
     ran as segregationist. He recalls interviewing the Rev. Dr. 
     Martin Luther King Jr. during an open-housing march in the 
     '60s.
       After the interview Nakdimen discovered that the sound 
     system wasn't working. ``So when King came around the block 
     again, we asked him if he'd do the interview over and he was 
     nice enough to do it.''
       On another day Nakdimen was assigned to do one of those 
     worst-intersection-in-town stories.
       ``As I was standing there shooting the film, an accident 
     happened right in front of me that perfectly illustrated the 
     traffic problem,'' Nakdimen said. ``I ran back to the station 
     knowing what a great story I had, opened the camera and found 
     there was no film in it.''
       Most days went better than that for the man who was born in 
     St. Charles, Va. He grew up in London, Ky., listening to 
     election-night returns and political conventions on radio.
       That's what got him interested in the news. When he 
     graduated from London High School, he went on to study 
     journalism at the University of Kentucky, where he graduated 
     in 1955.
       His first job was writing sports for the Lexington Leader, 
     the former afternoon newspaper. He almost connected with a 
     job at The Courier-Journal. Along the way he became engaged 
     to his future wife, Wanda. She was a nurse who was taking a 
     job in Louisville, so he found one here too.
       ``WAVE (radio and TV) was looking for somebody to cover 
     City Hall,'' he said. ``I had never worked a day on radio or 
     TV in my life, but I decided to take a shot at it.''
       The rest is history--36 years of it on the job and in the 
     marriage.
       The first two weeks on the job, he met David Brinkley and 
     Ronald Reagan. ``It was fun to talk with John Wayne, sit down 
     with George Bush or chase Hubert Humphrey around,'' he said.
       But there were other stories, too, many of them tragic. ``I 
     think the Standard Gravure (1989 shootings) stands out in my 
     mind as the story I will never forget.'' The 1974 tornado 
     that ravaged large parts of Louisville is a close second.
       What's changed the most about TV news?
       ``Oh, it's the technology without a doubt,'' Nakdimen said. 
     When he began working at WAVE, stories were covered with a 
     Polaroid camera. Film came along a few years later, but it 
     was grainy black and white.
       ``Color followed, then small, live cameras and satellites 
     and now digital television is on the way,'' Nakdimen said.
       ``There's so much production to a TV newscast today, 
     especially with the emphasis on live coverage.'' It's a far 
     cry from the news he saw as a boy in London.
       Nakdimen Remembers NBC's John Cameron Swayze and CBS' 
     Douglas Edwards doing 15-minute nightly newscasts in 
     television's early days. ``They just sat in front of a camera 
     and read the news; it was pretty much radio on TV,'' he said.
       In many ways the last 36 years has zipped by like a tape on 
     fast-forward. But Nakdimen won't be leaving it all behind.
       ``I'll still be doing a once-a-week commentary for WAVE and 
     some political and election analysis to keep my hand in,'' he 
     said.
       Would Nakdimen do those 36 years over again?
       ``I think so. I really enjoyed it. It was a lot of hard 
     work, but it was a lot of fun too.''
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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