"Spirit of Texas" -- 25 years removed
08/11/10 06:05 PM
By ED BARK
Sports anchor Dale Hansen makes a horse's asset of himself, weathercaster Troy Dungan encounters a beaming kid at a science fair and news anchor Phyllis Watson climactically hugs a kid.
Quaint but still homey, these little vignettes played out in a 30-second 1985 "Spirit of Texas" spot for WFAA8, which got major use out of that slogan during its many years as D-FW's dominant TV news force -- ratings wise and otherwise.
Hansen remains in place, of course. But the retired Dungan has given way to temperature taker Pete Delkus while the current activities of Watson at this point remain a mystery. She anchored and reported at WFAA8 from 1983-'91 and returned to the market for a 1995-'98 tour with KDFW-TV (Channel 4). I remember her as a genuinely decent and unaffected news personality with a klieg light smile and compassion to spare. Perhaps a reader or two will know what she's up to now. Meanwhile, here's the way they were:
Sports anchor Dale Hansen makes a horse's asset of himself, weathercaster Troy Dungan encounters a beaming kid at a science fair and news anchor Phyllis Watson climactically hugs a kid.
Quaint but still homey, these little vignettes played out in a 30-second 1985 "Spirit of Texas" spot for WFAA8, which got major use out of that slogan during its many years as D-FW's dominant TV news force -- ratings wise and otherwise.
Hansen remains in place, of course. But the retired Dungan has given way to temperature taker Pete Delkus while the current activities of Watson at this point remain a mystery. She anchored and reported at WFAA8 from 1983-'91 and returned to the market for a 1995-'98 tour with KDFW-TV (Channel 4). I remember her as a genuinely decent and unaffected news personality with a klieg light smile and compassion to spare. Perhaps a reader or two will know what she's up to now. Meanwhile, here's the way they were: