by Bea Peterson
For more than an hour on Thursday, June 9, former television news anchorman Ed Dague shared his experience as a television icon with the crowd at the Hoosick Senior Center. Dague was a newscaster in the Capital District for 40 years. He appeared on channels 10, 6 and 13 during his long career. In 1999 he was stricken with ankylosing spondylitis, a degenerative arthritic condition that affects the spine, or, as in his case, the whole body. That illness forced him to retire in 2003. It didn’t keep him down, however. He has managed to write a book about his broadcasting years titled Six and Eleven: A Television News Anchor’s Story.
He told his audience, “There’s no dirt in the book, and I have no interest in settling any scores.” He became friends with the late Albany Mayor Erastus Corning II and a chapter of the book deals with the Mayor’s style and with their friendship.
Dague attended RPI to be an engineer. He got involved in the College’s radio station and from there went into television. He had many amusing stories to share about those years. He said during a live broadcast at one station, there was a thunder storm. The roof leaked and, next to him through the whole show, was a bucket for collecting the water.
He explained that outlying areas get little coverage because there aren’t enough reporters. “If I sent my reporter out of town, I might suddenly have to call him back to do a big story in one of the cities.”
He said his philosophy was: one – always go to the source and two – never believe anything. He never said he had an “in depth” story because, he said, there was never time enough to do one in depth. He told the group, there are so many news programs on because they are cheap to produce.
He said though he was against the Vietnam war and for the re-election of US Congressman Ned Pattison, he would never show bias in a broadcast. He also said he never watched any of his shows. “It’s too painful to watch,” he said. He knew he would always see something he could have done differently and better.
He was quite the prankster and described some of the tricks he played on co-workers. He said he went into the newscasting business for idealist reasons and, through the years, that idealism turned into disappointment. Overall, he described his long career as “enjoyable, interesting and fun.”