Dave McKinley, well known in local radio, takes on television news in Buffalo –
and wins
A radio guy from the Town of Sweden wins a New York State Emmy award for his news writing as a Buffalo television reporter: true story.
That man, Dave McKinley, just might be a master of storytelling, and he has the statue to prove it. McKinley is a general assignment reporter with Buffalo news station WGRZ channel 2, a Gannett Company. Back on May 2, he and his wife, Jillayne Lessord, traveled to New York City to the Marriott Marquis in Times Square where he was among six finalists in the New York State Emmy Awards news writing category. The other five finalists were network reporters serving the New York metropolitan area.
Though WGRZ is a station nationally recognized for breaking the mold and keeping high journalistic standards, Dave said he thought, “I’m up against network guys! I’m not supposed to win, ‘the kids from Buffalo’ are not going to beat these guys!”
Dave’s win in the news writing category made six awards for WGRZ. Their table covered in Emmy statues, situated next to the red carpet photo-op area, was a scene for envy and curiosity all evening.
Four stories from WGRZ’s 2013-2014 season made up Dave’s submission, a body of work that exemplifies the humor, tenderness, and quality of his storytelling.
Go find a story
Dave McKinley commutes to Buffalo daily, often arriving through a snowstorm only to be sent back out with a photographer to ‘go find a story.’ One story Dave found is one that western New Yorkers hardly want or need to hear again – lake effect snowfall.
“We just drove into the snow, and as I would see something I could write to, I’d have the photographer pull over,” says Dave. “We somehow made it totally different for people who have seen this story hundreds of times.”
For a roving reporter in Buffalo, winter can be a muse. Another of the stories that helped snag Dave’s Emmy was light-hearted coverage of how Niagara Falls was not frozen over, despite (erroneous) national reports. That story was written entirely in rhymed prose, using live quotes and Dave’s voice over.
His coverage of the reunion of three sisters separated as young children nearly 75 years ago, another of his Emmy stories, was an opus. The clip was 9 and a half minutes long, unheard of on a thirty minute evening television broadcast when the typical story runs less than 2 minutes.
“I’m very fortunate to work where I do, because I have a boss who says ‘if it’s a good story, you take as much time as you want, we’ll figure out how to fit the rest of the day’s news’…but then I have to keep people from changing the channel!” says Dave.
A voice for radio
Dave McKinley grew up one of ten children on a family farm that was located just down the road from his current home in Sweden. He started his radio career as a young teen with Brockport High School’s student run FM station, then majored in Broadcasting at Buffalo State.
College radio was a stepping stone to part time work as a weekend newscaster for WBEN in Buffalo, while Dave was still an undergraduate. By age 22, he was working 7 days a week in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls news radio market, full time reporting and later news directing during the week, while still weekend broadcasting for WBEN.
By 1989, Dave was back in Rochester as a street reporter for WHAM Radio. “That station is the one I grew up listening to, and the one I really wanted to work for,” he says. Local television channels knocked on his door from time to time, but he always passed, preferring to continue his radio career. Then a trusted former colleague was named news director at a local network affiliate and wanted to add a seasoned reporter to their team.
“I never had any aspirations to be on TV,” says Dave of that opportunity. “I relied on my voice, but news writing is another arrow in my quiver.” He took the job. Then, WGRZ came calling in 2007. “They said to me ‘we have an opening and we heard you’re the guy,’ so I asked them who had said so,” says Dave. The answer: “More people told me that you’re the guy than I’ve got fingers on my hands.”
A heart for television
The last story submitted for Dave’s news writing Emmy was about a man who had put up a billboard in honor of his wife on their 50th wedding anniversary. His wife, though, had died six months earlier.
Dave recounted the story during his Emmy speech, saying, “One of the stories I’m being recognized for is about a man who is hopelessly in love with his wife, and that proves that behind every halfway decent fellow, there stands an outstanding woman.” At that moment, Dave looked down at Jillayne, continuing, “For me she’s right here; this is for you, I love you.”
“I never learned the TV way of doing things,” says Dave. “As a radio guy, I still write to please your ear, but now I’m writing to pictures, and it still has to please the ear. Plus at the end of the story, I have to say my name.”
“Television can be a very emotional medium, and when you write with your heart, you get Emmys.”
To see clips and read Dave McKinley’s Emmy winning stories, visit the page for this story on westsidenewsny.com for links.
A Sign of Love:
http://southbuffalo.wgrz.com/news/news/121871-sign-love
(Not so) Frozen Niagara Falls:
http://www.wgrz.com/videos/news/local/niagara-county/2014/03/05/6096055/
Sisters Reunited After 73 Years Apart:
http://archive.wgrz.com/news/article/227186/0/Sisters-Reunited-After-73-Years-Apart
Southtowns Seek a Reprieve (Colden Snow):
http://www.wgrz.com/story/weather/storms/2013/12/12/buffalo-snow-lake-effect/4004469/
