CNN's First Anchors Retire

Trivia question: Who were the first anchors on CNN when they went on air on June 1, 1980?

Answer: Dave Walker and Lois Hart

Although not on CNN anymore, Dave and Lois are still together (the couple married in 1979). On November 26, 2008, they anchored their last broadcast on Sacramento’s KCRA Channel 3. Unlike some of the recent departures that we're seen from CNN, Dave and Lois were not forced out of their positions at KCRA- they decided that it was time to retire.

KXJZ Insight's spoke with Dave and Lois on November 25, 2008. They discussed their careers (including the first broadcast on CNN), how they met, and their plans for the future.

Here is a clip from CNN's first moments on air:

KCRA posted the following article which gives an overview of their broadcast career:

The couple married in 1979 and has been working together at KCRA 3 since 1990. They currently anchor KCRA 3 Reports weekdays at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. They will retire on Nov. 26.

"Those who have worked at KCRA over the years came to understand they are a part of something much larger, a legacy that committed KCRA to be the place where the news really does come first. And because of that, we were honored to be there when the viewers of Northern California turned to us for news during the good and the bad times and invited us into their homes for these past 18 years," the couple said. "But it takes a lot of people to bring you the news. It doesn't get done without the team of reporters, photographers, producers, editors, directors, technicians -- an entire station."

Walker and Hart met at KOVR in the late 1970s. He began working at the station in 1975, and Hart started in 1976.

Walker studied sociology and biology at Florida State University, and then began working at a radio station in Tallahassee, Fla. He then moved to a small TV station in town, where he began his TV career in 1965.

Hart is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism. Her TV career began in the early 1970s in Monterey, Calif., and at KNTV in San Jose. She moved to KCRA 3 in 1978 to anchor the noon newscast with Mike Boyd.

The couple made television history in 1980 when they anchored CNN's first broadcast.

In 1989, Walker and Hart joined CNBC and inaugurated the first CNBC newscast. They also anchored CNBC Mornings, Money Wheel and America's Vital Signs.

Viewers from all over the Sacramento Valley have grown up watching Walker and Hart deliver the news. Some of their most newsworthy reports include the Oakland Hills fire of 1991, the floods of 1995, and disastrous storms of 1997.

"Not many people get to have this much fun for so long -- covering news, being a part of the first draft of history," the couple said. "And for those of us in broadcast news, not many people have been so fortunate to work at one of the most respected and consistently top-rated television news organizations in the nation. We'll always be a part of KCRA 3 and thankful to our friends and colleagues here."

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