Photo by Danny Fulgencio
Preston Hollow resident Tracy Rowlett has informed the community of local news since his days in the Air Force. Now the WFAA and KTVT veteran is back on TV, but on a different channel. Rowlett stars on a TV show called “The Texas Daily” with his best friend, Troy Dungan, every Monday and Tuesday. The show airs on KTXD Channel 47 and is geared toward an older audience by featuring other veteran TV broadcasters such as Gary Cogill, Iola Johnson and Robert Riggs. We talk to Rowlett about the past and future of news.
When did you start investigative reporting?
There was a time when, frankly, if you were a good reporter you were automatically an investigative reporter. I worked covering the capitol in Oklahoma City. Very early in the ’70s, several of us quit the CBS station in Oklahoma because of principle. Byron Harris was a consumer reporter at the time. Byron heard members of the Automobile Association were setting prices, and he did a series on automobile surcharges. I was managing editor at the time, but the station manager said he didn’t want to air the reports until the head of the association saw the reports and could make comment. Well, Byron had tried to get comment several times. The head of the Automobile Association was a good friend of the station manager. Nine of us quit. That’s how Doug Fox, Byron Harris and I wound up in Dallas. It changed the whole structure of what was happening in Channel 8 news. We set a new standard for enterprise news.
Photo by Danny Fulgencio
I retired in 2009 because I was old and the business had changed considerably. News is really different today.
In a bad way?
TV today is more vapid. It’s almost afraid to tackle the big issues. TV news is everything easy — car wrecks, fire and weather. There was a time where you couldn’t be informed without watching the news. Not anymore.
So why are you doing “The Texas Daily” TV show now?
Troy Dungan came along to WFAA in ’76 and we became fast friends. After I retired and Troy retired, this opportunity came along. I kept telling consultants “no,” that I didn’t want to do it, but my good buddy Troy Dungan and I talked about it. We thought this could be a lot of fun for the two of us. The show is geared toward people who remember us in the market. It’s for an older demographic. Most news TV stations try to appeal to the new key demographic of 25- to-54-year-old women. Any newsgathering organization should appeal to everybody.
What are some of the topics you discuss on the show?
We talk about everything. Issues in politics, issues locally — on this program we unabashedly give our opinions. We’re not tied to contracts here. We are encouraged to express our points of view.
How much prep do you do before the show?
I read everything the Associated Press has out; other than that I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of prep. I don’t think Troy and I are bragging when we say we can talk about everything.
What do you think about the future of newspapers and TV?
We talk a lot about convergence. It’s not necessary for you to have a newspaper anymore. Virtually all papers have websites, and there’s a lot of good info on there. But I’m not interested in car wrecks or some three-alarm warehouse fire involving a bunch of tires. I don’t think that TV reporting is at all about identity. It’s not like watching someone for 30 years on TV and when that person goes away you care. At this station we don’t have a bunch of photographers and reporters. We actually get more comments when we talk about our personal experiences.
Since you’re not working on contract, how long do you think you’ll continue?
Until it’s not fun anymore or they tell us to leave. We aren’t under a lot of pressure — pressure to keep the ratings up. We enjoy the people we work with and have good conversation about important issues. It’s a lot different from anything else on TV.
