The Best of Dick Kay


Curator's note: Though Dick Kay ("Doogie", to his colleagues) is best known as a political reporter, he produced some remarkable feature stories. You can access some of the links below to view them,

Dick Kay on horseback in  August, 1992
Above: Dick Kay, in August, 1992 near Houston, Texas where he was covering the Republican National Convention. Dick served as WMAQ-TV's political editor for the better part of his thirty-eight year career which ended with his retirement at the end of May, 2006.

An illustrious graduate of Bradley University (which he attended on the G.I. Bill), Dick (whose real name is Richard Snodgrass) was born in a log cabin in rural Tennessee. The physician who delivered him was compensated with fifteen dollars and a hog.

"Silver" is the name of the horse in the above photograph.

Follow the links below to access streaming video of Dick Kay:

Fragment of an interview with presidential candidate Richard Nixon (February 5th, 1968).

The Johnston City, Illinois pool hustler's tournament (October, 1972).

The demise of the Wabash Cannonball (April, 1971).

[You will need RealPlayer to view these videos]


Left: One of the WMAQ-TV crews that helped Dick out in the days of film. From left to right: Hal Kluhe (audio), Paul Nagaro (lighting), Jim Stricklin (camera) and Dick Kay. (This photo dates from the early 1970's).

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Dick Kay | Television at the Merchandise Mart | 1970 television facilities tour | Channel 5 turns 20
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Radio Hall of Fame |The NBC News Night Report: 23 February, 1967
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Created by Rich Samuels (e-mail to rich@richsamuels.com)