Dick Kay

WMAQ-TV - POLITICAL EDITOR

Dick Kay joined NBC 5 in 1968 as a news writer and two years later became an on-air reporter. Kay is NBC 5's Political Editor and his commentaries, which were honored with a 1996 Emmy, 1989 UPI Award and a l986 Peter Lisagor Award are featured every Saturday on the 5:00PM edition of NBC 5 NEWS. 

In 1996 Kay was awarded a regional Emmy for his contribution to the Fox River Grove Bus Crash coverage. In 1984, Kay's nine-month investigative project, "Political Parasites," reported on the ineffectiveness and questionable spending practices of Illinois' Legislative Study Commissions. As a result of these reports, the Illinois House and Senate approved a bill to abolish Study Commissions--a savings to taxpayers of more than four million dollars a year. For this report Kay was awarded the prestigious George Foster Peabody medallion, which is broadcasting's equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize. Recently, Kay was awarded a 1998/99 Associated Press Award for the "Best Editorial or Commentary" category for his commentary on the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. In April of 2000, he was awarded a Peter Lisagor Award from the Society for Professional Journalists' Chicago Chapter, The Chicago Headline Club for his Saturday Commentaries.

In 1984, Kay received the Dante Award, given by the Joint Civic Committee of Italian-Americans, who honored him as "Commentator of the Year." That same year, Kay's commentaries and reports earned him a National Headliner Award, the Jacob Scher and the Associated Press Awards. He has won a total of eight Chicago Emmy Awards. In 1981, Kay won an Emmy Award for coverage of the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. In 1980, he won for his investigation of the Quinn estate; in 1979, for his contributions to NBC 5's coverage of the election of Mayor Jane Byrne and for his "Sain Report Investigation;" in 1978, for his reports on the Humboldt Park Riots. He won his first Chicago Emmy in 1976 for outstanding on-air reporting, and his most recent Emmy (1988/89) was awarded for his contribution to NBC 5's spot news coverage of the Laurie Dann rampage. 

Kay has accomplished much for a man who attended high school for just seven months before dropping out at the age of 14. After working at countless jobs, he joined the Navy when he was 17. Following his discharge, Kay attended Bradley University on the G.I. Bill and graduated with a B.S. in Speech Education in 1962. Bradley University named Kay "Distinguished Alumnus" in 1985--making him one of only 45 such alumni ever to receive this honor. Kay worked for several radio and TV stations in Peoria, Illinois, before moving to Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1965, to become the News Director of WFRV-TV. Kay and his family live in Des Plaines, Illinois.