JACK SHELLEY TRIBUTE (1912-2010)

Jack Shelley

The Archives of Iowa Broadcasting joins thousands of journalists, former students, and those who remember his broadcasts in mourning the death of legendary Iowa broadcaster Jack Shelley.

Shelley died Wednesday, September 15, 2010 in Ames at the age of 98.

"Jack Shelley was respected nationally for his clear and concise reporting, his dedication to the craft of journalism, and a deep caring for his audience," said Archives administrator Jeff Stein. "He truly shaped what broadcast news would become in Iowa and the nation."

Shelley joined the staff of WHO radio in Des Moines in 1935 after a short time as a reporter for the Clinton Herald. He became radio news director in 1940 and was one of the few local station reporters to do broadcasts from World War II.

His reporting from both the European and Pacific Theaters during the war was not only treasured by listeners throughout the midwest for news of their sons fighting overseas, but was also carried by the NBC network and the BBC. He reported on the Battle of the Bulge and the Japanese surrender on the U.S.S. Missouri, and secured the first radio interviews with the crew of the Enola Gay after the first atomic bomb was dropped.

In 1954, when WHO added television, Shelley assumed duties as news director of both radio and television. He was most known for his daily 12:30 p.m. radio newscasts, and anchoring the 10 p.m. television news.

Shelley left daily broadcasting in 1965 to join the faculty of Iowa State University. He taught broadcast journalism to hundreds of students there until his retirement in 1982.

He was a co-founder of what is now the Radio-Television Digital News Association, the leading international association of broadcast journalists, and was one of its first presidents. He co-founded what is now the Northwest Broadcast News Association, and also served a stint as executive director of the Iowa Broadcasters Association.

"Jack Shelley not only wrote the book on broadcast journalism in Iowa and the nation, but his legacy challenged us to read the book, to understand the book and then follow the book to the letter," said Brian Allen, current Iowa Broadcast News Association president.

The IBNA's lifetime achievement award was created and named for Shelley in 1972. He personally presented the honor all but four times, the most recent being in 2009 in Ames.

"This is truly the end of an era," Stein noted. "But the standards Jack Shelley set and taught us all will live on in newsrooms forever."

The Archives of Iowa Broadcasting offers its sincere sympathy to the Shelley family, and expresses its gratitude for the life of this most unique newsman.

Jack Shelley tribute

Dr. Jeff Stein talks about Jack Shelley's impact on broadcast journalism.

LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION

RTNDA: Radio Pioneer & Founding RTDNA Member, Jack Shelley, Dies at 98

WHO-TV Coverage of the Death of Jack Shelley

KCCI-TV Coverage of the Death of Jack Shelley

KWWL-TV Coverage of the Death of Jack Shelley

Des Moines Register: Jack Shelley, longtime voice of radio and TV, dies at 98

Kay Henderson's Jack Shelley Tribute from Radio Iowa on line

SHELLEY IN SIXTY

The following segments of Jack Shelley's work on WHO radio have been edited into 60 second highlights. The full broadcasts are available in the Archives of Iowa Broadcasting collection.

Hometown News (1973):
Following his departure from WHO in 1965 to join the faculty at Iowa State University, Shelley continued a weekly feature, reading from various local newspapers, called "Hometown News". This is an excerpt from a 1973 broadcast.

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12:30 Newscast (1965):
Jack Shelley delivered the 12:30 p.m. news on WHO radio for decades; this segment is from August 1965.

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Herbert Hoover Tribute (1964):
Iowa's only native born president, Herbert Hoover, died in 1964. Shelley delivered these remarks as part of a WHO tribute which accompanied an NBC broadcast saluting the late former president.

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Enola Gay broadcast (1945):
Shelley was the only broadcast journalist to interview the crew of the Enola Gay a day following the dropping of atomic bombs in Japan. The interview with Col. Paul Tibbetts was done on a 'wire recorder' in the pre-audio tape era and fed from a transmitting site in Guam.

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Yucca Flat bomb test (1953):
Shelley was one of only 20 journalists who witnessed an atom bomb test at Yucca Flat, Nevada; this broadcast was his "in the moment" impressions of the blast.

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"Somewhere in Holland" (1944):
Jack Shelley covered the "Battle of the Bulge" as part of his reporting from the European Theater during World War II. This post-Bulge report from late 1944 was delivered with a dateline of "Somewhere in Holland" to protect identifying the specific location of American troops.

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From the Khruschev Dinner in Des Moines (1959):
When Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khruschev visited Des Moines in 1959, he was feted at a dinner at the Hotel Fort Des Moines, with speeches and comments broadcast live at WHO with Shelley as the anchor on scene.

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Resignation (1965):
Jack Shelley himself told the WHO audience of his impending departure from the station to join the faculty at Iowa State University as part of his August 9, 1965 12:30 p.m. newscast.

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