Ozarks Profile: Joe Daues

What is your job?

Anchorman, reporter, KOLR-10 News. Daues anchors the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts and produces KOLR-10's four-minute Headline News cut-ins for CNN. He also writes and broadcasts promotions for KOLR-10's three evening newscasts and occasionally broadcasts his own news stories. Daues begins his day at about 2 p.m. and finishes a few minutes after 11 p.m., he said.

Tell us about your organization.

Harry Cooper Sr. began KOLR-10, which was the Ozarks' first television station, March 14, 1953. The original location was at Jefferson and Walnut. The CBS affiliate moved to its current location at 2650 E. Division in 1959. In 1972, the station became the first TV station in the Ozarks to broadcast in color. Fourteen years later, KOLR-10 became the first Ozarks TV station to broadcast in stereo. Cooper sold the station in 1998 to VHR Broadcasting of Springfield Inc. In 1999, KOLR-10 and KDEB-27 began a joint service agreement in which the stations remain under separate ownership but share a location and employees. In 2000, KOLR-10 became the first local station to feature live Doppler radar and is the only local station to employ three full-time meteorologists. Daues has worked for KOLR-10 for a total of seven years.

What is your educational background?

Daues holds a broadcast degree from Rockhurst University in Kansas City. He also completed a graduate broadcast program through Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville.

What jobs led you to your current one?

Daues began his broadcast career as a runner for a radio station in St. Louis, then got a news reporting job at KTTR/KZNN in Rolla. A year later, his position was eliminated and he got a job at KJEL/KIRK in Lebanon. "Part of my job in Lebanon was reading the funeral announcements and obituaries on the air," Daues said. "I was in Lebanon for a little over a year and I got to be the news director at KJEL. Then Dan Shelley at KTTS convinced me to come down here and work for him. I took a leap and agreed to work overnights there, which I couldn't believe I was doing. After a week, a guy left and I began working a regular shift." Daues stayed at KTTS 3 1/2 years and won the first-ever national Associated Press award for radio news. He left KTTS to become a television reporter at KOLR in 1991 and worked for two years, then went to work in the Office of the State Treasurer, under Treasurer Bob Holden. Daues returned to KOLR-10 in 1995 and began co-anchoring the evening newscasts with Joy Robertson in early 2000.

What are some challenges you face in your industry and how do you deal with them?

Daues said the "liberal media" stereotype is one that has presented a challenge for him as a journalist. "It really burns me when people paint the media with such a broad brush. That's done all too often. In a lot of the speeches I give, I make a point to give the example that all doctors don't vote the same, and neither do all journalists."

Give us some personal information.

Daues is 38 and grew up in St. Charles with two younger brothers. He said he has a huge extended family who mostly live in the St. Louis area. Daues said his hobbies are spending time outdoors camping, fishing, biking, hunting, and trying new things. "I have a lot of weird interests. I went skydiving last year and I got a set of bagpipes for Christmas." He said he just bought a house and is fixing it up.

What is your favorite business lunch spot?

Daues said he enjoys eating at downtown establishments such as Rasta Grill, Mille's, Springfield Brewing Company and Nonna's Italian-American Caf.

by Melissa Wilson