Photojournalist Dave Chaney marks 45 years at WCCO
MINNEAPOLIS – WCCO has been broadcasting since 1949. And for more than half of that 73-year stretch, one employee has been behind the camera for thousands of stories.
On Wednesday, Dave Chaney is celebrating 45 years as a photographer at WCCO. The job has taken him across the world, to each corner of Minnesota, and near his hometown in western Wisconsin.
It's a feat Chaney himself never expected to reach.
"I thought I would be here for a few years and kind of learn the job, and then maybe I would go off and try to go somewhere bigger like most people thought in the plan. But WCCO at that time of my career was just like the networks," Chaney said. "And then a day turns into a week, turns into a month, and then years have gone by…and the decades go by [laughs]!"
It's a career that's more like a lifetime of watching the world change through a lens, and sharing it with viewers.
"Every day you work with Dave, you hear a new story. That's what's kind of fun about it," said WCCO reporter John Lauritsen. "He's been to Ghana, he's been to Kosovo, he's been all over the world, Saudi Arabia."
His job puts him behind the camera, but reporters say he thrived beyond it.
"He's also very good at talking to people on the scene…oftentimes it's in very tense, very painful, difficult situations, and it's hard. It's hard," said WCCO reporter Esme Murphy. "And without him doing that and being part of that dialogue with people that you're trying to interview, trying to get to understand what exactly happened, sometimes in a very difficult place, and he helps you do it."
It's a skill his peers appreciate, but not the one they hear about most.
"My passion and my commitment to this station has been to never miss slot," Chaney said.
"He'll let you know that, too," Laurtisen said. "'I've never missed slot before.'"
"He'll tell you, 'You're not gonna make me miss slot, move it!'" said WCCO reporter Reg Chapman.
"I have a strong personality, let's be honest," Chaney said.
"Oh yeah, he's gonna dominate the conversation [laughs]!" Chapman said. "You're gonna listen, and you're gonna like it."
"I've never seen anybody who can talk with such a rapid pace, with such emotion, for so long," Murphy said.
Long car rides meant long conversations, but rarely about the assignment.
"If you know Dave Chaney, you know he loves his daughters," Chapman said.
"Maybe that's what I've learned the most from him is how to be a dad, which sounds kind of crazy, but it's true," Lauritsen said.
"My youngest daughter is going into this field," Chaney said. "I'm proud as I can be, but she grew up in this station."
Undoubtedly inspired by her father's work over the years, giving him a wealth of knowledge summed up with this simple advice for those picking up a camera after him.
"Am I the best photographer at WCCO? No way. But I had a valuable asset that I brought which is I had a passion for the job and a love for this place, and so I wanted to see us succeed," Chaney said.
Chaney's daughter, Samantha Chaney, is a TV news reporter in New York City. She was happy to share this message for her dad.
"You are my best friend, the best father and the best mentor to me. I tell you this all the time, but you have made me the woman that I am today, the journalist that I am today. And hopefully I'm not working in 45 years from now. I want to be living that relaxed, luxury life [laughs]! But if I am, I hope that I've had half the career that you've had, and have touched so many lives, as many lives as I know you have here at WCCO," Samantha Chaney said.