[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 10070]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING RETIRING JOURNALIST DICK KAY

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor Dick Kay, a man of 
great journalistic integrity. Many things have changed in the past 40 
years, but from Martin Luther King, Jr., to Adlai Stevenson, from Iraq 
to the Daleys, from Watergate to the 1985 Bears, there has been one 
voice Chicagoans have consistently trusted for an objective and 
thoughtful perspective. Dick Kay has established himself as an 
institution in our television news. Over his 46-year career in the TV 
business, Dick has proven himself to be a professional newsman--a 
reporter with no motive other than to give his viewers an insight on 
the news.
  Dick's distinguished career began modestly. A high school dropout at 
the age of 14, he worked to support himself. He once said, ``the 
experience of those years taught me the most valuable lessons of my 
life: that I would never achieve any real success without an 
education.'' He enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the age of 17, earning a 
GED. certificate. After his discharge, Dick realized his dream of an 
education by graduating from Bradley University in Peoria through the 
GI bill, receiving a B.S. in speech education in 1962.
  Dick remained in Peoria to work on TV and radio programs before 
getting his big break as the news director of WFRV-TV in Green Bay, WI. 
After 3 years in the ``Dairy State,'' he relocated to Chicago in 1968 
as a producer and writer for WMAQ-NBC 5. He was tested immediately, as 
one of his first assignments was the tumultuous 1968 Democratic 
National Convention in Chicago. Within 2 years, Dick had worked his way 
up to full-time reporter and eventually political editor. He became 
host of the weekly news show ``City Desk.'' This Sunday morning 
broadcast became a Chicagoland staple--a ``must-see'' for everyone 
following the political scene. Dick's questions were often tough but 
always fair. Political guests knew that a visit to ``City Desk'' would 
always be memorable.
  Dick's achievements include a long list of honors and awards. His 
1984 9-month investigation of the Illinois General Assembly's so-called 
Legislative Study Commissions earned him the George Foster Peabody 
medallion, the most prestigious honor in television broadcasting. The 
report also won him a National Headliner Award and the Jacob Scher 
Award for investigative reporting. Dick's numerous accolades include 11 
Emmys; induction into the Television Academy's Silver Circle Hall of 
Fame; Commentator of the Year from the Joint Civic Committee of 
Italian-Americans; as well as multiple awards courtesy of the 
Associated Press, the Chicago Headline Club, and the Society of 
Professional Journalists. Perhaps one of Dick's proudest moments was 
being honored as a Bradley University Distinguished Alumnus. He has 
surely come a long way since shining shoes at the age of 14 in 
Evansville, IN.
  Mr. President, after nearly a half century of reporting the news, 
Dick says that he is ready to ``smell the roses,'' and he has certainly 
earned it. Dick Kay has played an important role in reporting the 
exciting news stories of our time and has left his mark on the ``Land 
of Lincoln.'' I wish a restful and happy retirement to Dick Kay, one of 
Illinois' and Chicago's premier newsmen.

                          ____________________