Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee … wait, that was that other Davy. This one was born on a cattle and wheat farm on the Great Plains of North Dakota. Farm-fresh common sense, work ethic and imagination forged in the fields of great grains. Like spaghetti? Thank my dad. After an Honor Society high school career in Lakota, N.D., I attended junior college on a basketball scholarship where I repeatedly demonstrated that white men indeed can’t jump. But I did manage an associate’s degree in wildlife management. From there, a semester at the University of North Dakota, where I started to pursue a background in broadcasting and a minor in goofing off, so… To further educational opportunities and real-world experience, I enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1974 and eventually became part of the first all-volunteer army. I served three years as a radio/TV information specialist with extra training in newsprint and leadership. The bulk of my tour was at Fort Lewis, Wash., and I made a note to return to the great state of Washington one day. Honorably discharged in 1977 I returned to North Dakota and Minot State University, where I received degrees in communications and psychology. While attending school I worked as a radio DJ and a TV news reporter at a local combo operation. It was there that I discovered that what was taught in classroom didn’t always square with what was going on in the real world. Good to know. From there I moved to Blacksburg, Va., and a radio/TV producer job for Virginia Tech University -- Go, Gobblers! Go, Hokies! Two years on the East Coast was enough and I headed west to the hippie enclave of Eureka, Calif., for my first TV news director/anchorman gig. Yes, I had a mustache and comparisons to Ron Burgundy would one day be appropriate … just keep them “classy.” At a news guy conference in Las Vegas I met legendary newsman T.J. Close, who was from Washington state! Here was my callback to the Evergreen State, but I wound up on the never-green side of the Cascades. T.J hired me to come to Yakima and KIMA-TV in the winter of 1982. I worked a couple of years there, then spent 10 years across town as news director/anchor at KAPP-TV. I tried my hand at TV sales and radio sales and ultimately got a morning talk show radio gig for about two years on KCHT. (K-chat. Get it? Me, neither) By then KNDO-TV, the only TV station in town I hadn’t worked for, was looking for a news director/anchorman and they came calling based on my track record of past success and the fact that I work cheap. That was a successful five-year run, but the station was sold and the new owners wanted their own people in place, so early in 2001 I was about to be out of a job when KIT’s manager called and asked me to breakfast. Best meal ever! LOTS of bacon. Sixteen years later the Morning News with Dave and Lance rolls on as Yakima’s most popular morning radio show, presenting a variety of news , sports, weather, talk and fun -- Information and good conversation wrapped in our tell-it-like-it-is kinda style. We champion our advertisers, we pull for the underdogs, we love kids, veterans, seniors, animals, America and everything else that’s good and true that list doesn’t cover. We are A.M Proud with conservative values and a love for the people of the Yakima Valley. And it sure beats working on the farm.
Dave Ettl
Father’s Day Handled – What Dad Really Wants
A call from their kids topped the list of 47% of dads when asked what they wanted most for Father's Day.
Cannonball! Franklin Pool Opens Friday June 14
Franklin Pool has lessons as well as recreational swim sessions Monday through Friday from 12:30 pm to 6:30 pm and from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
Let The Good Times Roll – Downtown Summer Nights Is Back
And it's back - Downtown Summer Nights Concert Series returns to Historic North Front Street this Thursday, June 13th.
10th Anniversary Mollie Monroe Davis Scholarship Awards
Hard work pays off when 44 Yakima County students will receive two and four year scholarships valued at over $1,000,000.
Keeping Track Of Your Sleep Can Keep You Up At Night
If you wake up every day and feel refreshed, are awake throughout the day and are ready to sleep at the same time every night, then you're probably getting enough sleep .
National Popular Vote Legislation Would Kill the Electoral College
"Despite its recent successes , the National Popular Vote interstate compact remains a highly uncertain proposition in the long term."
NPR In Yakima – Where A Baby is Not A Baby
Incorrectly calling a fetus a “baby” or “the unborn” is part of the strategy used by antiabortion groups to shift language/legality/public opinion.
E-Verify Falls Victim To Electoral Inequality – And We Told You So
The three in opposition were Funk, Hill and Cousens in districts 4, 6 and 7. Between them they received 5,402 total votes to get into office...2,023 more votes than the other four combined, 60% MORE than the other four!
The Day Before D-Day – The Start Of The Six Day War
52 years ago, June 5, 1967, another battle began that has had a lasting impact of the shape of the world map and world peace as well.
Carnivore Alert: White Meat Might Be as Bad as Red
A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says white meat like chicken & turkey could raise your cholesterol just as much as eating red meat.