Bittersweet news for our KUAC family: Dan Bross, newscaster and reporter extraordinaire, is retiring, and his last newscast will be at the end of this month.
Dan first arrived in Fairbanks with his wife Peggy in the summer of 1992, and after a series of roles at regional stations, joined KUAC as a news reporter in August 2003. For over two decades, Dan has been a cornerstone of our news team, reporting, writing, producing, and anchoring the KUAC Morning News.
From the entire KUAC team, THANK YOU for your years of service and journalistic excellence, Dan. Your contributions to the station are numerous and you’ll be sorely missed. Enjoy your richly-deserved retirement!
We asked Dan a few questions about his time at KUAC, which you can find below.
What’s the most important story you’ve covered during your time at the station?
The most important ongoing story I’ve covered during my time at KUAC is the Fairbanks Four case, including the month-long evidentiary hearing in October 2015.
What’s your favorite memory of your time at KUAC?
Coverage of the Yukon Quest sled dog race stands out in my memory because it’s such a crazy, intense event to keep up with.
One year, former Newsminer reporter Mathias Saari and I hiked into the Quest trail from the Steese Highway at Eagle Summit. It was extremely cold and windy with near zero visibility when we got to the race trail. I almost got run over by a passing dog team in the white out. Realizing we would be unable to find our way back to the highway the way we walked in, we started trudging down the Quest trail toward the Mile 101 checkpoint, We hitched a snowmachine ride for part of the way, dodging off the trail into the willows whenever a dog team came around the corner.
After getting stuck a few times and one of the machines breaking down, we ended up walking again. It was a very long, cold day, followed by a very long night producing a story inside the Mile 101 cabin.
What are you planning to do during your retirement?
Peggy and I, and our dog Willow, will be taking off for an extended road trip in a van I’ve spent the last 4 years converting into a camper. The plan is to tour around the west all the way down to Baja this winter, and then come back to Fairbanks in the spring. After that, I’ve got a lot of house projects to do and will likely get a part time job, but hopefully nothing that requires me to be awake at 3AM!
Any final thoughts?
KUAC has been a great place to work. It’s been interesting, and challenging covering Interior news. I’ve learned a lot and had the benefit of working with some smart and kind people, including fellow KUAC news reporters: Robert Hannon, Libby Casey, Tim Ellis and Robyne.
