May 25, 2011: Denny Anderson signs off for the last time

On this day in Duluth in 2011, broadcaster Denny Anderson signed off for the last time with his signature salutation, “Good night, everybody, and be kind.” He first sat behind a microphone on December 1, 1961, at the studios of WHLB Radio in Virginia. The Virginia native was only 17 years old, and still a high school senior. In 1968 Anderson took a news director and anchor job with KTHI-TV in Fargo, North Dakota. A year later he was in Duluth, hosting the “Action Line” news segment on WDIO-TV. In 1971, after Anderson filmed Duluth police officers apprehending a man suspected of breaking into the Ski Hut on East 4th Street, his camera was confiscated by the department, an action that lead to a landmark Federal Court decision prohibiting police from prior restraint of reporters gathering news. A year later during a live broadcast of the “Peggy Chisolm Show,” Anderson was fitted for a toupée for the first time. He then took over the anchor desk at WDIO, signing off with “Good night, everybody, and be kind” at the end of his first broadcast a phrase, first used by Denny during his radio days. Except from a period between 1980 and 1985, Anderson held that anchor chair until May 25, 2011.

Denny Anderson behind the anchor desk in 2011. (Image: WDIO-TV)