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Patrick Dix

13 fascinating facts about Pat Dix:
• I’m the youngest of 32 grandchildren… on my Dad’s side.
• My wife’s given name is Sarah Elizabeth… my parents were convinced I was going to be a girl and had only picked out a girl’s name for me… Sarah Elizabeth.
• I got into radio/TV after my basketball career stalled in High School.
• I can no longer stand to eat bananas, pudding, applesauce and jello because I ate too much of it as a kid, but I can eat the same thing for breakfast every day as an adult and not get tired of it.
• I graduated 437th of 673 people in my high school class and do not make a list of notable alumni. That list includes: President Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel; actors Adam Baldwin, Ann-Margret, Charlton Heston, Rock Hudson, Virginia Madsen, Charlotte Ross and Rainn Wilson; Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman and bassist Pete Wentz; and former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
• I grew up where John Hughes shot most of his best movies… Ferris Buehler, Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Risky Business, Sixteen Candles, Home Alone, Uncle Buck.
• I have taken several dream vacations but one of the most memorable was to Scotland with my Dad and Uncle to play some of the greatest golf courses on the planet.
• I played Harold Hill in my high school production of “The Music Man” and never thought I would actually live in Iowa, and yes… I can still do the “Trouble” monologue.
• I was the second best triple jumper on my high school track team.
• I invented a drink called… “The Flaming A” by mistake.
• I’ve boarded a US Navy Destroyer from a rope ladder while the ship was moving.
• My favorite interview I’ve ever conducted was actor Hal Holbrook. I asked one question and an hour later he ended a diatribe about society with “Get real Geel!” I said thank you and turned the camera off and I still don’t know what that means.
• My sons are Sons of the American Revolution (on my wife’s side!), with papers and all to prove it.
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You can see Patrick Dix weekday mornings on Channel 13’s Today in Iowa morning show.

After attending the University of Missouri School of Journalism, he started his career reporting in chilly Duluth, Minnesota. His second job brought Patrick back south to his home state of Illinois where he anchored and reported for NBC affiliate WEEK-TV in Peoria. Patrick has been recognized for outstanding reporting with awards from The Society of Professional Journalists and the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. Patrick Dix joined Channel 13 News in February of 1999.

The TV news bug runs in the family. Patrick’s oldest brother is the director of Chicago’s WGN-TV morning news, and his grandfather spent his career in radio and television in Minneapolis and Chicago.

When he’s not in the newsroom, Patrick is usually swinging a golf club. He also enjoys reading, listening to Frank Sinatra and fly-fishing. Patrick married his wife Sally in 1999 and lives in Des Moines.

Recent Articles

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  • MORNING BUZZ: Budget, Potholes and Theatre

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  • MORNING BUZZ: Franchise, Embarrassing and Really…LET IT GO!

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  • Morning Buzz: Defending Lolo

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  • MORNING BUZZ: Fend for Yourself, Fallon and Five

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  • MORNING BUZZ: Cold Open, Euro Robot and Hustled

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  • MORNING BUZZ: Fill in the Blank

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  • MORNING BUZZ: Wealth, Health and Wise?

    Good Morning! Wealth NBC’s Today show will feature the Des Moines Metro area as one of, if not THE “wealthiest” city in America. Now at first blush that statement is ridiculous. I think the idea came from all of the lists that Des Moines finds itself on. Best City for this, Best City for that….Kiplingers, Forbes, Parenting,Business Journal… on and on and on… The question from the outside then comes, what’s so special about Des Moines? After spending some time […]

  • MORNING BUZZ: This One’s for you TP

    Good Morning! Proving that the reach of Morning Buzz crosses state lines, I got a text message from one of our readers in Boston suggesting my “not that hard working backside” had enough of a Winter’s rest and that I should get back to work… So be it. Gov’s Race The Governor’s race is officially set between State Sen Jack Hatch and Gov Terry Branstad. I say this knowing there’s another democrat jumping into the race. I still think it’s […]

  • MORNING BUZZ: Appeal, Approval, and AP?

    Good Morning To the news: Appeal The appeal of some state workers for their jobs at the State’s Juvenile Home in Toledo is probably not going to work. The Governor is recommending closure of the home after accusation staff had mistreated young women who lived there in the past. I am not judging what happened or didn’t happen there./ I wasn’t there and I do not know the circumstances. That said, the behavior that’s come out violates the rules set […]

  • MORNING BUZZ: Christmas Time is Here

    Good Morning. After a long five day weekend I was refreshed and ready to come back this morning. Megan will be with us on the desk for Today in Iowa all week and Brooke takes some well deserved time off. I actually volunteered to do our Christmas shopping for the boys on SATURDAY of all days. Now, we did most of the boys shopping, to this point, online. I always thought the depiction of parents shopping a crowded toy store […]

  • MORNING BUZZ: Closed Doors, Agreement and 400 million

    Good Morning… Hopefully some quick hits… Closed Doors Tapes of a closed session of the Des Moines School Board revealed there was, in fact, a conversation about how to handle the resignation of Dr Nancy Sebring in the Media. There was also an effort to come up with a story that, at best, didn’t reveal the whole truth and, at worst, was an outright lie. You can decide which you think it is. I don’t think there was any nefarious […]