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L, L, L WLKY’s Vicki Dortch talks work, family and giving back By MARIAH KLINE Photos COURTESY OF WLKY
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THE VOICE OF LOUISVILLE
“M
y dad is a news junkie,” says WLKY anchor Vicki Dortch. “Every night when I was growing up, he was watching ‘Huntley-Brinkley,’ ‘Nightly News’ and Walter Cronkite. He’s the only person I know who will sit and watch C-SPAN because he wants to make his own opinions about what’s going on.”
Dortch, a native of Paducah Kentucky, took after her father and has spent her life enthralled with current events. In high school, she worked for her school newspaper, and in college, she majored in journalism at Murray State University. Like many in television news, she originally had her sights set on print media but became captivated by the world of broadcasting, where she has remained for over 30 years. “Her attention to detail is remarkable,” says Producer Erin Gritton, who has worked with Dortch for the past 15 years. “She’s very in tune with what’s in the newscast, and she cares about everything we put in it.” In 1982, Dortch began her first stint as an anchor at WPSD TV in Paducah, and in 1989, she moved to Louisville to work for WLKY. She says she thrives in the fast pace and unpredictability of working in
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television. Learning a little of everything about politics, sports and more – and knowing that every day will be different – has kept her well-rounded. Of course, she loves sharing the feel-good humanitarian stories that come along but understands that sharing tragic news is an essential part of the job. “Sometimes people will say, ‘Why do you just do crime and bad stories?’ but we have a mixture,” Dortch explains. “But we need to tell you what’s going on in your community so you can make up your mind about your community. It’s not our job to mask over it and pretend.” In her 30 years as a Louisvillian, Dortch has watched the city evolve in ways both positive and negative. She says crime rates and traffic have both increased. She’s watched subdivisions and urban areas expand. On the Ohio River Bridges Project, she says with a laugh, “I was here
JANUARY 2020