WDBJ News7’s Joe Dashiell is used to the news. He’s just not used to being the news story.
Dashiell, 51, made his own news last Friday night as he was presented with the George A. Bowles, Jr. Broadcast Journalism Award from the Virginia Association of Broadcasters (VAB) in Virginia Beach. According to the VAB website, the award is “for broadcast news journalists who have longevity in Virginia broadcasting and who have earned the respect of their peers.”
In accepting the award, Dashiell said he was especially thrilled to receive an award named for Bowles, noting, “I have always appreciated his command of the language, his love of history, and his eye for interesting and unique stories. In many ways he is the broadcaster I still aspire to be.”
Jim Shaver and Ted Powers, two of Dashiell’s former colleagues at WDBJ, have been past recipients of the Bowles award.
“This list of Bowles Award recipients is an impressive bunch, and I’ve known a few of them quite well,” Dashiell said.
Shaver hired him in 1980, and Dashiell describes Powers as a career-long mentor.
“We share a birthday, and last April Ted celebrated his 90th. He’s still going strong, and I am blessed to count him as a close friend,” he said.
Dashiell has been a fixture at WDBJ since 1980, manning all three of the station’s regional newsrooms, and spending five years covering the General Assembly in Richmond. He is now a senior reporter in Roanoke.
One of most prolific, well-respected journalists in the region, Dashiell is not one to seek out the limelight. He considers himself very community-minded, but is careful to avoid any hint of conflict of interest, which is why he sits on no local boards.
“I am a strong supporter of the United Way,” Dashiell said, and he also takes a leadership role in organizing the annual Roy Stanley Memorial Auction and Golf Tournament.
While an avid banjo player and fan of old-time and bluegrass music, Dashiell still describes his passion as being his work.
“I want to serve my viewers. I put in the hours because I want to,” he said. “It’s a dream job….I love going out and meeting people and hearing their stories.”
A Norfolk native, Dashiell earned his BSJ at Washington and Lee University, where he was only 6 credits shy of a double major in German. He considered going back for those 6 credits, but when an internship at WDBJ quickly turned into a full-time job offer, he decided to stay with the station – and the rest, as they say, is history.