Dave Boliek: The newsman's newsman

by Tom Campbell, Producer and Moderator of NC SPIN, December 24, 2018.

He was the most irreverent and profane newsmen I ever worked with…and he was proud of both. Dave Boliek, died Monday in Perryville, Arkansas, where he had lived for a number of years.

Nobody ever called him Dave. He was just Boliek. He could “smell” out a story better than any newsman I ever worked with.  He had this jovial, ambling, good-old-boy style about him that led many a news source to underestimate him. If Boliek perceived he was being stonewalled or wasn’t getting the truth, that easy going demeaner would quickly become like a lion about to pounce. That’s not to say that he deliberately went after folks or tried to hurt them…in fact most folks he covered would quickly tell you he could be tough, but he was also fair. He would never betray a source and could keep a confidence, but he would keep digging until he got to the truth of a story.

And there was this wicked sense of humor. He was serious about the news, but not too much else. He covered the capital beat for WTVD, especially the legislature. One former lawmaker quipped there were two people you didn’t want to get a phone call from – Pat Stith of the N&O or Boliek.

In a day when pretty faces, fancy sets and diversity weren’t the norm in TV, Boliek used to joke that he had a great face…for radio. Audiences came to respect that when he gave you the news it was indeed the news…they trusted him. And even though he never liked authority and rebelled against it whenever and wherever he could, those who worked with him loved him, because truth, accuracy and fairness were his mantra.  

And he could write copy faster than anyone I ever saw…two minutes before airtime was plenty for him to prepare a story. And when you read it after airing the spelling was correct, the syntax was good, and the story was succinct and tight prose.

As TV got more ratings-driven and watered down with human interest stories Boliek was an old-time newsman in a world in which he didn’t fit. He left to found ExplorNet, a nonprofit designed to put computers in North Carolina schools. Computers were still relatively new in the education arena, but Boliek saw the future and knew the value. ExplorNet became very successful. He retired in 2017. Dave, Jr., his son, is a lawyer in Fayetteville and daughter, Mary Alice Bell is an assignment editor for WRAL.

Most all of us who worked in news during the period from 1980 to 1997 knew, respected and admired Dave Boliek. He was the newsman’s newsman. He was a friend and I, along with many others, will miss him.