JN
t
A Broadcaster
In The
Dell
At age 71,
Dell Warner is just
beginning her TV career.
SUZANNE CHESSLER
JEWISH NEWS
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
ell Warner does not know what it means
11.1)
to put all her energy into one regu-
lar job. For most of her life, she has
found plenty of energy to work on
two or more simultaneously.
Early on, as a divorced moth-
er of two young sons, Warner spent
her weekdays as a secretary or sales-
person and her weekends as an actress
,
at the Botsford Inn Melody Circus.
After moving to New York with her children, she ac-
cepted a day job with Bonds for Israel and joined the
nighttime chorus ofHappy Hunting, a Broadway musi-
cal starring Ethel Merman and Fernando Lamas.
Three years later, she was back in Detroit, working
9 to 5 fighting community substance abuse through a
Model Neighborhood program, and other hours devel-
oping her WXYZ-Channel 7 talk show, "Woman to
Woman."
Right now, while plying her talents as the senior re-
porter/producer for WDIV-Channel 4, she also is a me-
dia instructor at the John Robert Powers School and
an independent producer/writer/editor.
By the way, Warner happens to be 71.
"I have a tremendous curiosity about everything," said
the recent Silver Circle inductee, recognized for her more
than 25 years of distinguished broadcasting by the Michi-
gan Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts
and Sciences.
"I want to fill every day with challenges, and I try to
make a difference," added Warner, who just received an
Award for Excellence from the Michigan Association of
Broadcasters. The award was for creative use of televi-
Above: "Thirty seconds. You're on the air."
WDIV-Channel 4 Senior Reporter/Producer Dell
Warner delivers a story on the noon news report.
Right: From left: Dr. Lynne Boyle, NATAS
National Trustee; Silver Circle Inductee Dell
Warner; and WXYZ-TV's Jerry Hodak at the
Michigan Chapter of the National Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences Awards.
sion in a project that featured Mar-
shall Fredericks' statues, which were
up to 40 feet high and shot using cam-
era crews on hydraulic lifts.
Whether in front of audiences or
behind the scenes, Warner has made
differences in the lives of people who
have been the subjects of her TV fea-
tures and in the lives of considerably younger
co-workers and students whose careers have been en-
hanced by her mentoring.
"I try to find issues common to most seniors, not only
in this area but across the nation, and I try to select peo-
ple who are suffering because of that issue," Warner said
about her current focus.
Warner introduced the public to a woman about to lose
her home due to a tax lien and found sympathetic view-
ers who donated the $7,500 needed to save the residence.
She featured people who cannot communicate with
their doctors because they are deaf, and later found and
presented a segment about a doctor who sets aside days
to treat the hard-of-hearing with the help of interpreters
he provides at his office.
"If I know I've presented an issue in a sensitive, com-
pelling way and given my best, then I feel I've helped. I
also try to give the best depiction of Jews whenever pos-
sible, trying to show their heart in the stories that I do,"
she said.
Celebrity photographer Linda Solomon, whose fea-
tures are seen regularly on "Good Morning America,"
counts herself among Warner's friends.
"I've met so many fabulous women, but Dell stands
alone," said Solomon, who met Warner when Solomon
was photographing celebrities at Channel 7 and Warn-
er was producing "Woman to Woman."