Dan, Demetria, Bill and Rudy : End of an Era - A Final Word

This is my final word about the post I wrote in early December about the dream team that thousands shared. This one is for you DK.

For the 90 or so people who move to Nashville every day and the thousands of other recent transplants, the names Dan, Demetria, Bill and Rudy may not ring a bell. For those of us who have called Nashville home long before it became the “it city”, we knew them as family. After all, we spent most weeknights with these four on Channel 4.

Dan Miller and Demetria Kalodimos gave us the daily news, Bill Hall forecasted our local weather, and Rudy Kalis delivered sports highlights in his famous sweaters. They were the Nashville dream team. Billboards around town simply had their pictures and their first names. It was a simple reminder to folks that Nashville had their own first family to welcome in their homes each night.
The graphics were simple, the sets less than spectacular, and the length of stories long on the Scene at Six and Ten. The banter between the four was natural without being scripted or forced. Most newscasts would end with a long and familiar jingle - with different views of the team as they wrapped up their duties at the desk.  It was a time before the internet, social media, the mass reach of cable news, and consultants changed the news landscape.  Channel 4 was a legendary station then with some of the highest ratings in the country to go along with some of the highest honors and awards in broadcast journalism.

Nashville during the eighties and nineties was still a sleepy, mid-size city with enough charm, character, and friendliness to make it an idealistic southern city to grow up in.  I think Dan, Demetria, Bill, and Rudy perfectly embodied the town they were responsible for delivering a newscast to each night, and Nashvillians loved them for it.

Dan Miller spent more than 30 years at Channel 4, with a short stop in the late eighties anchoring in Los Angeles. Dan returned to the station to join his partner Demetria again without missing a beat. Demetria started in her early twenties at WSMV, serving the station and the community by anchoring and reporting evening newscasts for nearly 34 years.  I think you would be hard pressed to find a better pair to anchor a nightly newscast and lead the station.  Dan played the older brother to Demetria, but make no mistake they were equals in every way.  They were masterful storytellers who deeply connected with our community.  It was clear they respected and adored each other, with their famous “elbow bump” to end each newscast.

Bill Hall and his sidekick Snowbird were known by Nashvillians of all ages.  You trusted his forecast, and looked forward to a funny hunting or fishing story most nights.  On the rare occasions each winter when we would get snow, there was no better sound than the Snowbird jingle. You would stay up late or get up early to see if your school or county was closed.  I can still name most of the counties in our area because of it. Bill was everyone’s favorite weatherman.

You could say that Rudy Kalis was as famous for his sweater collection as the sports he reported. Make no mistake though, the human stories behind the athlete were so much bigger to Rudy than any score he shared or sweater he wore. You would have a difficult time finding a high school he has not been to on a friday night in the fall.

Dan passed away in 2009 on a trip to the Masters in his hometime of Augusta, Georgia with Rudy Kalis and another longtime Channel 4 reporter Terry Bulger.  Rudy was there with his friend when he passed away from a heart attack as they walked the streets of his childhood that night.  

Watching Demetria deliver the painful news that her partner of more than two decades passed was gut wrenching, and it clearly showed their friendship was more than just a fake tv pairing. The city mourned with Demetria as we lost a beloved Nashvillian.  Two years later, tragedy struck again when Bill Hall passed away after a long battle with diabetes.  He had been retired for a few years from Channel 4, but will always be remembered and loved as Nashville’s weatherman and most popular outdoorsman as host of Sunday night’s Land and Lakes show.  When he passed, his wife reportedly told friends he had “gone fishin.”

Over the past few years Demetria and Rudy continued the legacy at Channel 4, although never quite the same with half their team missing. Demetria was still committed to leading evening newscasts and delivering her own investigative reports, built by her credibility, experience and knowledge of the Nashville area.  

In recent years, the stories still became shorter, the anchors and reporters younger, and the sets and graphics snazier. Native Nashvillians still felt a deep connection to the beloved pair, despite the changes.

Rudy recently retired after more than forty years serving Channel 4 and Middle Tennessee viewers. Demetria, the last of the legendary team, ended her time at WSMV in December of 2017. New station management let her contract expire, without a proper send-off after serving the station for nearly 34 years. Demetria recently said there was no face-to-face, discussion or even appreciation for her service for so many decades. The final announcement by the station was a short statement about her posted on their website. It was an insincere attempt at trying to end and even erase all the amazing work, dedication, and trust she built for our community. 

Reading the hundred of facebook posts, it is clear current and former Nashvillians are outraged at how such a beloved Nashville treasure has been treated. It has been an act of betrayal by station management I know our community will not soon forget.

It is truly a sad end of an era.

I recently learned a few years ago new management tossed out most of the awards from the earlier decades.  Management that more than likely never called Nashville home, knew very little of the history of the station and those that built it. Trophies, plaques, and awards that were a reminder of a legendary time, now disregarded and buried.

It looks like they have done the same with others at the station who were also household names delivering or reporting the news, weather, and sports. They are replacing them with younger, inexperienced, cheaper talent to attract the more profitable demographics, cut costs, and make more profit for corporate conglomerates who care little for the communities they serve.

It makes the now rare Nashville natives like myself sad to see changes like this, and a disregard for those who gave their professional lives to serve this town at the station.  A bit of my childhood in this special town gone forever.

Dan, Demetria, Bill, and Rudy loved our community and were loved in return.  In a town full of stars, they had the hearts of Middle Tennesseans as much as Garth or Reba, George or Tammy.

Wade from Nashville

One more thing....

Thanks for all the reminders that behind the "Scene" and in front, were so many fine folks that built Channel 4 in the glory days. I don't know many of them. I was just your average Nashville viewer with the 4 logo burned into my tv, and the jingles into my head. Nonetheless, hundreds of others I know contributed both before, during and after Dan, Demetria, Bill, and Rudy's time together. Hopefully more Channel 4 veterans can give others their proper dues and recognition, with another update.

A couple of videos to remember the best Nashville news team:

When Dan left to go to Los Angeles:

An early 1980's promo about Demetria:

Some classic clip's from Nashville's most beloved Weatherman:

10pm News from 2002 with classic banter by Dan, Demetria, Bill and Rudy