Don Shelby

Inducted 2007

It takes someone special to anchor the 10 PM news on TV.  It takes someone special to host the afternoon drive show on radio.  It takes someone really special, like Don Shelby, to do both.

Shelby’s career began in radio WFIB in Cincinnati in 1965.  After serving in the US Air Force, he worked in television in Charleston, South Carolina, and then Houston.  He came to the Twin Cities and WCCO TV in 1978, and has anchored the 10 PM news since 1985.  He is admired not only for his outstanding anchor work but also for his investigative reporting and the depth he brings to features like his “In the Know” essays. 

In 2000, he took on the added challenge of hosting the important 3 PM to 6 PM slot for WCCO Radio.  The radio show, which he describes as a mix of news, issue-talk, and audience participation, gives him more time to address the day’s issues than the television news format allows.  He has earned all of the nation’s top broadcast journalism awards, including three national Emmy Awards, the Columbia DuPont Citation, the Scripps-Howard Award for Excellence, and two Peabody Awards, most recently for his mentoring work with Minnesota’s young people.  Whether on radio or television, Don Shelby sets the standard.

Don retired from his WCCO news anchor position on November 22, 2010