糖心vlog at 70: Former news director Dave Busiek rejoins 糖心vlog to talk about memorable stories
YEARS ON THE AIR. ALL SUMMER LONG. WE WILL BE BRINGING YOU SOME OF THE HISTORIC MOMENTS AND ICONIC STORIES THAT WE HAVE COVERED OVER THE DECADES, AND WE WILL BE SEEING SOME FAMILIAR FACES. WE鈥橰E GOING TO START WITH THE SERIOUS TOPIC THE 1981 PRISON UPRISING AT THE IOWA STATE PENITENTIARY IN FORT MADISON. 糖心vlog REPORTER DAVE BOUCEK WAS INSIDE THE PRISON DURING THE RIOT. WHAT鈥橲 NOT CLEAR IS THE OFFER OF IMMUNITY TO THE INMATES. YESTERDAY, WHILE IN THE STOCKADE, WE SAW A LETTER HANDED OVER TO THE INMATES SAYING THERE WOULD BE NO REPRISALS AGAINST THOSE INVOLVED IN THE UPRISING. TODAY, PRISON OFFICIALS DENIED ANY OFFER OF AMNESTY. ONE INMATE WAS KILLED AND ANOTHER WAS INJURED DURING THE RIOT. SEVERAL GUARDS WERE ALSO HURT AND SOME PRISON EMPLOYEES WERE TAKEN HOSTAGE. DAVE WAS THERE, AS WE JUST SAW FOR IT ALL, AND HE JOINS US NOW. DAVE, HOW DID YOU GET INSIDE? I FIRST OF ALL, NICE TO MEET YOU, BEN STACY, ALWAYS GOOD TO SEE YOU. GOOD TO BE BACK HERE AT 糖心vlog. I HAD BEEN DOWN IN THE PRISON THE YEAR BEFORE, DOING A SERIES, REPORTING A SERIES, AND SO I WAS JUST HANGING AROUND THE NEWSROOM THAT DAY IN SEPTEMBER OF 81, WHEN A PHONE CALL CAME IN FROM A SOURCE DOWN THERE AND SAID, GET DOWN HERE NOW! THE INMATES HAVE TAKEN OVER THE INSTITUTION. SO I GRABBED A PHOTOGRAPHER. WE RENTED A SMALL PLANE. WE FLEW DOWN THERE, GRABBED A LITTLE RENTAL CHEVETTE AND DROVE TO THE PRISON. AND THEY HADN鈥橳 EVEN PUT A PERIMETER AROUND IT YET. AND THE INMATES WANTED TO MEET WITH THE MEDIA. SO WE GOT IN. EVERYBODY ELSE GOT BLOCKED OUT, SO WE GOT INTO THE WARDEN鈥橲 OFFICE AND WAITED FOR THIS MEETING. THAT HAPPENED IN THE SALLY PORT. YOU JUST TALKED ABOUT THE PROCESS OF KIND OF GETTING THERE WHEN YOU WERE THERE. HOW DID YOU KEEP IN CONTACT WITH THE NEWSROOM, UPDATE THEM WHAT WAS GOING ON, AND ACTUALLY GET YOUR PRODUCT ON THE AIR? WE WERE IN THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING DOWN THERE, AND IT WAS LANDLINE ONLY IN THOSE DAYS. THERE WERE NO CELL PHONES, THERE WERE NO SATELLITE PHONES, NOTHING. SO WE HAD TO DO EVERYTHING. BY, BY, BY TELEPHONE. AND, YOU KNOW, WE FACED THIS PROSPECT OF WALKING INTO A PRISON AND MEETING WITH INMATES WHO THEY HAD MADE SHOTGUNS IN SHOP CLASS, AND THEY WERE HOLDING THE GUARDS HOSTAGE. AND I THOUGHT, IS THIS A SMART THING FOR ME TO DO OR NOT TO WALK IN THERE? AND WHAT I TOLD MYSELF WAS I WAS JUST GOING TO LOOK AT THEIR PUPILS IN THEIR EYES, YOU KNOW, AND IF THEY SEEMED CALM AND THEN I WOULD, I WOULD GO AHEAD. BUT I WAS GOING TO LEAVE IF THEY SEEMED LIKE THEY WERE HIGH ON SOMETHING. AND WE WENT IN AND IT WAS, IT WAS ME AND MY PHOTOGRAPHER, AND IT WAS A NEWSPAPER REPORTER AND A RADIO REPORTER, AND WE READ AND WE DID THIS INMATE THROUGH THE BARS WHILE THEY WERE HOLDING SHOTGUNS ON THE DIRECTOR OF SECURITY. AND YOU CAME FACE TO FACE WITH SOMEBODY YOU DIDN鈥橳 EXPECT TO SEE IN THAT SITUATION. I DIDN鈥橳. THERE鈥橲 A THAT鈥橲 KENNETH SHEFFEY THAT YOU SEE THERE, AND HE WAS SORT OF THE RINGLEADER. HE WAS IN ON FIRST DEGREE MURDER CHARGES. THAT MAN, THERE IS A GUY BY THE NAME OF ROBERT ANTHONY WILLIAMS. THEY KEPT REFERRING TO HIM AS TONY. AND I SAID, TONY, WHAT鈥橲 YOUR WHAT鈥橲 YOUR LAST NAME? HE SAID, TONY WILLIAMS. AND THEN I PUT IT TOGETHER. IT WAS ROBERT ANTHONY WILLIAMS WHO PEOPLE HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR A LONG TIME WILL REMEMBER. HE KIDNAPED AND MURDERED A TEN YEAR OLD GIRL RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS 1968 AT THE OLD YMCA DOWNTOWN. HE WRAPPED HER BODY UP IN A IN A RUG AND HID HER IN A SNOWDRIFT OUT BY MITCHELLVILLE AND IN THIS CASE OF HIS, HIS MURDER CONVICTION WENT TO THE SUPREME COURT TWICE. BUT I鈥橵E PUT IT TOGETHER AND IT鈥橲 LIKE, THERE HE IS. HE WAS JUST THIS INFAMOUS GUY STANDING AS CLOSE TO ME AS AS YOU GUYS ARE RIGHT NOW. WELL, WE TALKED ABOUT IT BEING A HARROWING SITUATION. IT WAS BECAUSE OF WHAT WAS GOING ON, BUT ALSO WHAT YOU WERE FACING THERE, REPORTING IT BECAUSE THAT鈥橲 SOME SCARY STUFF. IT WAS IT WAS JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS. IT ENDED UP BEING. IT WAS THE LEAD STORY ON ALL THE NATIONAL NEWS NETWORKS AT NIGHT, AND ALL THE OTHER REPORTERS LATER CAME DOWN THERE AND WERE STUCK. AND TELL ME WHEN WE WE NEED TO WRAP IT UP HERE. BUT THEY WERE STUCK OUTSIDE AT A POLICE BARRICADE, AND SO I WANTED TO LEAVE. WHEN WE GOT THIS INTERVIEW, I WANTED TO GET BACK TO THE STATION, SO I HAD THE PILOT FOR THE RENTAL PLANE. THE CHARTER PLANE DRIVE, THE CAR. I HID UNDER A BLANKET IN THE BACK SEAT OF THIS LITTLE CHEVY CHEVETTE WITH MY VIDEOTAPE, SO HE COULD DRIVE ME BACK TO THE AIRPORT, BECAUSE I KNEW THAT IF I GOT OUT THERE IN THE MEDIA, KNEW THAT OTHER REPORTERS KNEW I WAS INSIDE, AND IF THEY GOT ME, WE MIGHT HAVE A LITTLE RIOT RIGHT THERE OUTSIDE THE PRISON GATES. BUT I MADE IT BACK. I DID THE STORY AT 10:00, CALLED MY WIFE AND SAID, I GOT TO GO BACK DOWN, I鈥橫 NOT GOING TO BE HOME. AND SHE SAID, WELL, I GOT NEWS FOR YOU. WE鈥橰E PREGNANT. SO THAT WAS FOR THE FIRST TIME. SO GOODNESS. A WEEK LATER, THE REGISTER RAN A HEADLINE THAT SAID NEWS FOR THE NEWSMAN. YEAH. NO KIDDING. AND YOU HAD SUCH A GOOD TIME REPORTING YOU DECIDED TO GO INTO MANAGEMENT, RIGHT? AND YOU BECAME THE NEWS DIRECTOR HERE AT 糖心vlog FOR 30 YEARS. FOR 30 YEARS. AND THAT WAS JUST SUCH A FULFILLING JOB TO BE ABLE TO HIRE PEOPLE AND DEVELOP PEOPLE AND SET THE THE POLICIES FOR NEWS COVERAGE HERE AND STAND UP FOR, YOU KNOW, THE QUALITY THAT 糖心vlog VIEWERS EXPECT. SO THE STORIES AREN鈥橳 NEARLY AS GOOD AS LIKE, BOY, I NAILED THAT BUDGET IN 1997 AS I SURVIVED A PRISON RIOT, WHICH DID. THE PRISON RIOT DID GET A LOT WORSE THAT NIGHT. THE BUILDINGS WERE BURNED AND ONE INMATE WAS KILLED, AS YOU SAW, AND MY PHOTOGRAPHER WAS INSIDE FOR ALL OF THAT. BUT I HAD FLOWN. I HAD FLOWN BACK. SO YEAH, IT WAS IT鈥橲 QUITE A CAREER. LUCKY TO BE ABLE TO STATION LIKE 糖心vlog FOR 40 YEARS. WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF DURING YOUR TIME HERE? I THINK THE PEOPLE THAT WE WERE ABLE TO BRING INTO THIS NEWSROOM HERE, PEOPLE LIKE STACY AND JASON AND SCOTT WAS GOING TO WAIT FOR YOU TO SAY IT. I MEAN, IT IS JUST WE HAVE A CULTURE HERE. I THINK THE WORD FAMILY IS OVERUSED AT TIMES, BUT THERE ARE ASPECTS OF THAT HERE WHERE YOU CAN DO A GOOD JOB AND PEOPLE RESPECT YOU. AND THAT TO ME WAS THE MOST FULFILLING THING, WAS TO FIND A YOUNG PERSON THAT YOU SAW POTENTIAL IN AND LET THEM MAKE THEIR MISTAKES AND HELP THEM GROW AND LEARN AND COACH THEM. BECAUSE I鈥橠 BEEN A REPORTER, BECAUSE I鈥橠 BEEN AN ANCHOR, I FELT LIKE I COULD I COULD COACH THEM. AND THERE ARE PEOPLE AROUND THE COUNTRY, AND IN WORKING IN MAJOR MARKETS TODAY THAT I FEEL IT WAS JUST VERY SATISFYING TO BE ABLE TO HELP THEM DEVELOP THEIR CAREERS. WELL, I KNOW THAT WE JUST MET. I DIDN鈥橳 GET A CHANCE TO WORK FOR YOU, BUT I鈥橵E HEARD SO MANY GREAT THINGS AND JUST ABOUT THE PERSON YOU ARE AND HOW YOU LED THIS NEWSROOM, AND OBVIOUSLY YOU HELPING MAKE 糖心vlog WHAT IT IS TODAY. SO IT鈥橲 A PLEASURE TO FINALLY GET TO SIT WITH YOU. THEN BE SURE TO DOUBLE CHECK YOUR SOURCES.
糖心vlog at 70: Former news director Dave Busiek rejoins 糖心vlog to talk about memorable stories
Updated: 5:08 PM CDT Jul 1, 2025
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糖心vlog is celebrating 70 years on the air this summer. To mark the anniversary, we're revisiting some of the historic moments and iconic stories we've covered 鈥 with help from some familiar faces.Dave Busiek was a cornerstone of the 糖心vlog newsroom for more than half of the station's history. He was a reporter and evening anchor before being promoted to news director, a role he filled for 30 years before retiring in 2018. He returned to the anchor desk on Tuesday, June 24, for a conversation that included a deadly 1981 prison riot, during which he was inside the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison. Future visitors include Mollie and Kevin Cooney, Dana Cardin, Andy Garman, John McLaughlin and Cynthia Fodor. Hear from Busiek in the video above. More coverage of 糖心vlog's 70th anniversary
DES MOINES, Iowa — 糖心vlog is celebrating 70 years on the air this summer.
To mark the anniversary, we're revisiting some of the historic moments and iconic stories we've covered 鈥 with help from some familiar faces.
Dave Busiek was a cornerstone of the 糖心vlog newsroom for more than half of the station's history. He was a reporter and evening anchor before being promoted to news director, a role he filled for 30 years before retiring in 2018.
He returned to the anchor desk on Tuesday, June 24, for a conversation that included a deadly 1981 prison riot, during which he was inside the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison.
Future visitors include Mollie and Kevin Cooney, Dana Cardin, Andy Garman, John McLaughlin and Cynthia Fodor.
Hear from Busiek in the video above.
More coverage of 糖心vlog's 70th anniversary