His Social Security Number was 578-24-9384, issued before 1951 in District of Columbia.
1 Grant Leland Price lived in 1955 in Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa, In 1955, Grant L. Price and his family (wife and daughters) lived in Waterloo, Iowa.
Grant worked in radio and television news until he retired in 1990. Since then, he has taught at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, in the communication arts department. As of 2003, Grant Leland Price lived at Mr. Grant L. Price, 165 Berkshire Road, Waterloo, Iowa, 50701, 319-291-7245.
Legendary Broadcaster Grant Price dies at age 85by Ron Steele
Iowans have lost a true icon of broadcast news. The legendary Grant Price, former News Director of KWWL, WMT and KXEL, died Friday night at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo. He was 85.
Perhaps no person has had more positive influence on the broadcasting industry in Iowa than Grant Price. Over a career which spanned four decades on the air and many more as a college professor, Grant Price molded literally hundreds of aspiring young broadcasters into serious journalists dedicated to finding the truth, and informing viewers and listeners with a perspective relevant to their lives.
It is very difficult to find words which adequately describe this man, to whom so many of us owe our careers. He was not just a boss; he was truly a friend, who lived life with a determination to make the world a better place to live. There was nothing more important to Grant than his family, faith and friends.
Grant joined KWWL Radio and Television in 1972, as Vice-president of News and Public Affairs. Another KWWL legend, the late Robert Buckmaster, then the President of Blackhawk, hired Grant with one goal in mind; make KWWL the top-rated, most watched television news station in the Eastern Iowa market. Grant far exceeded that goal, taking KWWL-TV to the top of news ratings supremacy with an amazing, well-calculated team plan. At one point during Grant's reign as News Director, KWWL-TV had more viewers than the other local television stations combined.
Respected by both his peers and those outside the broadcast industry, Grant was an Iowa broadcast industry advocate in bringing EMC, Expanded Media Coverage, commonly known as ‘cameras in the courtroom,' to Iowa. Under Grant's leadership, KWWL-TV became the first Iowa television station to ever televise a District Court trial with television cameras in the courtroom from beginning to end. The trial was that of Michael Moses of Waterloo, and it resulted in the conviction of Moses for the murders of two Waterloo women.
Grant was a very serious and fair journalist. He knew that one question always led to another, even more importantly, he knew that one of the keys to being a great reporter means being a great listener. The ‘follow up', he would say, is usually going to be a lot more important than the original question. "Don't think ahead," he once told me. ‘Listen,' so you will always know what to ask next.' Grant always insisted KWWL-TV produce culturally relevant news programs. He loved producing longer form programs, like documentaries and town hall meeting formats. A special, two-hour AIDS town hall meeting, telecast on KWWL-TV, was among the first of its kind in the country, and helped bring awareness to the HIV crisis. Under Grant's leadership, KWWL won one of television's highest honors; a prestigious Alfred I. duPont--Columbia University Award. Many of Grant's former reporters have gone on to major market television and network reporting and producing jobs.
Grant's reputation for demanding that reporters always be respectful and fair to all interview subjects is truly legendary. Grant wanted the answers and he wanted the truth. But, he had high character standards, and expected all of his employees to strive for those same high standards, He would never ask anyone to do something he wouldn't do himself. That's just one reason why reporters worked so hard for him and respected him with such passion.
Grant was so respected; he was selected to ask a question during a Richard Nixon Presidential News Conference. That's a privilege usually reserved for the National White House Press Corps. Grant's very tough question to Nixon about the impact of feed grain exports on domestic reserves, and a resulting disastrous break in farm prices drove President Nixon to famously remark, "The farmers have never had it so good."
A caring and benevolent man. Grant made a $2-million pledge to his beloved Wartburg College in Waverly. The money established a Grant Price Chair in the Wartburg Communication Arts Department, as well as the Fadra F. Price Communication Arts Scholarship, honoring the memory of his late wife. The pledge also established a Grant Price Scholarship and helps maintain the new Archives of Iowa Broadcasting.
In recent years, in addition to his teaching duties at Wartburg, Grant worked passionately with Dr. Jeff Stein, in creating the Archives, permanently located in the Vogel Library at Wartburg College. The two also worked closely to create Wartburg's high-quality, electronic media and journalism department. Wartburg's TV8 television newscast, produced by students, consistantly wins top honors at the Iowa Broadcast News Association's annual awards banquet.
Grant has won every major award in Iowa broadcasting, including the Jack Shelley award. He is also a member of the Iowa Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Funeral services for Price are scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church in Waterloo. Visitation is from 4-7 Tuesday at Locke Funeral Home.
We offer our sincere condolences to Grant's daughters, Laurie Price Kemp of St. Paul, and Julie Price Barnd of Marion, and their families. Your father was a truly remarkable man, whose influence will continue to be felt far beyond the Iowa broadcasting industry. We are all better people for having known Grant Price.
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Ron Steele
News Anchor/Reporter
KWWL-TV
A tribute to Grant Price, including file video clips, has been posted at the Archives of Iowa Broadcasting Web site: http://www.iowabroadcasting.com/index.html
There are also tributes posted on the main page of the Iowa Broadcast News Association: www..ibna.org and at the IBNA's online newsletter site: http://www.ibna.org/newsletter/newsletter.html.
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Sunday, October 19, 2008 2:00 PM CDT
Local TV news legend Grant Price dies at 85 By PAT KINNEY, Courier News Editor
WATERLOO --- Grant Price, the retired longtime news director at KWWL-TV in Waterloo, passed away late Friday after a lingering illness. He was 85.
Price was a dominant figure in eastern Iowa broadcast journalism for a half century, having worked many years at WMT-TV in Cedar Rapids, now KGAN, before joining KWWL in the early 1970s. In the early 1990s, he capped off his career teaching at Wartburg College in Waverly on the communication arts faculty.
As vice president of news and public affairs at KWWL, Price hosted the station's long-running "Focal Point" public affairs program, delivered many of the station's editorials and, after retirement, was called upon to moderate local election candidate forums.
Longtime KWWL-TV anchor Ron Steele said, "Grant, to me, has had more positive influence on broadcasting in Iowa, particularly television broadcasting, than any other individual, especially in our market, but across the state, too. He was a real journalist." Price hired Steele as 90-day probationary employee at age 24 in 1974. He became the station's sports director and was promoted to news anchor five years later. Steele said he had to prove to Price he was up to the job. "Let me put it this way: How can I say enough about a person to whom I owe my entire career?" Steele said. "He's been an influence to me, not just professionally but personally. He was very demanding but very fair and right to the point. He told you exactly where you stood. He had very high standards, and that's something I really loved about him. "What I admire most about Grant was his commitment to his family, his faith, his employees and his company," Steele said.
Price also hired Steele's longtime co-anchor, Liz Mathis, who also served with Price on the Wartburg faculty and then went on to anchor at KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids. "I basically begged him for the job" when first hired, Mathis said. "He said 'You think you can do the job? OK, prove it.'" Mathis said Price saddled her with heavy camera gear, lights, and added, "Oh, by the way, you have to drive your own car." Under Price's leadership KWWL went from last to first in local news coverage and ratings, Steele said. It was due in large part to the reporting staff he assembled, including the successful pairing of co-anchors Mathis and Steele in the early 1980s. The concept of a female co-anchor was relatively new at the time, Mathis said, recalling she and Steele initially were wary of each other. "Grant described it as a shotgun wedding," Mathis said, laughing.
Former longtime KWWL station manager Jim Waterbury recalled that Price vigorously defended his staff's work to the public, but would firmly take individuals to task when necessary after the office door was closed. "He ran his own shop and didn't need anyone else" intervening, Waterbury said. He was exacting in making sure the job was done right. At the same time, Waterbury said, "If you ever needed someone in your corner in a fight, it was Grant."
Price also was well known for his advocacy of First Amendment issues and fought to get cameras in Iowa courtrooms in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Price also made a $2 million gift to Wartburg and during his tenure there began a substantial broadcasting history research archive.
Mathis recalled how many nationally known journalists would call on Price at Wartburg for advice. Waterbury said in his later years, Price took great pride in the number of people he mentored on their way to success in journalism and other careers. "He was the center of the universe in all these stars," Waterbury said.
Memorial services for Price are scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church in Waterloo. Locke Funeral Home (319) 233-6138, is in charge of arrangements.
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Renowned Iowa broadcaster Grant Price dies at 85By Alyssa Cashman
The Gazette
Iowa broadcast icon Grant Price, former news director at KWWL and WMT television, died at Waterloo's Covenant Hospital Friday. He was 85.
To many journalists in Iowa, Price is remembered as a mentor, father figure and a tough boss. "It's very difficult for me to even find the right words to describe this man," said Ron Steele, news anchor at KWWL Television, who worked for Price for years.
Born in 1922 in Canada, Price began his Iowa journalism career in 1941 at KSJC in Sioux City. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he moved to Cedar Rapids in 1960 where he worked at Channel 2 Radio and TV, then known as WMT. Grant became vice-president of news and public affairs at KWWL Radio and Television in 1972. He then moved to Waterloo, where he was the news director at KWWL from 1980 to 1989, later remaining as a part-time consultant.
Steele said Grant was an Iowa advocate for bringing cameras into the courtoom, and KWWL was the first Iowa television to broadcast a District Court trial.
Price joined the communications art staff at Wartburg College in 1990, was named department chair in 1993 and achieved emeritus status in 1996. He continued to teach at the school until 2005. During that time, he helped reframe the department's curriculum and took it to a new level of prestige, said Liz Mathis, former KCRG-TV9 news anchor and current vice president at Four Oaks.
"He has probably had more influence on the Iowa broadcasting industry than any other individual," Steele said. His past employees remember him as a tough but fair boss with high expectations. He would also defend any of his reporters to the very end, said Mathis. "Grant really raised a lot of us," Mathis said. "He told us, 'These are the things you have to stand for, now go out and do it.'"
He received countless broadcast awards, including the Jack Shelley Award.
Under his direction, KWWL won the prestigious Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award. Under Price, the station was among the top-ranked in the state, according to the KWWL Web site.
As a person, Price was described as genuine and benevolent. He gave $2 million to Wartburg, and created a scholarship in the name of his late wife, Fadra. "He always put his family first, then his faith, then his employees," Steele said.
Price was also dedicated to broadening people's understanding of broadcast history in Iowa. He established the Archives of Iowa Broadcasting at the Vogel Library in Wartburg.
He is survived by two daughters, Laurie Price-Kemp of St. Paul, and Julie Price-Barnd, Marion; and five grandchildren. No official cause of death was available.
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Iowa Broadcast Legend Grant Price Dies
Price Was Longtime TV, Radio Fixture In Iowa
POSTED: 4:27 pm CDT October 18, 2008
UPDATED: 9:23 am CDT October 19, 2008
WATERLOO, Iowa -- Grant Price, a longtime fixture in Iowa broadcasting, died Friday after an illness. He was 85.
Price was best known for his work on KWWL in Waterloo, both as the station's news director and the on-air host of public affairs shows and moderator of political forums. He began his career at WMT-TV in Cedar Rapids. After retiring from the television business in 1989, Price went to work at Wartburg College as an instructor and archivist. He helped the school evolve from teaching only radio broadcasting to include television work.
Price was born in Saskatchewan in 1922, the child of farmers. He moved to Nebraska before entering high school and worked on a cattle ranch. He enrolled at American University in Washington but transferred to Morningside University in Sioux City to be closer to home. There, he joined the staff of KSCJ Radio, his first broadcasting job.
After serving in the Navy during World War II, Price returned to Sioux City and KSCJ, but was offered a job as the news director of KTRI Radio. He worked there until 1959 until he moved to Cedar Rapids and WMT Radio. He was eventually offered a position at WMT-TV.
Price is survived by his daughter, Laurie Price Kemp, son-in-law Christopher Kemp and grandchildren Lucas and Sarah of St. Paul, Minn.; and daughter, Julie Price Barnd, son-in-law, Mark, and grandchildren Emily, a 2006 Wartburg graduate, Andrew, a 2008 graduate, and Matthew, of Marion.
Arrangements are being handled by Locke Funeral Home in Waterloo. Price was a member of First Presbyterian Church, Waterloo.