‘Be yourself.’ Local anchor Tracci Dial offers advice, parting words before move to radio

After over a decade with the local NBC affiliate, KNDU, evening anchor Tracci Dial has announced she will soon leave TV journalism.

Her last appearance on the anchor desk will be the 6 p.m. show on May 26.

Dial is originally from Orofino, Idaho, and began her journalism career at a radio station in Lewiston. She eventually moved to Lewiston’s CBS station, KLEW, where she worked behind the scenes until securing a reporter position.

She moved to Tri-Cities in 2012, where she has since covered stories across the region, from Kittitas County to eastern Oregon and beyond. In particular, Dial says covering breaking news is her favorite, like the Hanford tunnel collapse in 2017 and the Fred Meyer shooting in 2022.

“I love big breaking news, not because of what’s happening, just because of the excitement that ensues because of it,” Dial told the Herald. “Or just having to work together with your team.”

Her franchise at KNDU is “Dialed In,” a monthly segment in which Dial conducts long-form interviews with local leaders, movers and shakers and trailblazers.

One notable episode was with ice skater Scott Hamilton. But with each new segment, Dial said she finds herself falling in love with the story and marking it as her new favorite — at least until the next one.

Love for Tri-Cities

Dial received the People’s Choice Award for Best Anchor through a Tri-City Herald online poll on numerous occasions.

She has received several other awards, including the National Speech and Debate Association’s District Communicator of the Year in 2020 and the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce’s ATHENA Young Professional of the Year in 2020.

“I do think you get what you give,” Dial said. “I have worked really hard to be open and just be myself on the desk and I think people respond to that. Sometimes it gives them a license to be a little bit more goofy and own your mistakes.”

Dial believes in owning her mistakes on the anchor desk, saying she is only human. She doesn’t see herself as the best anchor in the world, just someone people can recognize as real.

In giving advice to aspiring journalists, Dial emphasizes the importance of caring about the community. She recommends giving back by donating time to local groups and organizations.

“People bounce around a lot in TV journalism,” Dial said. “So just really immersing yourself into the communities is really helpful, finding things that fill your cup outside the newsroom, too.”

Following her departure from KNDU, aka NonStop Local after a recent rebrand from NBC Right Now, Dial will serve as news director for Northwest Public Broadcasting. In this role, she’ll lead a team of journalists in coverage of the northwest.

She will remain in the Tri-Cities area, allowing her to continue in her numerous community roles.

Dial is also a committee member for the Pasco Taco Crawl, a Junior Achievement volunteer and a member of Soroptimist International of Pasco-Kennewick. She spent several years on the Fields of Grace board, organizing volunteer visits to nearby farms to bring extra produce to food banks in Benton and Franklin counties.

“Tracci has always given her time so unselfishly,” stated KNDU’s station manager, Cameron Derrick, in Dial’s departure announcement.

An unexpected change

Dial wasn’t planning to leave NonStop Local when she learned of the Northwest Public Broadcasting position, saying it fell in her lap.

Her initial reaction was dismissive, even thinking it would be crazy to break her loyalty to the station and its viewers.

“It feels like a breakup that you don’t want, but you need,” Dial said. “So when the job opportunity was thrown at me, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. That night I could hardly sleep because I just thought of all these opportunities and ideas that I had to potentially make a difference in a different job. So I applied, because I couldn’t wonder forever.”

NonStop Local is advertising for Dial’s replacement.