By Michael Motes

"For years I thought I was the heir-apparent to Dave Garroway and would someday serve as host of the Today show on NBC. Unfortunately, I was obviously the only person who thought so. There have been a lot of hosts since early days of Garroway, but I haven't been asked yet!"

In discussing his versatile career in broadcasting, Dave Michaels, anchorman on WXIA-TV's "Eleven Alive Newsroom" each Monday through Friday at 6 and 11 p.m., points out that not being the host of Today is one of the few disappointments he has had in the business that he thoroughly enjoys.

Growing up on Long Island, NY, Dave's first dream of being a broadcaster was as a very young boy who thought he would like to be "The Lone Ranger's" radio announcer. That's another job he didn't get.

His first real taste of what broadcasting was all about came when he landed a job as a page boy at NBC in New York.

"That was during the 'Golden Era' of live television in the early fifties," he recalls. "We were really high-class go-fors, but it was exciting. We ushered the audiences for 'Show of Shows,' 'Your Hit Parade' and the show hosted by Eddie Fisher. We also got to take messages backstage to the stars of 'Kraft Theater.'"

Dave points out that among others who served as page boys before bringing more lucrative careers are Gregory Peck, Gene Rayburn, and his all-time idol, Today host Garroway.

At the age of about 19, Dave got his first job as an announcer at a Mutual Radio Network affiliate in Binghamton, NY. Here he worked as a disc jockey and presented evening newscasts.

He was drafted while working at this station and began a two-year hitch with Uncle Sam.

"Actually, I probably could have spent less time in the Army," Dave says. "On the radio show I hosted, I interviewed the local Army recruiting officer once a week. He told me that if I was interested, he would arrange for me to get a six-month period of service. I was really undecided about what I wanted to do so opted for the two-year draft to give me some time to think."

The Army gave Dave his first glimpse of Atlanta when he was assigned to Fort McPherson and became a broadcast specialist in the information office.

Receiving his Army discharge in 1960, Dave went to work at WAGA-TV, Channel 5. Initially he had been hired to serve as anchorman on the evening news, replacing Dale Clark.

"I ended up a staff announcer, however, and it was a great experience. It was during a period when you did a little bit of everything -- read the news, hosted movies, et cetera."

Dave decided that a change would be best for his career and went to Washington, DC. The move North didn’t work out and a short time later Dave was back in Atlanta and his old job at WAGA.

A big break came when he got to know talk-show host Phil Donahue, who encouraged Dave to try to launch a talk show of his own. This was done at WTVN-TV in Columbus, Ohio, when "Michaels and Co." went on the air weekday mornings.

A broadcast strike ended Dave's career in Columbus and he admits it was the bleakest period of his life.

"Suddenly I could not work. As a member of the Union, I could not cross the picket lines and was finally completely out of work."

What he considers "a small miracle" then occurred and was the biggest break of his career. He was asked to go to New York and host "A. M. New York," a two-hour early morning news and information program for WABC-TV. He served as host for two months from January to February in 1974. A job offer came from Los Angeles at this point, and he became the co-anchorman on "Eyewitness News at KABC-TV.

Once again the talk show host bug bit and he launched "A. M. Lost Angeles," interviewing such celebrities as Theodore White, Andre Kostelanetz, Norman Rockwell, Tim Conway, Dick Gregory and many others during his nine months on the air.

"In Los Angeles, I had more TV exposure than any personality in the city. It was host of the early morning show, plus airing the news in the evening. I wasn't exactly pleased with the situation. It was one thing to host interesting guests in the morning, then tell about the traffic accidents in the evening!"

The station had promised Dave a contract for just the morning show, but negotiations fell through. He then requested to work just as a newsman. His request denied, Dave left the station and was again out of work.

"Only in Los Angeles can you do two-and-a-half hours on television on Friday and find yourself out mowing your lawn and without a job on Monday," he says.

While in California, he had his first taste of filmmaking. One movie he made was "Fun With Dick and Jane" starring Jane Fonda and Georgia Segal.

"I was really excited about the film, in which I played a newsman. I gathered together about 10 friends and treated them to a movie outing. We waited and waited for my big scene on the screen. It never appeared! The entire segment in which I acted was cut from the final movie! Talk about being embarrassed, I certainly was!"

Hopefully, audiences will be exposed to Dave, or at least his voice, when NBC-TV airs Neil Simon's "Prisoner of Second Avenue" with Jack Lemmon later this year. Dave will be heard as a voice-over radio newsman in the film.

In addition to his work with movies, Dave has appeared on network television productions with McLean Stevenson, "Koochie-Koochie" girl Charo, and Art James.

He once tried to sell the idea of a game show he developed and spent several months on the project. He says that he became so sick of the inanity of the game show business that he dropped the idea and has never considered such a project again.

In June 1976, Dave made what he hopes will be his "final" move back to Atlanta, and joined the WXIA staff. He is quite pleased with his work and points out that since he became anchorman at Channel 11, the station has won the Associated Press Peacemaker Award, the Atlanta Emmy and the United Press International Award for Best Newscast.

"But we're just beginning," he says. "Starting September 25, we're changing the image of our news reporting. We’re going into more in-depth, no-nonsense broadcasting and feel that we will be major competition for the other stations for the first time."

In addition to "Eleven Alive News," Dave is also seen on his bi-weekly "Michaels: One on One" Sunday morning interview program.

Dave is happy to be "back home" in Atlanta and so is his wife, the former Ann Morris of Marietta, who Dave met and wed in 1963 during one of his frequent trips back to Atlanta and the broadcast market here.

An extremely talented artist -- he once hosted a children's program on Channel 5 in which he taught the youngsters to draw -- Dave enjoys painting. At one point in his life he had planned to become a commercial artist, but abandoned the idea.

If he were not in broadcasting, he would probably be a college professor in "a small community with a great academic atmosphere." His hobbies include the study of Colonial American History, and he's a great War-Between-The-States buff. Other reading material he enjoys are the novels of Thomas Wolfe.

Dave is a member of St. Jude's parish, where son Michael, age 13, and daughter Kathy, who will be nine in November, attend CCD.

Asked if he's frequently asked to serve as lector, Dave replied, "No, I've never volunteered. I go to Church to pray, not to read. I feel that it might be distracting to the congregation if I were a lector. People always compare you with the way they see you on television. I prefer to just be a member of the parish and quietly worship."