Iowa House honors retired KWWL-TV anchor Ron Steele

DES MOINES — Iowa House lawmakers Monday honored recently retired KWWL-TV anchor Ron Steele with a resolution after his over 50-year career in broadcast journalism.

Steele in February announced his retirement from the Waterloo-based NBC affiliate, which serves much of Eastern Iowa. His final sign off from the nightly news followed later that month.

“The House of Representatives honors Ron Steele for his remarkable service to Iowa journalism and commends Ron Steele’s unwavering commitment to truth, integrity and public service,” the resolution states.

Steele was on the House floor when representatives from the Black Hawk County delegation, including Reps. Derek Wulf, Jerome Amos Jr., Joshua Meggers and Bob Kressig, introduced the resolution.

“I feel kind of humbled by it all, and I've always felt real privilege to report on people's stories in our area,” Steele told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. “That's what has meant the most to me to be a reporter. Meeting people and learning about their lives is really what it's all about.”

The resolution highlights his career accomplishments, including interviews with former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump and an invitation from former President George H.W. Bush for an interview on Air Force One.

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Born in Washington, Iowa, in 1950, Steele moved to Wapello at the age of 6, and was raised there. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1974 and did a brief stint at WOC-AM in Davenport, before being offered a sports director position at KWWL-TV, where he was one of the youngest sports directors in the Midwest at the time.

Steele later was promoted to anchor in 1979, leading the 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts.

He went on to cover numerous historic events, including the return of American hostages held in Iran in 1981, including Iowa native Kathryn Koob. He also spent 23 days in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm in 1990-91.

Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley on Feb. 25 honored Steele’s contribution to journalism and the community on the floor of the U.S. Senate. "From one small town kid to another, I appreciate Ron’s commitment to our community and to the people of Iowa," Grassley said. "He will certainly be missed behind the news desk."

Since 2013, Steele hosted the “The Steele Report,” a half-hour news and interview show on Sunday mornings. He also hosted “Iowa’s Child” broadcast, where he highlighted about 400 children in the foster system who had been deemed hard to adopt. Around half the children ended up finding homes.

Steele was inducted into the Iowa Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2018 and has received awards and honors from the Iowa Broadcast News Association as well as regional Emmy Awards.

Maria Kuiper and staff of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier contributed to this report.