Iowa City radio legend Dottie Ray retires

Iowa City broadcasting legend Dottie Ray, 91, hung up her microphone on May 13 after more than 50 years on the air.

Ray, a staple of Iowa City's airwaves since the late 1950s, broadcast a daily show from her living room on local station KXIC 800 AM. In her more than five decades on air, she interviewed more than 30,000 guests during her 15 minute broadcast. She kept listeners informed about local organizations, artists and events.

In all those years, she said her favorite interview subjects were children.

When she first started at KXIC around 1959, she broadcast as 'President Alice.” President Alice invited any child who had a birthday that week to come eat cupcakes and be on the air.

'If I'd had my druthers, I would have only interviewed children all my life,” she said during her retirement show.

For the final, hourlong show, KXIC Morning Host Jay Capron interviewed Ray about her life and career. The entire final show is posted on KXIC's website at kxic.com

Ray was the first female editor of the University of Iowa student newspaper The Daily Iowan. She had an all-female editorial staff - most of the men were gone, fighting in World War II - and led the paper's coverage of events from D-Day through President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration. She remembers having to fight to get her female sports editor allowed into press boxes at games.

She met her husband, Robert Ray, at The Daily Iowan. She offered him a job writing editorials when he came in to complain about the editorial page.

The two spent time in Albany, New York, before moving back to Iowa City. When KXIC asked Dottie Ray to do the morning show, she said she wouldn't be able to due to child care concerns. So the station brought the show to her, setting up a microphone in her home. Guests would come to her living room for a cup of coffee and an on-air chat.

Sometimes, a guest wouldn't show up and Ray would ab-lib the live broadcast. She remembered the first time that happened. Panicked, she noticed it was her father's birthday and spent the 15 minutes sharing things he taught her.

Personal moments and stories like that often got the most response from listeners, she said.

Ray's connection with Iowa City residents was clear during her final show, as Capron played a steady stream of thank yous and retirement congratulations from local leaders and other radio personalities.

'I love you so much,” said Riverside Theatre co-founder Ron Clark. 'Thanks for all you've done.”

l Comments: (319) 398-8434; alison.gowans@sourcemedia.net