David Crabtree

David Crabtree is an American award-winning journalist, former television news anchor, and television executive. He served as the lead anchor of WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina for much of his 28 years at the network through 2022. Following a forty year career in television reporting, he was named the CEO of PBS North Carolina. Crabtree has won 16 Emmy awards, is a recipient of the North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine, and is a member of the NC Media & Journalism Hall of Fame.

David Crabtree
Born
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Alma materMiddle Tennessee State University
Duke Divinity School
Occupation(s)Journalist
News Anchor
Television Executive
Former Clergyman
Years active1982-present
Children2
Awards16 Emmy Awards
Gabriel Award
DuPont Award
Four-time North Carolina Journalist of the Year
North Carolina Anchor of the Year
HonoursNC Media Journalism Hall of Fame
Order of the Long Leaf Pine

Career

Crabtree was raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and graduated from Middle Tennessee State University.[1] Crabtree started out his career as a musician, playing drums professionally with bands in Nashville and doing session work for radio jingles, which led to a job as a radio disc jockey. He left radio to work as press secretary for the Tennessee House of Representatives.[2]

Television career

Crabtree started his television career as a reporter on Nashville’s WKRN-TV.[2] He later worked at KCNC-TV and KMGH-TV in Denver, Colorado and WITN-TV in Washington, North Carolina. In 1994 he became a news anchor at WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina.[3] Crabtree announced his retirement from WRAL in 2018 and was set to retire at the end of that year, but announced in November 2018 that he would postpone his retirement and continue working at WRAL.[4][5] Crabtree hosted his final broadcast on May 25, 2022. In April 2022, Crabtree was named as interim Chief Executive Officer of PBS North Carolina.[6] In September 2022, Crabtree was appointed permanently as the CEO of PBS North Carolina by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.[7]

Awards

Crabtree has won 16 Emmy Awards and was named North Carolina Journalist of the Year four consecutive years by the Radio-Television News Directors Association of the Carolinas. He was named the 2014 North Carolina Association of Broadcasters Anchor of the Year. He has also received the Gabriel Award and Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award in 2007 for his documentary on living conditions for migrant workers in North Carolina.[3][8][9] He notably won a Midsouth Emmy award for coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake,[10] and was additionally nominated in 2011 for a Midsouth Emmy for coverage of the funeral for Elizabeth Edwards.[11]

Crabtree was also inducted into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by governor Roy Cooper on May 25th, 2022, the same day of his retirement from WRAL.[12] The day was declared “David Crabtree Day” by the mayor of Raleigh.[12]

He was inducted into the NC Media Journalism Hall of Fame in April, 2023.[13]

Ministerial Work

Crabtree was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church in 2004.[4] He served as an assisting minister at St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Raleigh from 2004 until 2018.[14] Crabtree was permanently suspended from ministry by the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina after allegations of improper conduct were made against him in October 2018.[4] Crabtree made a personal statement explaining his removal from ministry, stating that he had engaged in a consensual relationship with a woman that violated church protocol.[15]

Personal life

Crabtree is from Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated with a bachelors of science from Middle Tennessee State University. He later studied divinity at Vanderbilt University and obtained a masters in theology from the Graduate Theological Foundation before enrolling as a masters student at Duke University's Divinity School. Crabtree is divorced and has two daughters.[4]

References
  1. "UNC Board of Governors names David Crabtree as chief executive officer of PBS North Carolina – UNC System". www.northcarolina.edu. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  2. Jones, Greg (November 2018). "David Crabtree". Walter Magazine. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  3. "David Crabtree". WRAL.com. 5 September 2006. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  4. Cain, Brooke (25 January 2019). "WRAL's David Crabtree admits on-air to 'inappropriate' relationship, cites church fallout". The News & Observer. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  5. "WRAL's Crabtree postpones retirement". Triangle Business Journal. 7 November 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  6. "David Crabtree Named Interim Leader of PBS North Carolina". PBS North Carolina. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  7. "UNC Board of Governors names David Crabtree as chief executive officer of PBS North Carolina". PBS North Carolina. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  8. "Focal Point: Standards of Living". WRAL.com. 15 July 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  9. "WRAL Wins Prestigious National Journalism Award". Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  10. "On The 25th Annual MidSouth EMMY® Awards (Local Awards)". Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  11. "NATAS Nashville / Midsouth". Emmynashville.org. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  12. WRAL (2022-05-25). "David Crabtree anchors final WRAL newscast of his 40-year TV career". WRAL.com. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  13. "Retired WRAL-TV Anchor David Crabtree Inducted Into Journalism Hall of Fame – Capitol Broadcasting Company". capitolbroadcasting.com. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  14. "Contact Clergy". St. Michael's Episcopal Church. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  15. Crabtree, David (25 January 2019). "David Crabtree personal statement". WRAL.com. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
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