Dawndy Mercer Plank Biography
Dawndy Mercer Plank is an American anchor and reporter at WIS. Her television career began in 1989 when she left her hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana to be a reporter at WBAY TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S. In 1992, she came to South Carolina to co-anchor WIS News Sunrise and was later promoted to anchor WIS News 10 at 5.
Dawndy is a frequent speaker at churches throughout the state and is an active member at Shandon Baptist Church. She is on the Oliver Gospel Mission’s Board of Directors, as well as the organization’s Vision Action Team to begin a new Growth Center for homeless women and children. Dawndy is a board member of the Palmetto Center for Women and is actively involved in Trinity Focus, a monthly Christian outreach to business people.
She is on the board of directors for Crossover Communications International, an organization that starts churches overseas. She’s also a longtime participant of the Sister Study on Breast Cancer through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Dawndy is involved in numerous programs that promote healthy living, including serving on the committee for Heart & Sole, a women’s-only run and walk to prevent heart disease. She is a marathoner and triathlete, an advocate for plant-based nutrition and is passionate about helping others lead healthy lives.
Dawndy’s television career began in 1989 when she left her hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana to be a reporter at WBAY TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In 1992, she came to South Carolina to co-anchor WIS News Sunrise and was later promoted to anchor WIS News 10 at 5. In 1996, Dawndy moved to Houston, Texas and starred in commercials, print ads, and industrial films. She spent time at Houston’s KNWS News, KTRK TV, KSBJ Christian Radio, and hosted both a horse and travel show. Dawndy returned to WIS Television in 2001.
Dawndy Mercer Plank Photo
Dawndy Mercer Plank Education
Plank graduated with a BS in Telecommunications in 1989 from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, after finishing her schooling in Washington, D.C. through the Washington Center internship program.
Dawndy Mercer Plank Age | How Old Is Dawndy Mercer Plank?
Mercer Plank is very private about her personal life hence she has not revealed her age or year and month of birth. It is there for not known when she celebrates her birthday.
Dawndy Mercer Plank Husband
She was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is happily married to Craig Plank and has three stepchildren.
Dawndy Mercer Plank Net Worth/ Salary
Mercer has an estimated net worth of $millions, but the exact amount is still under review. Her major source of income is her journalism career where she is working for years. According to some sources, a Journalist earns an average salary of $61k. Whereas a best news reporter makes the salary that ranges from $75k to $80k.
Dawndy Mercer Plank Awards
- Named a Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of South Carolina. The American College of Gastroenterology awarded her as a 2016 SCOPY Media Champion. In 2016, Dawndy was inducted into the Greenfield-Central School Foundation Alumni Hall of Fame for her numerous achievements since high school. Dawndy was awarded Best TV Anchor for 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2003 by Columbia Metropolitan Magazine.
- Dawndy received the Verizon 2012 Hopeline Hero Award that benefited SisterCare, an organization that helps battered women and their children.
- She was a 2011 Palmetto Center for Women Tribute to Women in Industry nominee, an honor presented to women whose outstanding achievements mark them as leaders and role models in business and in the community.
- Dawndy’s extensive coverage of a young boy’s life-changing cochlear implant operation landed her a second-place award by the Associated Press in the Medical/Health category in 2009.
- In 2002, the South Carolina Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness awarded her its Media Fitness Award.
- she received a Southeast Regional Emmy Award for Best Newscast in 2003.
- In 1994, she received the South Carolina Broadcaster’s Association Personality of the Year Award, as well as the National Journalism Award for Best Television Coverage of Leukemia.
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Dawndy Mercer Plank Interview
Interviewer: How did you get into journalism?
Dawndy Mercer Plank: I was fascinated with the fact that I could turn on the TV and find out what was happening in the state next door or the state clear across the nation, or a country half a world away. … I loved the English language. I loved the whole grammar thing, I loved writing [and]I loved talking to people [and] finding out their stories. I realized early on that it would all come together where I could do the things that I loved to do and actually find a way to get paid for it.
Interviewer: With so many evening shows, when do you eat dinner?
Dawndy Mercer Plank: In between and usually at my desk. If I leave to go grab dinner out, it’s fast. I’m stressed the whole time, thinking about I need to get back here. … It is stressful from the time I walk in. The number of emails I get, the phone calls that I get – people wanting information, people wanting you to cover their events, people wanting clarification on a story.
Occasionally, I’ll leave the building. But then you kind of pay for it, because when the show’s over at 11:35 p.m. that night, I’ll sometimes sit at my desk till 1 a.m., trying to get things caught up.
Interviewer: What’s the most challenging part of being a TV anchor?
Dawndy Mercer Plank: Never having any free time – because the job isn’t a nine to five. It’s late, late hours and long hours each day. And it doesn’t stop there, because the public wants you to emcee their events … speak to their child’s school, read a book, go to the senior citizen homes and visit with the people.
As a TV anchor, you’re expected to be involved in the community. So, it’s definitely a juggling act trying to make sure I allow enough time just to go to the grocery store when I have to … And then just the stress of deadlines every day. If you have a project, it’s not like you can say, “well, gosh, I’ve got this, this and this I really need to get done today, so I’ll work on this project tomorrow.” You can’t. The show’s going to go on at 5 p.m. today and 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. You have to be there, ready to go.
Source: www.datelinecarolina.org