Bio
Joel Davis Dickman is the Vice President/General Manager at WRAL TV and WRAZ TV, the NBC and FOX affiliates in Raleigh, North Carolina. Joel came to his current role by way of news. A Waverly, Iowa native and graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in Journalism/Mass Communication, he went to school there at the time ISU-owned the ABC affiliate for Des Moines. This enabled him to work in between classes behind the scenes, then eventually as an on-air reporter.
After graduating and working on air as a reporter and anchor in Mason City, Iowa, Waterloo, Iowa, and Columbus, Ohio, Joel and his wife decided to escape winters and he made his first foray into management in Bakersfield, California, first as managing editor and then as news director at KBAK TV. From there he became news director at KFSN TV, the ABC-owned station in Fresno, California, and then went to a news management role at WFTV in Orlando. He returned to California in January 2009 when he accepted the role of news director at KGTV. He was promoted to station manager in 2014, and then to VP/GM in 2016. He moved to run the stations in Raleigh in July of 2018.
Joel’s wife, Sarah, is a veterinarian and fellow ISU alum. They have two kids. Luke is a student at Chico State, and Olivia is a student at Arcadia University in Philadelphia.
Interesting note: Joel credits fellow alum Sean McLaughlin (’88) with getting him started in the business. When Sean passed on a job in Mason City to take his first on-air job in California, he recommended Joel for the Mason City job.