Dick Wheeler was born in Albany, New York and raised in New England, the Chicago area and suburban Washington D.C.  He attended the University of Virginia and with a couple of years out for the Army received a B-A in History in 1950. 

His first job in radio was at KOCA Radio in Kilgore, in the days when all the oil derricks were still in the downtown area.  He moved up to KTBB in Tyler and KCUL (then) in Fort Worth before joining WFAA Radio in the summer of 1953 in the penthouse studios on Jackson St. where onetime band leader Joe Reichman was still doing a live daily piano show. 

After a few months he was transfered to WFAA-TV Channel 8 as News Anchorman for two stints between 1954 and 1960 with a two year hiatus to try his luck in  Stockton, California at KOVR (TV) as News Director and anchor.

Dick returned to Texas and worked at KENS-TV in San Antonio briefly before returning to WFAA-TV again.  In 1961 he was offered the News Director’s job at the old Jock Whitney CBS affiliate in Tulsa, KOTV (TV) and was there until November of ’63 when he returned again to Dallas..only this time to KRLD-TV & AM to work for Eddy Barker. (Two weeks before the JFK assassination.) 

He remained at KRLD Radio until 1977 although was taken off Ch. 4 TV when the stations were split up in 1970 in the sale of the Dallas Times Herald.  Dick was News Director at KRLD Radio for five years, then left to return for the third time to WFAA Radio as morning anchor from 1977 to 1981.  He put in a very brief stint at the old KBOX Radio (ask Al Lurie). 

In 1982 he returned to KRLD Radio and retired in March of 1989 at a Press Club Party arranged by Alex Burton with people he’d worked with like Eddie and Warren Fulks, Wes Wise, Bob Huffaker and Judy Jordan in attendance.

In 1977, shortly before the death of his wife, Dick got into sailing and, beginning in 1985, lived aboard his 30-foot boat on Lake Texoma for five years, commuting 185 miles a day for four of the five years. 

After Dick retired he packed up and shipped the boat by truck to Clear Lake then sailed to Galveston, arriving in March of 1990.  A friend crewed for him and they sailed offshore to Pensacola.  For the next nine years Dick lived aboard and cruised mostly the Florida Gulf waters although he did get to the Keys and the Abacos in the Bahamas.  For five of those years he was based in Panama City.  Two years were spent sporadically cruising and two of them were spent in Fort Myers Beach just a few miles from Captiva Island and Porta Gunta ... the area hit so hard just recently by Hurricane Charlie.

In July of 1999 Dick's youngest son, who lives in Plano, drove down and brought him back to Texas where he's been ever since.  He has another son who lives in Wylie and a grandson who just turned four.  Dick lives alone with a Calico cat.  He did have a little Longhaired Miniature dachshund named "Skipper" for 17 years ... and for 14 of those years, he never lived anywhere but on the boat.  We had some marvelous adventures involving pelicans and dolphins and gulls.  Dick has been in ill health recently.  He had a significant malignant melanoma operation in Florida and colon cancer operation.  He has congestive heart failure and is on oxygen 24/7.