GRAND FORKS - Chuck Bundlie, the pioneer Grand Forks TV newsman who was WDAZ's first news director and news anchor, died early this morning in his Grand Forks home. He was 78.
Bundlie retired as WDAZ-TV's news director in late January 1992, 25 years after helping Channel 8 sign on the air in the Grand Forks and Devils Lake area in January 1967 as its sole news correspondent. Then, the station's news broadcasts originated at Fargo's WDAY-TV.
By fall of 1967, the newscasts came out of Grand Forks, with Bundlie initially serving as WDAZ's first Grand Forks-based news director and anchor in addition to reporter and photographer.
Bundlie ended his role as WDAZ's primary news anchor in early 1983 while continuing as Channel 8's news director.
After retirement, Bundlie served for several years as executive director of the North Dakota Broadcasters Association.
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Bundlie got his broadcasting start in radio as a teenage announcer for Grand Forks' KILO-AM in the mid-1940s. He also worked briefly at Crookston's KROX-AM in the early 1950s and was KNOX-AM news director for portions of the 1950s and 1960s, sometimes while he also worked in television.
During part of the early 1960s, Bundlie also was a minority partner in -- and the Winnipeg-based liaison for -- a Pembina, N.D.-based border TV station, KCND, which was then in its infancy. It's now Winnipeg's CKND.
In 1978, Bundlie received the Northwest Broadcast News Association's Mitchell V. Charnley Award, given each year to an individual working, or with roots, in the six-state NBNA region, who has made outstanding contributions to the field of broadcast journalism.
Bundlie is survived by his wife, Margaret, also known as "Rock."
Funeral arrangements are pending with Amundson Funeral Home, Grand Forks.
The Grand Forks Herald and The Forum are both owned by Forum Communications Co.
