Bob Dotson

Robert Charles "Bob" Dotson (born October 3, 1946) is a New York Times best selling American author, teacher and television journalist. His long running series, "The American Story with Bob Dotson," was a regular feature on NBC's Today show for 40 years.

Dotson was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Dottie Bailey, a singer who performed on NBC radio, and Bill Dotson, a janitor who dropped out of school in fifth grade, but attended night classes for 23 years, and later earned an honorary master's degree in Ophthalmics for his study of the eye. The morning of his second birthday, he awoke to discover he could not stand or walk. The family doctor diagnosed polio. Twenty thousand children would fall victim during the epidemic of 1948. Determined he would walk again, Dotson's mother drove him to rehab three days a week for years. His cast left scars still visible, but he learned to walk normally again. Dotson graduated from Webster Groves High School in Webster Groves, Missouri in 1964. In 1968 Dotson received a Bachelor of Science in journalism and political science from the University of Kansas. In 1969 he earned a Master of Science degree in television and film from the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications of Syracuse University.

In June 2016 Dotson joined the faculty at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications of Syracuse University. On October 23, 2015 Dotson left NBC News, 40 years to the day he was hired in 1975. His "American Story" series became one of the most honored in network television history, winning more than 100 national and international awards. On October 15, 2015 Rowman & Littlefield published the second edition of Dotson's journalism textbook, Make it Memorable, an update for the digital age. The book hit number one on the Amazon hot list. On October 5, 2015 Dotson became a visiting professor at Regents University, London, and Webster University, Leiden, The Netherlands. In September 2015 Dotson served as the first Stembler Visiting Professional at the School of Media and Journalism, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In April 2015 Dotson was a visiting professor on the Webster University campuses in Geneva, Switzerland, and Vienna, Austria. In October 2014 Dotson was visiting professor at Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri. In July 2014 Dotson was the keynote speaker at the Institute of Cultural Diplomacy conference, United Nations, New York, NY. He spoke about the American experience. In September 2014 Dotson addressed the United Nations assembly, "People for Peace" in Seoul, South Korea. In September 2012 Dotson was the David Letterman guest lecturer at Ball State University. In March 2013 Penguin/Random House published Dotson's third book, American Story, a Lifetime Search for Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things. (25) The book became a New York Times Best Seller. In July 2010 Dotson was a visiting lecturer at the Walkley Foundation and Network Seven Television in Sydney, Australia. In December 2009 Dotson wrote and hosted an hour long American Story Christmas special for MSNBC. It won a CINE Golden Eagle award for Best American Documentary. In May 2000 Dotson moved to New York City and began reporting his "American Story" exclusively for the NBC Today Show. Bonus Books published his second book, Make it Memorable, Writing and Packaging TV News with Style. In 1997 Dotson wrote, edited and hosted a series of half hour programs about America on the Travel Channel. In 1985 Atheneum published Dotson's first book, In Pursuit of the American Dream. In September, 1979, Dotson began a series of video workshops for students attending Radio and Television News Directors Association conventions. Those workshops continued for 35 years. In August, 1979, Dotson became an NBC News National Correspondent based in Atlanta working on American Story segments for the TODAY Show, Nightly News and several NBC News magazine programs. In 1977 Dotson opened the first NBC News bureau in Dallas, Texas. In 1969 Dotson joined WKY TV, now (KFOR TV) the NBC affiliate station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as a reporter, photographer and Anchorman. In 1967 Dotson applied for a news job at KMOX radio. The station sent him to work behind the a microphone at the St. Louis Zoo, announcing elephant and chimpanzee acts. American Story, a Lifetime Search for Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things (Penguin Random House, 2013), page 116

In 1966 Dotson became News Director of KFKU KANU FM in Lawrence, Kansas, and was a reporter and photographer for KMBC TV in Kansas City, Missouri.

All of Dotson's American stories can be viewed at www. myamericanstories. com Over the years, he saved more than six thousand of them, whenever his bosses, looking to save space, tossed them out. He preserved not just the stories themselves, but every field cassette. For three decades, they were maintained at his own expense in air conditioned rooms—first in his basement then, as the collection grew, in warehouses. NBC donated that archive to the University of Oklahoma and Syracuse University in New York.

Dotson and his wife, Linda, live in New York City, Mystic, Connecticut and Greenville, South Carolina. They married on July 1, 1972, and had a daughter.