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The Dripping Springs Community Library is set to virtually host prizewinning author and local TV journalist Neal Spelce to share entertaining and never-before-told insights in his memoir about politicians, celebrities and other notable characters.
Spelce’s six-decade career is distinguished by successes in radio, television, journalism, marketing, advertising, public relations, broadcast program syndication, public speaking and consulting. Without taking a political stance, Spelce is expected to address his interactions with Lyndon B. Johnson and four other presidents — both Democrat and Republican — as well as his live coverage during the first US mass school shooting on the University of Texas campus in 1966. The event, held on Zoom, will take place Wednesday, April 26 from noon to 1 p.m.
“His witty, self-deprecating observations will be sure to trigger your questions and reaction,” the DSCL’s website reads. “He has either interviewed, photographed, or associated with presidents Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush, Clinton, and Bush. He received the nation’s highest award for radio reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Headliners First Place Award for ‘outstanding television news reporting.’” Spelce was named Austin’s Most Worthy Citizen for his civic and charitable work. He also received the nation’s highest award for public relations (the Public Relations Society of America's Silver Anvil), a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Austin Advertising Federation, and the Lifetime Trailblazer Award from the American Women in Radio and Television.
Spelce is a Distinguished Graduate of the Moody College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin. The Moody College recently named the Neal Spelce Broadcast Journalism Studio in his honor.
Spelce’s first memoir, “With the Bark Off, A Journalist's Memories of LBJ and a Life in the News Media,” was published by the University of Texas Briscoe Center for American History. He has donated his personal papers to the Briscoe Center as well as more than 300 90-second TV vignettes under the titles of “An American Moment with Charles Kuralt” and “An American Moment with James Earl Jones.”
Registration is required to attend this online event. To register, visit dscl.assabetinteractive. com/calendar/veterantexas- journalist-nealspelce. Email reminders are sent 48 hours before the event takes place.
The Dripping Springs Community Library is a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Government Entity which provides free services to all residents living within, or any person employed within Hays County as well as the Dripping Springs Independent School District. For more events and activities from the DSCL, visit dscl.org.
