Long-Time Warren Executive Editor Tack Nail Dies at 82

Dawson “Tack” Nail, 82, who spent more than 50 years as one of the most prominent reporters covering broadcasting and telecommunications in Washington, died Friday from injuries he sustained in a fall a day earlier at his Virginia home. He was the longtime executive editor of Warren Communications News’s Television Digest with Consumer Electronics and Communications Daily.

His honors included a long list of awards, among them the National Association of Broadcasters Spirit of Broadcasting Award. He was a former president of the D.C. chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, originally Sigma Delta Chi, and was a member of the chapter’s Hall of Fame. He also was a long-time board member of the Broadcasters Foundation and a member of such groups as the Broadcast Pioneers and the National Press Club’s Golden Owls. In 2010 he was inducted into the Club’s prestigious “Oder of the Owl,” reserved for the “wisest” long-time members of the club. He joined C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb on the first C-SPAN call-in show, in 1980, and was a panelist on other news shows, including NBC’s Meet the Press. He lectured at a long list of universities, including Temple, San Francisco State, American University, Johns Hopkins, Howard, San Diego State, UCLA, Bowling Green and Oklahoma State, where he had received a Master of Science degree in journalism.

Nail was known throughout telecom and broadcasting circles both for his unequalled access to the powerful, and for his outrageousness. He once supposedly called an NAB official about typos in the official’s report to the NAB board, before the board members received it. Another time he called a public broadcasting lobbyist who had just left a meeting at the White House where he was told he had prevailed. Nail informed him, correctly, that the White House had changed its mind and he had not. It took the lobbyist 24 hours to verify it. When onetime NBC President Grant Tinker was at the peak of his considerable power, Nail was heard chewing the executive out because his secretary had delayed putting Nail’s call through. Tinker apologized profusely.

And Nail reciprocated the attentiveness of his sources: In 2008 he ventured onto the U.S. Capitol grounds to comply with the wishes of former Rep. Lionel Van Deerlin that his ashes be spread there, after red tape prevented it. Nail knew the area well -- for years he had been among the select journalists who had been grandfathered to have an assigned parking spot on the grounds.

"Tack was a legendary figure in the history of broadcasting and of trade journalism,” said Daniel Warren, president and editor of Warren Communications News. “He was critical to the success of our company. Communications Daily would have been impossible without him. He was as beloved for his eccentricities as he was for his professional integrity."

"Tack was a great friend who mentored many a journalist, protected many a source, and provided us all with plenty of laughs through the years,” said NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton. “We grieve for his family, while we celebrate the life of a reporter whose decency, integrity and simple kindness were unmatched."

"Tack was first and foremost a journalist -- ferreting out information to keep us all honest -- but he often freely shared with his sources wise counsel honed by years on the beat and tempered by a good heart,” said NCTA Senior Vice President Rob Stoddard. “Tack’s role as a mentor for young or new telecom reporters was unrivaled in Washington, and his puckish good humor and fun-loving attitude could be uplifting even in difficult or awkward situations. As a writer and editor, Tack set a high bar for trade and business journalism."

Tack Nail was born in Oklahoma in 1928 and spent part of his childhood at the Masonic Boys Home, an orphanage in Guthrie. He was sports editor of his college paper at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, where he received a bachelor’s degree. He also had a weekly sports program on KWOE(AM) Clinton.

After college he spent two years in the Army, in Korea, riding in two-seat, unarmed propeller planes over the front lines as a forward artillery observer. He returned to Oklahoma after the war to earn his master’s degree, taught history and journalism in high school, and was an assistant wrestling and football coach.

He arrived in Washington in 1955 with Broadcasting magazine, then moved to Television Digest in 1964, where he stayed until his semi-retirement. The dean of reporters covering the communications industry, he continued as a regular contributor to the newsletters until his death. He remained active in several broadcast-related groups, including on the Broadcast Pioneers board.

He is survived by his wife, Joan, and six children. Funeral arrangements are to be determined.