OBSERVER Photo by Gregory Bacon WDOE News Director Dave Rowley is pictured at the microphone, receiving a Commendation from the Chautauqua County Legislature on Wednesday night. Pictured with him are legislators, from left, Tom Harmon, Robert Bankoski and Kevin Muldowney.

Huddled among the cameras and microphones of reporters during a press briefing with former state Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Dunkirk-Fredonia’s highly regarded radio news director was growing impatient. On a February day in 2016 when the focus was supposed to be on future developments in northern Chautauqua County, media members from the largest television market in the region had their agenda set on the SolarCity project in Buffalo that was struggling financially after receiving more than $750 million in state funding.

As responses and excuses on the topic dominated the briefing, WDOE’s Dave Rowley got in the last word by posing the most important question for the area at the time to the governor. What was the future of the recently mothballed power plant, the largest taxpayer, in Dunkirk?

Cuomo seemed to welcome the diversion. “We had conversations with NRG and we extended state support to NRG on the belief that NRG would be converting to a gas plant,” he remarked that day at Dunkirk High School. “That was the basis of the relationship. NRG then decided, for one reason or another, that they didn’t want to go ahead with the plan. The state had shown accommodations to NRG. In the meantime, we’re going to be losing jobs in Western New York, we’re going to be losing tax payments. … We made accommodations on the premise that they wouldn’t be closing up shop. And NRG, these big companies have the attitude that they can do whatever they want to do and then they move on.”

That response, spurred by one of Chautauqua County’s most significant broadcast voices, revealed a tension between the powerhouse corporation and the state. It also signaled the end of NRG’s investment in its location along Lake Erie.

It was a monumental moment for the highly respected and appreciated Rowley. But, in his eyes, he was only doing his job for the community he served.

Two weeks ago, the 42-year broadcaster announced that today would be his final on-air appearance with longtime morning show partner Dan Palmer. His departure ends the longest-tenured morning radio duo — one that started 31 years ago — in Western New York.

“Every one of those years, I’ve worked early mornings so I had to get up at 3:30, 4 o’clock,” Rowley said. “That is something I will not miss one bit.”

In recent days, the newsman has been receiving accolades and praise for his attention to detail. On Sept. 19, Dunkirk Mayor Wilfred Rosas hailed Rowley’s work as a “valuable service for our city government with integrity and impartiality” while proclaiming today as “Dave Rowley Day” in Dunkirk. Members of the Chautauqua County Legislature also extended their appreciation for his dedication during the meeting on Wednesday.

Rowley’s career in the business began ominously in 1981 at the now defunct WBUZ-AM in Fredonia. On his first day hosting the morning show, the news anchor never showed up. He made it work, filling both roles before moving on in 1985 to WKSN in Jamestown and working with its news director Dan Fischer.

That tenure provided one of Rowley’s most memorable moments. In 1987, Chautauqua Institution hosted more than 200 Soviet Union visitors with hundreds of Americans in what was termed a “people-to-people” conference on relations between the two superpowers.

“It was exciting. … To this day, I think it was one of the most outstanding events,” Rowley recalled enthusiastically. “It was history-making and it may have contributed, eventually, to the end of the Cold War.”

Arriving at WDOE in 1992, Rowley has savored hosting the weekday “County Today,” program that now goes by the “Viewpoint” moniker. Some of his favorite guests in the earlier years included former County Executives Andrew Goodell and Mark Thomas. He also took pride in interviewing then Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul 11 times on the program during the COVID pandemic.

Rowley also was connected — by phone — to Richard Simmons, a fitness fanatic, who had a much higher profile in the 1970s and ’80s. “I have a tape of that interview,” he said. “I don’t think there was really anything memorable about it.”

In terms of coverage, Rowley has chronicled the good times and the bad. He helped cover hometown Olympian Jenn Suhr, who won the gold while pole vaulting in 2012. He was there when the horrific Masonic Temple fire took place in 2010 in downtown Dunkirk. He covered the county’s HIV crisis in the late 1990s involving Nushawn Williams.

But his most memorable happening captivated the area for five months of 2006 when Ralph Phillips was on the loose from April to September.

“I never thought I’d be at WDOE for 31 years. … It’s rare to stay in one spot that long,” he said. “But I enjoyed the people, the listeners.”

Besides Palmer, who is a member of the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Rowley credited his wife, Cheryl, for her tremendous support throughout his career. He also noted his admiration for colleague Terry Frank, who has been at WJTN and Media One for 34 years.

“People still depend on (radio and newspapers) for what’s going on locally,” Rowley said. “Even in this day of social media, people are looking for a source they can trust that’s consistent, that’s local and shows some care in their community.”

John D’Agostino is editor of The Post-Journal, OBSERVER and Times Observer in Warren, Pa. Send comments to jdagostino@observertoday.com or call 716-487-1111, ext. 253.