Here’s the thing: she was very, very funny.
If you watched Denise on TV, and so many did for so many years, you knew she was humble and kind. A news anchor can only hide so much of her personality over the years; if she’s arrogant, or vain, the viewers sense it. And she probably won’t last. Certainly not for 33 years.
As a young reporter at WFSB I worked “The Nightbeat” which meant always turning stories for the 11 pm newscast. In 1989, the 11 pm anchors were Denise and Don Lark. In newsrooms, management is long gone by 11 pm and the kids are in charge. It’s a hotbed for misbehavior, humor and irreverence.
Denise had arrived at the station three years earlier from Cleveland, and fairly soon lost her spot on the prominent 6 pm newscast when WFSB lured Janet Peckinpaugh away from WTNH. It had to be a blow, but she kept her head down and did what she’s always done: avoid newsroom anchor drama, work hard, do the job.
The payoff eventually came, evidenced in her long reign at the anchor desk. In a few years Dennis House would join her on the main newscasts and their 25-year partnership began. It’s been a remarkable one. Television co-anchors are known for ego-driven battles (“She opened the broadcast, I should end it!”). Denise and Dennis, however, were like big sister and little brother. This was not a “look happy for the contrived instagram post” relationship. Dennis’ loss is enormous.
Back to her sense of humor. If you worked with her you know she was hilarious. The dumber the joke that anyone made the better. Her imitation of a car horn was one of her better impersonations, and there were plenty. She’d make a ribald comment and then the “good Catholic schoolgirl” as I called her would kick in and she’d say “But that’s so terrible of me…”
In a TV newsroom it’s sport to make fun of the anchors. Colleagues often feel that those who present are overpaid and underworked. But no one ever said a bad word about Denise D’Ascenzo. That’s because she worked so damn hard and was genuine and kind to everyone.
That person you saw on the news every night was Denise’s authentic self. I feel privileged to have worked with her and been a friend, which meant knowing this gleeful side of her. Thank you, Denise, for all the fun and laughter.
