WFAA’s Cynthia Izaguirre grew up in northwest Dallas, watching Channel 8 news. “I want to be on the news, too,” she remembers thinking.
Photo WFAA-TV; Illustration, Michael Hogue, staff
These days, 51-year-old Cynthia Izaguirre is a veteran anchor on WFAA’s 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. news, but our story begins in 2001, when she was an upstart on Albuquerque’s morning show. Bleary from lack of sleep, she’d wrapped a segment about an LGBTQ activist when she introduced the next guest, a blind mountain climber, only to say something that would trail her for a quarter-century.
“Right after the break, we’re going to interview Erik Weihenmayer, who climbed the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. But … he’s gay!” Then she caught herself. “Excuse me. He’s blind.”
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The grainy clip has been knocking around the internet so long it’s practically a foundational text. Amy Poehler and Jonathan Groff can recite it by heart. Podcasts dissect its micro moments. Over on the Ticket, The Musers have kept the audio in rotation for years.
“Apparently a lot of people think it’s very funny,” says a good-natured Izaguirre, as I stifle a laugh, because just thinking about that clip, I giggle.
Those 14 seconds gave Izaguirre a certain online infamy, but it’s her nearly two decades at WFAA that made her beloved. In person, Izaguirre (“Izzy” to friends) radiates a warmth that comes across on-air, especially in her “Wednesday’s Child” segments about children in search of adoptive families.
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She came to WFAA from Albuquerque in 2008, but she’d been watching the station since childhood. Growing up in northwest Dallas, Izaguirre was terrified of tornadoes. She’d seen one as a girl, though all she could remember was rollerskating outside when dark clouds rolled in and parents around her grew frantic. Each night, she turned on Channel 8 to monitor the weather, delivered by Troy Dungan, and around seventh grade, she started watching the rest of the evening report. “And I’m like, you know what? I think I want to be on the news, too,” she says.
WFAA’s Cynthia Izaguirre, right, during the channel’s salute to the city of DeSoto.
DMN archives
Her parents came from Ecuador, and Izaguirre spoke Spanish at home, a boon for her future media career. Her mother was a seamstress, who made her prom dress, and her father drove a taxi in New York City, where she visited in the summer. She went to Thomas Jefferson High School (“I’m DISD, through and through”) and studied journalism at the University of North Texas before plying her trade in markets like Abilene and Tyler.
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She and her husband, Jeremy Tilley, settled in Grapevine, a city she calls “so darn charming,” where they’re raising 14-year-old twins and a 9-year-old son. Izaguirre and I spoke about the joy of Anchorman, the impact of her first-grade teacher and — of course — that infamous mountain climber.
Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
You went to Thomas Jefferson High School. What was the nerdiest thing about you?
Probably that I was in band. I played the flute, and I was a drum major the last two years. Tom Woody was my band director, such an inspiration. I was also in theater and JROTC [Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps], but band shaped my time at TJ. I still remember my salute.
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Who was your childhood crush?
Raymond Dominguez! He still lives in Dallas. I was in the Talented and Gifted program at Herbert Marcus Elementary, and all the girls loved Raymond. I had the biggest crush on him. I don’t think he’s ever known that. Until now. [Laughs.]
You know, people usually name someone famous, but you just bust out with Raymond.
I know! In terms of a famous person, that would be Karate Kid, Ralph Macchio. He was everything. And guess what? My husband looks like him. It took me a long time to put that together. I was like, oh my gosh, you look like Ralph Macchio. He was like, please don’t say that.
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Do you have a guilty-pleasure binge watch?
I love climbing documentaries. I think I’ve watched every one. Alex Honnold? Unbelievable. I would love to interview him. And another guilty pleasure is Will Ferrell movies. I love Elf — and Anchorman.
You have to love Anchorman, right? It’s your world.
So silly, but so funny. The question mark when he’s signing off. “I’m … Ron Burgundy?” Can’t do anything without that teleprompter.
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What’s a book you would recommend to anyone?
The Lion Women of Tehran. It’s historical fiction about two women growing up in Tehran, one poor and one rich, and it explains the political situation in Iran and helped me understand what’s happening there. It’s the kind of book you can’t wait to get home and pick back up.
Who is the most fascinating personality in Dallas?
My first-grade teacher, Ms. Lucretia Watson. I admire how smart she is and how she’s stayed well-read. She stays up late, so I’ll call her sometimes on my drive home, and we’ll chitchat. I could ask her about anything. Disease is taking her physical body, but her mind is fully there, and I just love her.
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Cynthia Izaguirre, right, with her first-grade teacher Ms. Watson.
Courtesy Cynthia Izaguirre
The biggest news story of your career and why it mattered.
The most meaningful would be my “Wednesday’s Child” reports, which I took over from Gloria Campos in 2011. What an awesome responsibility we have at WFAA telling the stories of orphan children. And knowing that some go on to find love is something I’ll take with me forever.
There was one 10-year-old girl a few years ago. We videotaped her dancing, just flying in the air. And when we sat down, I said to her, “I see God in you.” Because I’ve gotten to a place in life where I want to say the kind things that I think. And she started to cry, and she said, “No one’s ever said anything so nice to me.” That really hit me. She ended up getting adopted, I believe, by a family member.
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You adopted your third child. Was that partly inspired by those segments?
Yes, ma’am. When you feature these children, they stay in your heart. I came home one day and told my husband, I think we can do more. And he said, I think we can, too. Our twins were going into kindergarten at the time, so we started the process to adopt through the Gladney Center, and then one day, he was waiting for us. My baby. My baby who is nine now. [Laughs.] Our three children are our joy.
What’s the funniest thing that’s happened on air?
Girl, please. I’m the queen of bloopers. In fact, some guy stopped me today on my way to a coffee shop, and he said, I don’t want to embarrass you, but I have to say your blooper about the gay climber — it’s my everything. Thank you for the laughs. I still get this, 25 years later.
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On the 10th anniversary of the blooper, I saw Erik Weihenmayer for the first time at WFAA and apologized. He said that blooper has opened doors for him around the world. He said he owed me a thank you!
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