FOX 26 anchor DaLaun Dillard announced Friday that he’s launching a Substack newsletter, joining a growing number of journalists using the platform to connect directly with audiences and share more personal reflections outside traditional television news.
In a social media post, Dillard said he felt called to become more open about his life beyond the camera.
“God has been nudging me for awhile to talk more. Be more transparent about the journey off camera. Open up beyond ‘the script,'” he wrote. “I finally made a Substack.”
Called Off Script, the free newsletter will focus on “pursuing excellence, purpose and faith in public” while documenting his own journey.
Substack allows journalists and creators to publish newsletters directly to subscribers. In recent years, high-profile media figures such as Dan Rather and Katie Couric have also built audiences on the platform.
In his first post, Dillard acknowledged that while he speaks to millions of viewers each morning, opening up personally has never come naturally.
“Every morning, I wake up and speak on television to nearly eight million people across one of the largest metropolitan areas in America,” he wrote. “But as big of a personality as people see on TV, I’m actually far more introverted than most realize.”
He said moving from evening news to Houston morning television brought out more of his personality, but he still resisted starting the newsletter.
“So when I felt God continually nudging me to start a Substack, I ignored Him. Actually… I argued with Him,” he wrote.
Dillard said transparency has been difficult because “I’ve been burned by people I trusted” and had his vulnerability “mishandled.”
Now 32, he reflected on spending much of his 20s chasing career opportunities and moving to four states while climbing the TV news ladder. Looking back, he said he focused so much on becoming the journalist viewers saw on television that he neglected “becoming the man God was trying to shape behind the scenes.”
“I’ve never actually admitted that publicly until now,” he wrote.
Dillard said this chapter of his life is “less about climbing, more about becoming.”
“I’m learning what stability looks like. What rest looks like. What it means to build an identity that isn’t anchored in ratings, contracts, promotions, a good salary, but in Christ,” he wrote.
He closed by saying he wants to honestly share what he’s learning, even if he doesn’t have all the answers.
Dillard joined FOX 26 in December 2023 after several years at WEWS in Cleveland, where he won two Emmy Awards for his reporting, including coverage from East Palestine after the Norfolk Southern train derailment. He now co-anchors Houston’s Morning Show alongside Melissa Wilson before returning to anchor the station’s noon newscast.