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WFAA’s Cynthia Izaguirre grew up in northwest Dallas, watching Channel 8 news. “I want to be on the news, too,” she remembers thinking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Photo WFAA-TV; Illustration, Michael Hogue, staff<\/p>\n
These days, 51-year-old Cynthia\u00a0Izaguirre is a veteran anchor on WFAA<\/a>\u2019s 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. news, but our story begins in 2001, when she was an upstart on Albuquerque\u2019s morning show. Bleary from lack of sleep, she\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n \u201cRight after the break, we\u2019re going to interview Erik\u00a0Weihenmayer, who climbed the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. But \u2026 he\u2019s gay!\u201d Then she caught herself. \u201cExcuse me. He\u2019s blind.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The grainy clip has been knocking around the internet so long it\u2019s practically a foundational text. Amy Poehler and Jonathan Groff can recite <\/a>it by heart. Podcasts dissect <\/a>its micro moments. Over on the Ticket<\/a>, The Musers have kept the audio in rotation for years.<\/p>\n \u201cApparently a lot of people think it\u2019s very funny,\u201d says a good-natured\u00a0Izaguirre, as I stifle a laugh, because just thinking about that clip, I giggle.<\/p>\n Those 14 seconds gave\u00a0Izaguirre a certain online infamy, but it\u2019s her nearly two decades at WFAA that made her beloved. In person, Izaguirre (\u201cIzzy\u201d to friends) radiates a warmth that comes across on-air, especially in her \u201cWednesday\u2019s Child\u201d segments about children in search of adoptive families. \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n She came to\u00a0WFAA from Albuquerque in 2008, but she\u2019d been watching the station since childhood. Growing up in northwest Dallas,\u00a0Izaguirre was terrified of tornadoes. She\u2019d 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. \u201cAnd I\u2019m like, you know what? I think I want to be on the news, too,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n WFAA’s Cynthia\u00a0Izaguirre, right, during the channel’s salute to the city of DeSoto.<\/p>\n DMN archives<\/p>\n 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 (\u201cI\u2019m DISD, through and through\u201d) and studied journalism at the University of North Texas before plying her trade in markets like Abilene and Tyler.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n She and her husband, Jeremy Tilley, settled in Grapevine, a city she calls \u201cso darn charming,\u201d where they\u2019re raising 14-year-old twins and a 9-year-old son. Izaguirre and I spoke about the joy of\u00a0Anchorman, the impact of her first-grade teacher and \u2014 of course \u2014 that infamous mountain climber.<\/p>\n Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.\u00a0<\/p>\n You went to Thomas Jefferson High School. What was the nerdiest thing about you? \u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u2019 Training Corps], but band shaped my time at TJ. I still remember my salute. \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Who was your childhood crush?\u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u2019t think he\u2019s ever known that. Until now. [Laughs.]\u00a0<\/p>\n You know, people usually name someone famous, but you just bust out with Raymond.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u2019t say that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Do you have a guilty-pleasure binge watch?\u00a0<\/p>\n I love climbing documentaries. I think I\u2019ve watched every one. Alex Honnold? Unbelievable. I would love to interview him. And another guilty pleasure is Will Ferrell movies. I love Elf\u00a0\u2014 and Anchorman. \u00a0<\/p>\n You have to love Anchorman, right? It\u2019s your world. \u00a0<\/p>\n So silly, but so funny. The question mark when he\u2019s signing off. \u201cI\u2019m \u2026 Ron Burgundy?\u201d Can\u2019t do anything without that teleprompter.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n What\u2019s a book you would recommend to anyone?\u00a0<\/p>\n The Lion Women of Tehran. It\u2019s 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\u2019s happening there. It\u2019s the kind of book you can\u2019t wait to get home and pick back up.\u00a0<\/p>\n Who is the most fascinating personality in Dallas? \u00a0<\/p>\n My first-grade teacher, Ms. Lucretia Watson. I admire how smart she is and how she\u2019s stayed well-read. She stays up late, so I\u2019ll call her sometimes on my drive home, and we\u2019ll chitchat. I could ask her about anything. Disease is taking her physical body, but her mind is fully there, and I just love her.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Cynthia Izaguirre, right, with her first-grade teacher Ms. Watson.<\/p>\n Courtesy Cynthia Izaguirre<\/p>\n The biggest news story of your career and why it mattered.\u00a0<\/p>\n The most meaningful would be my \u201cWednesday\u2019s Child\u201d reports, which I took over from Gloria Campos<\/a> 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\u2019ll take with me forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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, \u201cI see God in you.\u201d Because I\u2019ve 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, \u201cNo one\u2019s ever said anything so nice to me.\u201d That really hit me. She ended up getting adopted, I believe, by a family member.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n You adopted your third child. Was that partly inspired by those segments?\u00a0<\/p>\n Yes, ma\u2019am. 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. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n What\u2019s the funniest thing that\u2019s happened on air? <\/p>\n Girl, please. I\u2019m the queen of bloopers. In fact, some guy stopped me today on my way to a coffee shop, and he said, I don\u2019t want to embarrass you, but I have to say your blooper about the gay climber \u2014 it\u2019s my everything. Thank you for the laughs. I still get this, 25 years later.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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! \u00a0<\/p>\n Related: The Dallas late-night talk show host who’s not afraid to be fed pudding on-air<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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