Beryl Dakers

Beryl Dakers is an American broadcast journalist, producer, and documentary filmmaker known for her long career with South Carolina ETV. She is recognized as one of the first African American on-air reporters in South Carolina and has become one of the state’s most influential figures in public broadcasting and cultural programming.

Early life and education

Dakers was born in the early 1950s in Columbia, South Carolina. She grew up during the era of Jim Crow laws, attending segregated schools and facing limited access to resources that were made available to white students. Despite these conditions, she received a strong education and became interested in journalism while still in high school, where she worked as a reporter for her school newspaper.

After graduation she attended Syracuse University in New York, where she earned a degree in American studies and journalism. During college she joined the National Urban League, which played an important role in the civil rights movement. She also worked a summer job through the organization and participated in programs with the Congress of Racial Equality.

Career

Dakers began her broadcasting career in the early 1970s when she became the first African American on-air news reporter for WIS radio in Columbia. She later joined WIS television, where she worked in roles that included producer, reporter, and public affairs director. She was also among the first African American women to serve as on-air personalities for the station.

She later moved to South Carolina ETV, where she built a career that spans more than three decades. At ETV she has hosted public forums with state and national leaders and has produced a range of documentaries about South Carolina history, civil rights, and major social issues. Her films include *Making a Way Out of No Way* and *Strom Thurmond at the Seat of Power*. She has also created films on domestic violence and coastal environmental concerns.

Dakers created several programs that became some of ETV’s most popular series. These include *NatureScene*, which aired from 1978 to 2003 and introduced viewers to natural environments across the United States, as well as *What in the World Is It*. She also hosts *VERVE*, a monthly arts magazine program produced by ETV.

Dakers has served as executive director of Cultural Programming for South Carolina ETV and as executive producer for the network’s Outreach program. Her work has made her one of the most recognizable cultural and documentary figures in South Carolina broadcasting.

Awards and honors

Dakers has been nominated for two Emmy Awards and has earned recognition for her contributions to broadcasting and the arts. In 2000 she received the Elizabeth ONeill Verner Governor’s Award for the Arts, which is the highest honor for contributions to the arts in South Carolina. In 2004 she was inducted into the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame. She later won an Emmy Award in 2017 for her work in television production.

Professional and community involvement

A Columbia native, Dakers has been active in state and local arts organizations. She has served on the board of the South Carolina Arts Foundation, the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties, the South Carolina Arts Alliance, and the Historic Columbia Board of Advocates. She has also served two terms as president of the Columbia Urban League.

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