It was at an early age that Dave Benton knew he would be a news anchor. A native of the Chicagoland area, Benton grew up watching some of the biggest names in Chicago news.

“I wondered what it would be like to uncover stories about the neighborhoods where we lived and share them, so I decided to become a reporter. I got a rush of excitement when my first story aired and I thought this is what it must be like.”

Born in Buffalo New York, Benton moved to the Chicago suburbs at the age of five, where he lived in Addison, Illinois. Benton then went onto Northern Illinois University where he received his bachelor’s degree in Broadcast News and a minor in Political Science.

Benton says the thing that he enjoys most about his career is that he gets a front row seat to events that shape lives and he gets to meet fascinating people everyday.

“My goal as an anchor is to give our viewers a clear and concise, fair and accurate look at our community. I hope to offer them information they can use everyday. I want viewers to get an accurate look at the day’s events and understand what they mean to them. I don’t want them to watch a newscast and feel like they missed something.”

It was WCIA3’s heritage as a news leader that led Benton to move to Central Illinois from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he worked at KGAN anchoring the evening news.

“The station has a long tradition of being a news leader and has a team of professionals in the newsroom that work hard everyday to live up to that tradition. And I will continue the long tradition WCIA3 has for covering the news and being a vital part of the community.”

Benton comes to the station with years of experience in news. Before working in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he anchored the evening news at WAOW in Wausau, WI and both anchored and served as the News Director at KMOT in Minot, North Dakota. Benton has also won a number of awards that include being voted “Most Beloved TV Personality” in 1999, a NBNA first place documentary award in 2003, and a NBNA Eric Sevareid Award of Merit for general reporting.

When Benton isn’t working, he is spending time with his wife of twenty-three years and his eighteen-year-old daughter and fifteen-year-old son. “I love to be with my wife and two kids. Those three make everything I do worthwhile. We love to watch movies, go for bike rides, visit friends and find great ‘out of the way’ restaurants.”

Living in a family friendly community was important to Benton and his wife, so moving to Central Illinois seemed like a perfect fit.

“Central Illinois offers all the things my wife and I look for when choosing a place to live. It is family friendly, has good schools and there’s little crime. That’s a great start, but it gets even better because the University of Illinois offers many cultural opportunities my family may not get somewhere else.”