OHIO CONNECTION: Birth/Resident
North Olmsted (birth)
After meeting former WJW-TV 8 anchor Tana Carli, North Olmsted native Denise Marie Dufala left Dyke College, changed her major to journalism, and enrolled in The Ohio State University. Beginning her sophomore year, Dufala began mailing audition tapes to Virgil Dominic, the general manager of Cleveland’s CBS affiliate WJW-TV8. Seeing potential, he encouraged Dufala’s professional development. Dufala graduated from OSU with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism.
Her career as a broadcast journalist began as a Promotions Producer with WSYX-TV (formerly WTVN) in Columbus (1983-1986). Concurrently, between 1983 and 1984, she worked as a writer for the State of Ohio’s “Heart of it All” campaign.
In 1986, Virgil Dominic hired her as a reporter-trainee at WJW; and, in 1987, made her co-anchor of the 6:00 am edition of Newscenter 8. A staffing shakeup in May of 1989 resulted in Dufala’s promotion to the station’s world/international desk.
In mid-June 1991, Robin Swoboda (one of Cleveland’s favorite TV reporters and WJW-TV8’s highest paid anchor) was offered an NBC network job in New York City as host of Cover to Cover, a daily magazine program. As a result, Dufala and her colleague Kelly O’Donnell were scheduled as rotating co-anchors during the six and eleven o’clock newscasts. In August of 1991, Dufala officially became Swoboda’s permanent replacement.
In September 1994, Dufala accepted an offer from WOIO-Channel 19 and resigned from WJW after an eight year run, signing on as Channel 19’s first primary news anchor.
In November of 1997, Dufala began writing her Plain Dealer column, “Denise Dufala’s People,” which was featured every Sunday on Page Two alongside Elizabeth Auster’s social commentary column.
Dufala obtained a new co-anchor during the six and eleven o’clock broadcasts in February, 2012, when Romona Robinson (with fifteen years’ experience with WKYC) joined the WOIO team.
Further changes occurred in Dufala’s career when she was reassigned to the five and six o’clock newscast instead of the 6:00pm to 7:00pm.
After twenty-two years in Cleveland television, Dufala left WOIO in December 2016.
In 2006, Dufala was inducted into Ohio’s Radio/Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame and in 2010 into the Cleveland Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
In 2017, she became a national ambassador for the Values in Action Foundation and Duck (brand tape)’s Project Love campaign, promoting their Stick Together anti-bullying message to children in schools throughout Ohio.
Bomba the Brave, Dufala’s first book, was published in 2018 by Halo Publishing International. An anti-bullying children’s book aimed at readers ages three to twelve, Bomba is about a bunny named Bomba Zurawski (her nephew thought up the name “Bomba”) who is ridiculed by class bullies on account of his new eyeglasses. Dufala had conceived the basic storyline of Bomba when she was in first grade.
Additional Resources
Brill, Jason. 2017, April 10. “Life According to Denise Dufala.” Cleveland Magazine.
Bigam, Kate. 2018, December 6. “Do-Gooder: Denise Dufala Writes for the Kids.” Cleveland Magazine.
Anna Iacovetta, “An Interview with Denise Dufala, Journalist Turned Author.” The Children’s Book Review. May, 2018