It has been a tough couple of weeks for Salt Lake City ABC affiliate KTVX.
One day after photographer Tracy Smith was hit by a truck, the station’s director of engineering Dean Davidson died at the age of 55. The station said Davidson passed away suddenly while on a family vacation in Utah.
Smith died from his injuries on Monday.
“As the lead of KTVX’s and KUCW’s technical and engineering team, it’s not an exaggeration to say that Davidson has literally kept ABC4 on the air during his 10 amazing years with us,” the station wrote on its website. “Davidson was best known to ABC4 viewers, however, not for his technical skills, but for his voice. He sang bass in the Lighten Up Quartet featured many times on ABC4 programming, including Good Things Utah.”
“Our friends at KTVX, Channel 4 News, have had an difficult few days. First, one of their photojournalists was hit by a truck while covering a news story and was rushed to the hospital,” KSL radio anchor Debbie Dujanovic posted on her Facebook page. “In addition, they’re coping with the sudden death of their Chief Engineer. “It’s the people behind the scenes at news organizations who keep broadcast stations on air and news flowing to our homes and cars. Without them, broadcasting wouldn’t be.”