The chilling words, "Hi, I'm Becky Oliver with Fox 4," will soon be gone from the Dallas airwaves. The veteran TV investigative reporter is retiring from Dallas' KDFW just shy of her 25th anniversary.
In front of the camera, she's as tough as they come, shoving her microphone in snarling faces of scammers, felons and corrupt government officials.
At home, she is a multitasking mother of six.
Why retire now?
"I'm 55, you get to do that," she says. "I feel like I'm still young enough to jump into something else."
She is getting her real estate license.
"My husband and I have been buying and selling real estate for the past 25 years," she says. "We flip houses. We rent houses. I've been wanting to get my license for the last 10 years, but I never had time."
In the last quarter century, she has grown a skin of steel. She is always ready with a follow-up question when an angry subject hurls invective at her.
Five years ago, though, she had no comeback when she sat in the federal courthouse in Fort Worth during a hearing for a real estate scammer.
"All of a sudden the prosecutor is talking to the judge about this death threat," Oliver says. "Then they start talking about the reporter. They start talking about me." A wiretap had captured the accused making a death threat against the Fox 4 reporter. "The feds actually had it recorded. All of the hair on my arm stood straight up."
More humorous was the habitual drunk driver who had a strange courtliness as he cursed at Oliver while he was led away in handcuffs.
"Why are you drinking when that's a violation of your probation?" she asked.
"Why are you such a stupid [expletive]?" he replied.
Undeterred, Oliver came right back: "13 DWIs. The system hasn't taught you a lesson yet?"
"How many times have you been arrested for prostitution, Miss Oliver?"
"That was one of my favorites," she says. "He threw in the Miss Oliver. He was being very nice and kind."
For the record, Oliver adds, "I've never been arrested for prostitution."
Becky Oliver's last day at the station will be June 29.
The last word
"A tough lesson in life that one has to learn is that not everybody wishes you well."
Dan Rather
