Dacoda Wahpekeche is a reporter with KOCO 5 News. He is an Oklahoman through and through, growing up in Little Axe. He graduated from Little Axe High School and started his college career at Northwestern Oklahoma State University. After spending two years learning more about journalism and the small-town communities in northwest Oklahoma, he transferred to the University of Oklahoma.

Dacoda joins KOCO as a reporter after being an intern in the summer of 2022 and after being a news fellow reporting on-air twice a week in the fall of 2023.

Dacoda had many opportunities to advance his journalism career while at OU. He was a reporter with OU Nightly and Gaylord News. He took charge of many opportunities from covering Gov. Kevin Stitt’s re-election campaign in 2022 to tornado coverage around the university. With Gaylord News, he covered Capitol Hill in DC with stories revolving around Native American stories like when the Supreme Court upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act which impacts many families across Oklahoma.

Dacoda had a unique opportunity with ICT (formerly Indian Country Today), a news organization employing indigenous people to report on indigenous stories. He was able to report on the first in-person White House Tribal Nations Summit after the COVID-19 pandemic, led the helm on the Oklahoma native politics scene for the 2022 election season and traveled to Phoenix, where he reported on Super Bowl LVII with an indigenous lense from players to refs and artists.

Dacoda is an avid golfer (even though he may not be the best) who you can find around Kickingbird, Trosper and Lake Hefner golf courses. He’s an enrolled member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma and a descendant of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe. He loves his Sooners, is a die-hard Thunder fan and roots for the Oklahoma State Cowboys when they aren't playing the Crimson and Cream.

Dacoda is super excited to be a part of the KOCO family. If you have a story idea, you can email him at: Dacoda.mcdowell-wahpekeche@hearst.com.