South African Premier League soccer player Mohammed Anas accidentally thanked both his wife and his girlfriend in a post-match television interview. The back-tracking started immediately.

If you have an extra $189 burning a hole in your pocket, nominations for PRWeek’s 40 Under 40 awards are open. Nominations are due April 19.

The good news for 9News is that it remains the 800 lb. gorilla in the local TV ratings race, according to Joanne Ostrow’s analysis of the February sweeps data.

KUSA is No. 1 with a 2.88 rating, 10.1 share (down 4 percent from last February), followed by No. 2 KCNC with a 1.39 rating, 4.9 share (down 12 percent), KDVR with a 1.0 rating, 3.5 share (up 41 percent), and KMGH trails with a 0.9 rating, 3.2 share (up 7 percent).

Having a client appear on 9 News will yield more viewers than the other three stations combined. The bad news? Other stations are starting to catch up.

The February 2017 ratings sweep shows the kingpin suffered double-digit audience declines in certain newscasts compared to a year earlier.

At 6 p.m., KUSA’s cheeky “Next with Kyle Clark” is down 31 percent compared to the conventional newscast in that slot last February. The time slot performance declined from a 2.87 to a 1.98 rating among adults 25-54, the industry’s accepted TV news demographic.

From 5-5:30 p.m., 9News was down 29 percent (from 2.91 to 2.08). At the same time, KDVR-Channel 31 scored a 35 percent increase and KCNC-Channel 4 was up 17 percent.

At 4 p.m., 9News was down 22 percent; at noon the station was down 24 percent.

Tom Green’s departure has crated an opportunity for longtime Denver anchor Ernie Bjorkman, who is poised to return to KWGN/Channel 2:

Veteran broadcaster Ernie Bjorkman will return to Channel 2 News on Monday, March 27, and move into the Daybreak anchor chair when Tom Green leaves Channel 2 at the end of May.

Since his departure nearly a decade ago, he has lived a relatively peripatetic life.

When he stepped away from the anchor desk in 2008, he became a certified veterinary technician and worked at several Colorado animal clinics. In 2013, Bjorkman joined the Peace Corps and traveled to Ethiopia. Upon returning, he moved into a houseboat in St. Augustine, Florida. 

PRWeek has a released its annual salary survey, and the 2017 edition paints a generally rosy picture for public relations practitioners. Among the findings:

1. Median annual salaries for those at the senior director level and above are well into the six figures

2. The median annual salary for those located in the “West” – including those of us in Colorado – is $102,000 (although that number skews higher because of the San Francisco and Los Angeles markets)

3. 45 percent of respondents reported salaries above six figures (compared to 40 percent in 2016)

4. A ridiculous gender salary gaps exists with men earning 42 percent more on average than women

Credit the Uber public relations team for finding a way to change the subject from last month’s #DeleteUber crisis, although creating two new crises – “drunk CEO argues on-camera with driver” and “use technology to evade law enforcement” – may not be a textbook strategy.

I worked at a Silicon Valley start-up, and one thing I know about VCs is that they have no patience for anyone who puts their investment at risk. I put the over/under on Travis Kalanick’s stint remaining as CEO at two months.

The Animal Adventure Park in New York has enjoyed the chance to engage and educate tens of millions with its YouTube channel promoting April the giraffe’s impending delivery. Meanwhile, the Denver Zoo managed to sneak one by the general public.