Longtime CBS4 weathercaster Ed Greene is being phased out, according to The Denver Post’s Joanne Ostrow, and he isn’t happy about. Asked about being slowly transitioned out in favor of Lauren Whitney, Greene told Ostrow:
“I guess management is ‘going in a new direction?’ I did not ask for ‘more time to spend with the grandkids’ (don’t have any, yet), or to spend more time at our home in Santa Fe (wife still busier than ever with her business … and we still have a student up at CU).”
Colorado Public Radio has added veteran journalist Jenny Brundin to fill its new education reporter position. Prior to joining CPR, Brundin spent more than 16 years at Utah’s public radio station, KUER.
The Denver Business Journal has hired Heather Draper to cover the banking/finance/professional services beat. Draper, a former Rocky Mountain News and Dow Jones reporter, most recently was marketing/communications manager at the GLBT Community Center of Colorado. She replaces Renee McGaw, who left the DBJ to become the Director of Communications at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.
Fox31 meteorologist Crystal Egger has left to join The Weather Channel. Expect a wave of cranky old people threatening to never watch Fox again.
(Hat tip: Denver Media Watch)
Fox31 weekend anchor Leland Vittert is the latest Denver television news personality to make the move to a national spot. Vittert has been named Fox News’ Middle East correspondent and will be based in Jerusalem.
As the Denver Post’s Bill Husted points out, Vittert follows Bill O’Reilly, Phil Keating, Jeremy Hubbard, Tom Costello, Thanh Truong, Kevin Corke and Harry Smith as local personalities who have made the move to the national stage.
CBS4 general assignment reporter Raj Chohan is leaving the station to become a lawyer, according to Colorado Pols. Chohan will earn his J.D. degree from the University of Denver in May, and will join an as-yet unnamed national law firm’s Denver office. He also will continue to host Colorado Inside Out, KBDI/Channel 12’s weekly public affairs show.
Boulder’s Pivot Communication has added Brad Turner as an account executive. Turner is a former newspaper editor, reporter and blogger who has written for the Denver Post, Longmont Times-Call, Boulder Daily Camera and MTV Online.
Former Rocky Mountain News editor John Temple will relocate to Hawaii after accepting the position as editor of Peer News, “a Honolulu-based local news service that will produce original, in-depth reporting and analysis of local issues in Hawaii.” Expect a “John Temple gets lei’d” joke in Penny Parker’s Denver Post column tomorrow.
Denver Magazine has named former contributing editor Stacey Brugeman food editor. In her new role, Brugeman will manage the magazine’s “Savor” section, as well as other food and drink content.
Perpetually underappreciated former 9News anchor/reporter Bob Kendrick’s career death spiral continues. In July, Kendrick took a reporter and occasional weekend anchor position with CHEK News in Vancouver. However, CHEK News was sold to a new owner in September, and Kendrick has now accepted a position as an anchor on the combined ABC/FOX newscast in Columbus, Ohio. Kendrick told the Columbus Dispatch, “I’m thrilled to call central Ohio home. And, yes, I’ve already started practicing my ‘Go Bucks.’ “
The New York Times profiles former Rocky reporter and current Guadalupe County Communicator publisher Michael “M.E.” Sprengelmeyer. Interestingly, Michael only went by “M.E.” professionally because the byline “Michael Sprengelmeyer” was too long to fit in one column width.
Denver’s loss is Toronto’s gain. David Milstead, the talented business and financial columnist for the Rocky Mountain News, has accepted a reporter position with Toronto-based Globe and Mail. Milstead would have been a strong addition to the Denver Post, but his candid coverage of the events surrounding the Rocky’s closing – and the Post’s own less-than-solid financial footing – seemingly cost him that chance.
Here is Milstead’s email announcing the news to friends and colleagues:
From: David Milstead
Date: September 22, 2009 3:44:43 PM MDT
To: undisclosed recipients
Subject: Milstead updateI will be joining the Globe and Mail, Canada’s Toronto-based national newspaper, as a reporter in its Report On Business section. I’ll be doing something similar to what I did at the Rocky Mountain News – specialty finance coverage. (No column, however.)
The Globe and Mail competes directly with The National Post, which describes itself as a national newspaper, but fails to distribute in some provinces and has suspended publication of its Monday paper. The Toronto Star and The Sun provide local news in the market.
I consider myself fortunate to find a full-time job with benefits with an excellent newspaper that has a serious commitment to business journalism. The Report On Business has about three dozen reporters; the day I interviewed, it was 20 broadsheet pages. All told, the Globe and Mail has more than 300 newsroom employees and circulates about 330,000 copies a day.
My first day will be Nov. 2.
I believed from the beginning that I would face the choice of leaving journalism or leaving Denver, and thought it more likely I’d leave journalism. I had prepared myself for that possibility, and am somewhat shocked to be heading right back into the newspaper business.
It was not our goal or preference to leave Denver, and we will miss all the wonderful people we’ve met in the last eight years. We will keep in touch.
VisiTech has named Bill Menezes as senior account director. Menezes formerly was editorial director of Colorado Media Matters, and spent years as a reporter and editor at publications such as the Denver Post, Wireless Week and Multichannel News. We can only hope that Menezes’ bio will finally replace that of Gabe Boeckman, who left VisiTech a year ago (literally) but whose bio is still the second one listed on the VisiTech Web site.
Fox31 has told high school sports reporter Marcia Neville that her contract will not be renewed, making her the eighth television sports personality to be let go this year, according to the Denver Post’s Joanne Ostrow.
My seventh favorite philosopher/theologian Desiderus Erasmus famously said, “In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” And in that spirit, charisma-challenged former 9News anchor Bob Kendrick has made the move to Canada. Kendrick, whose professional obituary by Westword’s Michael Roberts described him as “steady, reliable and dull,” has landed as a reporter and occasional weekend anchor at CHEK News in Vancouver.
Meteorologist Chris Dunn and reporters Audra Ensign and Charlie Brennan were among six laid off at KDVR/Fox31 yesterday. Joanne Ostrow at the Denver Post has the details.
Meterologist Nick Carter, who was let go from 9News for salary reasons in January, has landed at Fox31.
Former Rocky deputy editor Gil Rudawsky has joined GroundFloor Media as a senior public relations manager.
Former Rocky reporter Jeff Kass has been named associate editor of Denver Magazine.
Maybe the Denver Post’s wire-heavy, two-page business section is more out of necessity than choice. In the past two weeks, two Post business reporters have announced their departures, and neither is being replaced. First up was energy reporter Gargi Chakrabarty, who announced she was leaving to join her husband in Boston. And now word comes that business reporter Elizabeth Aguilera will be leaving to accept a fellowship at USC (the good one).
KMGH/Channel 7 won’t renew longtime Denver news reporter and anchor Steve Saunders’ contract, and his last day will be Aug. 15. Saunders, the son of former Rocky Mountain News media critic Dusty Saunders and the widower of Emmy-award-winning Denver television news producer Pam Saunders, spent the past decade at KMGH, and was at KWGN/Channel 2 for eight years prior to that. Joanne Ostrow at the Denver Post has the details.
9News business reporter/anchor Gregg Moss is leaving the station to take the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer position at Alem International Management. Mosss has been at 9News for most of the past decade. The station also announced that reporter Carrie McClure will not return when she takes maternity leave in June. Joanne Ostrow at the Denver Post has all the details.
It took nearly a week to become official, but the Denver Post is now reporting that 9News’ investigative reporter Paula Woodward is leaving the station after 32 years. No official word on CBS4’s Reggie Rivers yet.
We’ve heard rumors for several days that 9News is dumping investigative reporter Paula Woodward, and now the rumor mill has Reggie Rivers out as CBS4’s weekend sports anchor. We’re starting a pool for the last Denver news personality over age 30.
There is yet another television news anchor shake-up in Denver. Univision Denver’s 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. anchor Rodolfo José Cárdenas has departed, and it doesn’t sound like it was his decision. Media Moves has the details.
Former Rocky Mountain News reporter Ed Sealover has landed at the Denver Business Journal, covering a mix of tourism and hospitality, airlines, DIA, retail, the brewing industry, and legislative affairs. One down, 200+ to go.
We noted a couple of weeks ago that anchor/reporter Ward Lucas had decided to retire rather than accept another contract from 9News, but it was overshadowed that day by Scripps’ announcement that it would close the Rocky. Today, Joanne Ostrow at the Denver Post provides the details behind Ward’s decision.
The Denver Post wasted no time announcing which Rocky staff members it would hire (and, yes, Penny Parker is on the list, but not as a gossip columnist.)
Fox 31 sports anchor Eric Goodman is the latest Denver television personality to be let go. Dusty Saunders at the Rocky Mountain News reports that Fox 31 “executives did not renew the contract of Goodman, who joined the station in October 2004.”
Former Fox31 morning anchor Steve Kelley may have been “blindsided” by his dismissal, but he tells the Denver Post’s Bill Husted that he is back and looking “to reinvent myself” to find his next job. For what its worth, Webb PR’s Pete Webb predicts Kelley will wind up back at 850 KOA, his home for nearly two decades before he took the Fox31 position.
Former Denver Post business reporter Kimberly Johnson has moved to Associated Press, where she is covering the auto industry.
Congratulations to the DBJ’s Mark Harden, who is transitioning to become the publication’s new media editor, effective Jan. 5. Mark will be responsible for expanding the Web site’s features, and his old “media and marketing” beat will be filled by a yet-to-be-hired reporter. Until then, keep pitching Mark.
The New York Times gives a shout-out to Denver’s own Ernie Bjorkman, in which he opines, “I don’t think we’re going to see the anchor people grow old with the audience anymore.”
Dusty Saunders at the Rocky Mountain News conducts the most extensive post mortem to date on Bob Kendrick’s departure from 9News, and concludes that he is a victim of the sagging economy. Dusty also guesstimates the annual salaries of various local news personalities:
Michael Roberts at Westword weighs in on 9News’ curious decision to dump half its top-rated anchor team. Meanwhile, 9News news director Patti Dennis is blaming tough economic times for the decision not to renew Bob Kendrick’s contract (as if his contract was anywhere near those of castmates Adele Arakawa, Kathy Sabine and Drew Soicher), and she says she has “no idea” who Adele Arakawa’s co-anchor will be (or whether she will even have one) going forward. If anyone sees Ernie Bjorkman delivering a bouquet of flowers to Dennis, let us know.
9News anchor Bob Kendrick’s contract has not been renewed and he will leave the station at the end of November when the sweeps end. Details are scarce, but Penny Parker at the Rocky and Joanne Ostrow at the Post have the latest.
Here at the Denver PR Blog, we are committed to covering Ernie Bjorkman the way Penny Parker covers Wendy Aiello Trista and Ryan (seriously, Penny, we wish them the best but their 15 minutes of fame was up four-and-a-half years ago. Let it go). So in that spirit, we offer you the following “Ernie Update” sponsored by Andrew Hudson’s Jobs List, Denver’s leading purveyor of marketing-related jobs:
Ernie is headed to his mountain home in South Fork to become a veterinary technician.
Fox31 has named Dennis Leonard vice president and general manager, replacing Bill Schneider who left in June to take over the Fox affiliate in Tampa Bay. Leonard joins Fox31 from WBRC-FOX in Birmingham, Ala., so expect an increase in news stories on pickup trucks and chewing tobacco (that was for Pete Webb, who was concerned we had lost some of our snarkiness).
Chicago Sun-Times political columnist Robert Novak today announced his immediate retirement. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor last week.
KMGH/Channel 7 promoted news director Byron Grandy to station manager, replacing Darrell Brown who was named president of the station’s parent company, McGraw-Hill Broadcasting.
How sad that it is news when one of the local newspapers hires someone. Westword has the details. Now the big question: What the hell was Wes Pope thinking?
Denver Post business columnist Al Lewis resigned his position with the Post yesterday to accept a job as a national business columnist for Dow Jones Newswires. The Post reportedly is negotiating with Dow Jones for exclusive rights to carry Lewis’ column in Denver.
Kim Roegner has been named president and publisher of the Fort Collins Coloradoan. She joins the paper from The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., where she was the display advertising director.
Former USA Today reporter Patrick O’Driscoll has landed in Lakewood as a public affairs specialist with the National Park Service. O’Driscoll was one of 43 employees to accept a buyout from the paper in late 2007.
If you had Randy Holtz, Travis Henry and Ryan Stark in the “Who’ll Leave the Rocky Next” pool, it’s time to collect.
When former Denver Post columnist Jim Spencer left the paper last summer, he announced he was taking a foray into the world of online journalism by joining the Web site Colorado Confidential. That experiment has ended. Spencer has crossed over to the dark side, accepting a position as communications director for the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine.
The continued death spiral for traditional daily newspapers such as the Post and News has been a gold mine for the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the school recently has snagged three Pulitzer prize winners.
PR Week has promoted Julia Hood to publishing director and appointed Keith O’Brien editor-in-chief.
Joanne Ostrow reports that Fox31 has re-signed news anchor Ron Zappolo to a new contract that will likely mean he retires in Denver.
KCNC/Channel 4 finally confirmed that Karen Leigh will replace Molly Hughes as Jim Benemann’s co-anchor. Hughes will become a “special correspondent” for the station, presumably spending most of her time mailing audition tapes to TV stations across the country. Additionally, KCNC/Channel 4 announced it will begin broadcasting in High-Def starting April 21.
Bill Husted has the scoop on one of the longer-running rumors in town: that Karen Leigh of Minneapolis’ WCCO-TV has been tapped to replace the irrepressible Molly Hughes as co-anchor at KCNC/Channel 4. Expect a mid-March start date.
To date, the mass exodus from the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post has largely been limited to reporters, but the departures continue and now include titles such as Web developer. It’s bad enough to lose reporters to PR firms, but when you begin losing your staff to the likes of photobucket.com, it is clear that the challenges facing newspapers are unlike anything they’ve faced before.
Westword has the latest scoop on the continued departures of staff from the Post and Rocky. Among them:
Denver Public Relations Blog 