Hgeocities.com/eastcoasttvnews/archives/2004/newscenter.htmlgeocities.com/eastcoasttvnews/archives/2004/newscenter.htmlelayedx܎JHOKtext/htmlE Hb.HSun, 05 Sep 2004 01:06:46 GMTMozilla/4.5 (compatible; HTTrack 3.0x; Windows 98)en, *܎JH East Coast TV News - News Center

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WSMV to can Kalis
Move continues TV trend of replacing older sports anchors

(Nashville, Tenn. - Sep. 4) WSMV/Ch. 4 is pulling sports anchor Rudy Kalis from the 10 p.m. anchor desk and will replace him altogether in less than three months, according to the Tennessean. The move comes less than three weeks after Kalis celebrated his thirtieth anniversary with the station. The reason for the change? The proverbial "they wanted to go in a different direction," Kalis tells the paper. Kalis joined Ch. 4 in 1974, his bio says, working as assistant sports director under Charlie McAlexander before being elevated to the main gig in the mid-80's. In choosing his replacement, the station, at one time dominant in the ratings and now in a dogfight with WTVF/Ch. 5 for first, is passing over its next most senior sportscaster. No. 3 guy Steve Wrigley will reportedly replace Kalis, not weekend sports anchor Aaron Solomon. "Sometimes a bird's nest needs to be ruffled to find out he's an eagle who can fly," Kalis, also a motivational speaker, tells the Tennessean. The move by the Nashville station follows the firing of another longtime sports anchor two states away.


About a year after giving Warren Peper only a one-year contract extension, WCSC/Ch. 5 in Charleston, S.C., apparently decided not to renew last month. So, Peper, who had joined the station right out of college and also stayed for thirty years, was unceremoniously dropped. Under the last contract, he had been pulled from his 11 p.m. news co-anchoring duties of a few years but continued as sports director and host of the 5 p.m. news "Talkback" segment, where he fielded viewer calls. In an online bio, Peper wrote as his news philosophy "the notion that everyone deserves to be treated fairly." "Peper deserves better than this for all those years he served in journalism," wrote one local resident in a letter to the newspaper.

In New York, Warner Wolf was set to begin his new job this morning. The sportscaster known for his catch phrase "let's go to the videotape" was on the job for some three decades for WABC/Ch. 7, WCBS/Ch. 2, Washington's WUSA/Ch. 9, and Ch. 2 again before being canned this spring by the CBS station. He's since found work in the same place where he started his broadcasting career, radio, where he will do sports for WABC/AM 770's morning drive show "Curtis & Kuby" and host a Saturday morning show on WEVD/AM 1050, "ESPN Sports Radio." He was replaced at Ch. 2 by the younger Chris Wragge from Houston.

In Washington, where Wolf grew up and served two broadcasting tours of duty, another sports anchor will soon get the heave-ho. WUSA/Ch. 9's Frank Herzog is expected to be loosed by the station when his contract expires in November. He started in news at the station in 1969 before becoming the weekend sports anchor, serving as lead sportscaster at rival WJLA/Ch. 7, and later returning as a sports reporter and anchor. He was elevated to main sports anchor for Ch. 9 last year, and is set to be replaced by the younger Brett Haber of "Sports Center" fame who at one time replaced Wolf at 11 p.m. (Herzog was also replaced calling the Redskins on the radio, but DCRTV is reporting he's landed a postgame Skins radio gig on another station.)

The trend of replacing older sportscasters comes as sports segments in general are receiving less time and attention from local TV stations. The thinking by many industry insiders is that sports lovers can get their fix on cable while others are turned off by the segments, with some stations deciding to carve out a niche with more coverage of local teams.

 

 


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