Image via WikipediaAnother news anchor at KARE (NBC Channel 11) is headed west. You might recall that Paul Magers, the most popular Twin Cities anchor since brother Ron (now at WLS-ABC 7 in Chicago), left for the bright lights of Los Angeles a few years ago. Now he's the star anchor at KCBS there.Mike Pomeranz, who survived six years at KARE mainly because he didn't directly succeed Magers (Frank Vascellaro did and paid the price. He ended up at WCCO-Channel 4 co-anchoring with wife Amelia Santaniello.), has taken a job with the San Diego Padres to be part of their baseball telecasts. Pomeranz was once a pitcher in the Minnesota Twins' minor league system, so it wasn't a surprise when he began moonlighting as a part-time host on Fox Sports North.
No disrespect to Pomeranz, who did a fine job of anchoring. With his departure, maybe it's time for KARE to rethink its news coverage. They used to have the top-rated newscast under Magers. But that was before NBC's prime time ratings tanked, and WCCO started beating KARE at their own game of "news lite". Besides, their longstanding reputation as the "KARE Bears" was wearing thin.
Owner Gannett doesn't seem to spend much money on KARE these days, its profits suffering along with every other media organization in the Great Recession. Due to layoffs and cutbacks, sportscasters Randy Shaver and Eric Perkins have had to double as news readers. The weather department's "backyard" is still an asset, though no longer a novelty since the days of Paul Douglas. And, except for its website, KARE is one of the few NBC affiliates that doesn't use the peacock in its logo. Should we read something into that?
Check out You Tube, and you'll find a video montage of Gannett stations in Denver, Cleveland and elsewhere using the same driving music and opening for its newscasts. They literally scream "Big Market Local News!". Now check out the opening for "KARE 11 News". Their new-age music puts you in the mood for "News 4 Missoula Midday".
Oh, KARE does win awards for feature reporting and for photography. Reporter Boyd Huppert has won a truckload of journalism honors for his "Land of 10,000 Stories", some of which has gotten the attention of NBC News. But it seems that KARE is more concerned with community service than with breaking news and investigative reports, what with "Eleven Who Care" (we call it "Eleven, Who Cares?") and various charity events.
This is the station Mike Pomeranz leaves behind in late March. His replacement hasn't been selected yet, but whoever that person is had better channel his inner Matt Lauer than his inner Brian Williams.
UPDATE: And the winner of the Great KARE-11 Anchor Search is (drumroll please) . . . Randy Shaver. Shock. Surprise. He's been subbing as anchor for the past few weeks, sometimes with Julie Nelson. He'll do well, but you have to wonder if the station did a real search, or if they just told Shaver: "Hey, the job's yours if you want it." Shaver starts July 16, just in time for the Olympics on NBC. Now who's going to replace him on sports?
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