The Final Countdown

It is almost surreal.  I have fewer days remaining on the air as a television broadcaster than years that I worked in the broadcast journalism business (23 years, 9 months). 

Me, Craig Borgman & Stephen Spiegel

It began way back in 1988.  Just a few weeks after graduating from Brigham Young University, I accepted a position as weekend sports anchor at ABC affiliate KTKA-TV in Topeka, Kansas.  It was a small, struggling station that was waging an uphill battle for survival against CBS and NBC affiliates that had a much stronger tradition and viewership than we did.  I eventually accepted an offer to become sports director.  As a station, we went through waves of news directors, general managers, and on air talent.  It took awhile but we finally got the right people in the right places.  We later moved to a new broadcast facility where our general manager, Kent Cornish, actually allowed us to determine where our desks, edit bays, and even where the outlets in our office would be located.  I assisted in the hiring of co-workers Craig Borgman, Stephen Spiegel, Chad Luce, and others who gave us the most creative, most accomplished, and most recognized sports staff in the market. 

Marty Matthews, me, Lori Hutchinson & Ed Levy

I spent ten years in Topeka.  Working there did not make me rich financially, but it left me rich with memories, friendships, and a feeling of satisfaction.  As a sports department, we worked hard and played hard.  We did not hesitate to try new things and create new ways to appeal to our viewers.  Among them, we created The 49 Locker Room Show, an extended Friday night sportscast with in-depth coverage of high school sports.  We also developed the Pepsi Sports Challenge, a weekly feature involving viewers who wrote us to challenge us to all kinds of sporting events--from sand volleyball and roller hockey to running the obstacle course at an Army base to water ski jumping.  I look back on Channel 49 as my television "glory days."


But there comes a time when you just feel a need to move on and face new challenges.  I felt it, so I left my friends and colleagues in Topeka to become sports director at CBS affiliate KREM-TV in Spokane, Washington.  Unlike KTKA, KREM was in a two-way dog fight for ratings supremacy.  I inherited a sports department that was short-handed in terms of full-time sports personnel and sought to stabilize its image and organization.  A plan was put in place and I worked to accomplish it.  We now had a larger news staff, more high tech toys, and managerial support to carry out the required duties.  The on-air product improved and we became the outright number-one station in the market.  We successfully pulled off live broadcasts outside our scheduled newscasts covering events like Bloomsday, Hoopfest, and NCAA Tournament selection shows at Gonzaga. 

Me, Charles Rowe, Nadine Woodward, Randy Shaw, Tom Sherry

But things changed behind the scenes.  We had a shift in newsroom management and a change in sports coverage philosophy.  The news director that hired me, and set ambitious goals with me to improve the overall sports product, stepped down.  We also made a personnel change on the air that nixed plans to add a third full-time sports reporter.  The writing was on the wall.  After just four years in Spokane, it was time to move on.


As a pondered where my future would take me, I also pondered a career shift, of sorts.  Hmmm, what would it be like to be a news anchor?  I took a fact-finding trip to Boise to check out a morning news anchor position.  While it was a good visit, I was not offered the job.  Looking back, I'm so glad.  Who wants to get up every day at 2 a.m. anyway?  Not me! 



Me & co-anchor Jill Valley

One day I saw an advertisement for a news anchor opening at CBS affiliate KPAX-TV in Missoula, Montana.  We drove through Missoula many times on our way to and from Spokane, but rarely stopped.  I sent an email to the news director.  "Would you be interested in a guy who did sports for 14 years but wants to go into news?"  His response was short but telling, "You're a finalist!"  He sent me a tape of the news product in the mail.  To be honest, I was not overly impressed.  However, my wife and I agreed to pay Missoula a visit.  Once there, I saw what I missed in Spokane.  KPAX had a "family" type of atmosphere in the newsroom.  I could feel it.  There was a talented staff with young, hard-working reporters and an experienced co-anchor.  After the visit, the decision was clear.  It was time to move to Missoula.

Me & country singer Chance McKinney

KPAX staff sees Whitney's ultrasound photos

Handing out candy at UM Homecoming parade

KPAX is a wonderful place to work.  I have worked alongside many people who I consider among my best friends.  Among them is my co-anchor, Jill Valley, who immediately accepted me and made it easy for a "sports guy" to become a respected news journalist.  Others are too numerous to name, but they know who they are.  


One of the things I really enjoy about KPAX is its involvement in the community--from the University of Montana homecoming parade to the participating in the annual Bike for Shelter fundraiser for the Watson Children's Shelter.  There is also an annual KPAX bowling night for co-workers and their families, plus an outing to a Missoula Osprey game.


Over my almost ten years here, I also fell in love with Montana.  The funny thing is, we almost moved to Montana when I was a teenager, but that was not meant to be.  However, it is meant to be that I moved here several decades later.  I love it here and so does my family.  I have adopted the "Montana way of life" as my own.  What's not to love about fly fishing and floating the river in the summer and hunting in the winter?

KPAX gang at frigid Homecoming (wind chill -15)

I have been overwhelmed with so many thoughtful comments from friends, co-workers, viewers, Facebook followers, and others since word got out that I'm leaving KPAX.  Even Huey Lewis dropped me a nice email:  "Well, good luck with the new gig...and congrats.  Will keep the Lolo Creek trip in mind, and if I get some time, will give you a shout."  (I still owe him a fishing outing.)  One radio station, Zoo FM, even posted a flattering article about my big change. 


Looking back, I took a career path most TV people do not take.  I started in Topeka (market 136) and then jumped 63 markets to Spokane (market 73), but I finished by backtracking to tiny Missoula (market 165).  That's okay.  I was never in television to be the "biggest dog" in the largest market.  I enjoyed everything I learned along the way. 

Jill & I at a much warmer Homecoming parade

My son Jace & I riding 6-foot unicycles at Bike for shelter

And now I face a new career with a monumental life change.  You see, not only do I shortly begin new duties as public relations director for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, but I will work an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule for the first time in my adult life.  I have worked 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. (3 p.m. to midnight in Spokane) since the late1980s.  I look forward to seeing my wife and kids more.  I look forward to participating in evening activities I've only partially witnessed over the years (concerts, church activities, plays, ball games, etc.).  I look forward to having every holiday off all year long.  I look forward to being able to take vacation time whenever I would like to schedule it.  (In television news, you cannot take time off during ratings periods each February, May, July and November.)   I also look forward to applying the talents and abilities I honed over the years in a new light for RMEF, an organization whose mission I believe in and support.

Derek Buerkle, me, Jill & Erin Yost

So it is indeed the final countdown.  Am I nostalgic?  Yes.  Am I apprehensive?  No.  Am I excited?   You bet.  Bring it!