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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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KHNL's Yamanoha leaving to focus on real estate
RUSSELL Yamanoha, sports director and anchor for KHNL KFVE-TV, is leaving the station to devote his energies to just one of his two full-time jobs -- real estate.
Yamanoha signed on with Prudential Locations LLC in 2003 and is a Realtor associate whose recent sales include listings ranging from a $675,000 home in Kamiloiki to a $208,000 Seaside Avenue condo.
In addition to sportscasts on KHNL and sister-station KFVE, Yamanoha did sideline reporting for UH football broadcasts.
Juggling both had been manageable, but "it's just getting to be too much," Yamanoha said.
He has a 13-year-old son and 1 1/2-year-old daughter and "it was getting to the point where I was seeing her in the morning and then not again until the next morning," he said.
Like KHON anchor and reporter Ron Mizutani, Yamanoha, 40, has been at KHNL since his college days, starting 18 years ago as a technician.
Also like Mizutani, his last day in TV news will be Aug. 17.
Sports was his life until, on vacation in Italy, he saw people "who could not care less what basketball team beat what basketball team. There's so much more out there and the real estate side helps me see that, too."
Upon handing a client keys to his new home, "he broke down and cried. That kind of hit me like a ton of bricks," as the real estate job gave him the opportunity "to make a direct impact on people."
Oh yeah, and he's not following former KHNL colleague Lyle Galdeira into real estate. It's the other way around, Yamanoha says. Galdeira got into real estate later than him, but was first to give up the TV gig and Galdeira has since joined Prudential.
KHNLKFVE is replacement hunting, "and we wish him the best," said John Fink, vice president and general manager.
'Tis a season of flux in local TV with the KHNL departure, losses at KHON and new hires at KGMB.
Two new faces debuted on KGMB over the weekend, including new weather anchor Malika Dudley, originally from Hilo. Miss Hawaii 2005, she also was voted Miss Congeniality at the 2006 Miss America pageant.
As you may have read in Star-Bulletin colleague Dave Reardon's new blog, KGMB's new weekend sports anchor is Mike Cherry, who has worked at the station for five years as a news and sports photographer.
Both will contribute to other newscasts during the week, said News Director Chris Archer.
Dudley and Cherry replace Jeff Booth and Steve Uyehara, who are moving to "Sunrise on KGMB9," the morning news show that begins Sept. 17.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com