Anchors shifting at KHON
Newly returned KHON reporter Ron Mizutani will be back on the anchor desk for the 5 p.m. news starting Monday, the station has announced.
Jai Cunningham, who currently co-anchors the 5 p.m. show with Tannya Joaquin, will join the morning team in early April, upon returning from vacation.
Mizutani left the reporting beat and the anchor desk Aug. 17 after more than 20 years at KHON, to take a short-lived job as vice president of corporate communications for Hawaiian Telcom. He resigned from the job in January and reupped with KHON earlier this month.
"It is great to have Ron and Tannya anchoring together again on Hawaii at Five," said News Director Lori Silva, in a statement. He will continue his role as a reporter as well. Silva did not immediately return a call seeking additional information.
Cunningham will become the fifth on-air member of the KHON morning news team, joining anchors Kirk Matthews and Kathy Muneno, roving reporter Manolo Morales and weather anchor Trini Kaopuiki.
His addition will give KHON five on-camera personalities in the morning, equaling the staffing on KGMB's successful-out-of-the-blocks "Sunrise" show.
KHON has long led the morning news ratings, but KGMB's Sunrise debuted in September and was ranked third in the four-way morning news race in its first Nielsen ratings period in November. Its household ratings and share points boosted it to a second-place tie with KITV's morning news in the recent February sweeps.
KGMB's on-camera morning crew consists of anchors Steve Uyehara, Grace Lee, anchor and reporter Ramsay Wharton, meteorologist Jeff Booth and resident "explainer" Howard Dicus. The station also employs input from KINE-FM 105.1 morning host "Billy V" Van Osdol and Hollywood reporter Mike Evans.