TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Sister stations KHON and
KGMB shuffle news staffNews department employees at KHON were called to a meeting yesterday afternoon at which it was announced that News Director Jim McCoy has left after nearly 20 years at the station.
"I accepted his resignation today, effective immediately," said Rick Blangiardi, Hawaii market senior vice president for Indiana-based Emmis Communications Corp., which owns KHON and KGMB.
No acting news director has been named for the station, which has laid claim to the state's top-rated news shows since the 1980s.
"As of today I'm in the process of discussing how we're going to organize and manage the room. We haven't finalized a decision yet," he said. Blangiardi dismissed industry speculation that he would name a single news director for both KHON and KGMB.
The station will conduct an extensive local and national search for new newsroom leadership, Blangiardi said. He declined to discuss the reasons for McCoy's resignation. McCoy could not be reached.
Also at KHON, reporter and weekend anchor Malia Mattoch submitted her two weeks' notice yesterday. Newly married to John McManus Jr., she cited a "desire to pursue travel and family planning with her husband," Blangiardi said.
The swell of change swept into the KGMB newsroom as well, where it was announced yesterday evening that Jim Mendoza will no longer anchor the news after Friday.
He will remain at KGMB as "one of our senior featured reporters," said News Director Bob Loy. "Jim is a great TV journalist and a valued member of our team."
Loy said the station is in the process of "putting the right people in the right jobs."
Last week, it was announced that Sports Director Dave Vinton will leave the station at the end of this week. Weekend sports anchor Liz Chun has been named as Vinton's replacement, making her the first female sports director in Hawaii television. She began her career with KGMB as a camera operator and became weekend anchor in 2000.
Chun will anchor the 6 and 10 p.m. sportscasts, while sports reporter and fill-in anchor Jason Nitchke will serve as weekend anchor temporarily.
"We will be moving quickly to replace Liz," Loy said.
KGMB also confirmed plans to drop its four morning news cut-ins, currently anchored by Britt Riedl. The final shows will air Friday.
Riedl, close to completing her broadcast meteorology degree, will serve as a reporter three days a week in addition to her weekend weather anchor duties.
"It's a resource issue," Loy said. "We need to reallocate where we're putting people to give our viewers the best product possible.
"We'll end up with more hours of newsgathering and reporting time from her," he said. "She's one of our better story-tellers.
Loy said dropping the five-minute cut-ins will not significantly reduce the amount of news on the air. "If you put a stop watch on how much more or less news this is on the air, I don't think it would amount to much broadcast time," he said.
Groups such as the Society of Professional Journalists-Hawaii Chapter and the Honolulu-Community Media Council have expressed concerns over the impact the single ownership of the two stations will have on the news operations as well as the public's ability to obtain editorially independent news on both network-affiliated stations.
Loy said the station this year added to on-air news time with 30-second news breaks at the top of the hour between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, 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