Eric Gardner, longtime meteorologist at Gray ABC affiliate KOTA-TV/3.1 (Rapid City), has died at the age of 60. Gardner was also a food and wine expert and hosted cooking segments on the station in addition to delivering morning and midday weather forecasts. KOTA-TV reports that Gardner worked in Montana, Wyoming, and Texas before joining the station in 2002.
Longtime Morgan Murphy Media President and CEO Elizabeth Murphy Burns has died at the age of 79. Her death comes only months after her retirement. The company’s WISC-TV reports that Murphy Burns, the granddaughter of the company’s founder, began her career selling classified ads at the age of 14. She owned and operated her own radio station by the age of 25 and later rejoined the family company.
WTIP/90.7 (Grand Marais) reports that longtime volunteer host Mark Abrahamson has died of cancer. Abrahamson hosted numerous shows at the station, including “North Shore Morning,” and had been working as recently as last weekend. He was named Ampers Volunteer of the Year in 2020 and Cook County Citizen of the Year in 2024.
KBJR-TV reported on the impact that possible clawbacks of Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding would have on WTIP, which is the only local radio station in Cook County.
KELO-TV reported on longtime Watertown radio announcer and owner Jim Aesoph‘s recovery from a brain bleed.
WBAY-TV reported on news director Julie Moravchik‘s battle with breast cancer. Moravchik started her career in the Duluth market and also worked in Grand Forks, Jefferson City, and Milwaukee before her current role in Green Bay. Your reporter is grateful to call Julie a longtime friend.
Paul Charchian announced that he’s leaving iHeartMedia’s KFAN (KFXN-FM/100.3 Minneapolis) has he prepares to move to Utah.
Gray Media NBC affiliate KTTC/10.1 (Rochester) announced that it is dropping its weekend morning newscasts and replacing them with a simulcast of Local News Live, the company’s national news service. The Saturday and Sunday 6 a.m. broadcasts had been the only local weekend morning newscasts in the market. The newscasts’ anchors will continue at the station in other capacities.
Nexstar CBS affiiate KELO-TV/11.1 (Sioux Falls) has resumed live streaming of local newscasts, dropping a two-hour delay that had been implemented two years ago.
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Disclosure: Jon Ellis is an employee of Gray Media Group. The statements and views expressed in this posting are his own and do not reflect those of Gray Media Group.