Sinclair ABC/FOX affiliates NTV (KHGI/13.1 Kearney and KFXL/51.1 Lincoln) have cut several news anchors and the station’s production staff, moving newscasts to an anchorless format with reporters introducing their own stories. Sara Kirkley announced, after reporting the production cuts, that she was also one of those affected. Dave Griek had announced his separation from the station several weeks ago.
Sports anchor Matt Randazzo has departed Tegna ABC affiliate WQAD/8.1 (Moline-Quad Cities) after nearly 25 years at the station. While he did not announce future plans, Randazzo’s announcement cited a need to spend evenings and weekends with his family.
Meanwhile, Shelby Kluver has added 6 p.m. co-anchoring duties at WQAD. She also continues to anchor at 4 p.m.
Kirk Varner has announced plans to retire from his job as news director at Hubbard ABC affiliate KSTP-TV/5.1 (St. Paul).
Ian Leonard, chief meteorologist at FOX O&O KMSP/9.1 (Minneapolis), has announced he is fighting a new round of skin cancer.
Tony Langfellow has departed Gray CBS affiliate WSAW/7.1 (Wausau) for a new job in Green Bay.
Longtime Twin Cities radio broadcaster Wayne Selly has died at 80. Selly spent is career building and maintaining radio stations, as well as hosting at stations including KQRS. His family asks for donations to KBEM/88.5 (Minneapolis), which plans to continue airing reruns of Selly’s “Sinatra & Friends” Sundays at 8 p.m. through at least the end of the year.
PBS announced that Amazon Prime Video will add free streams of more than 150 PBS stations, as well as the PBS Kids network. Most local PBS stations also stream freely, with geolocation limits, through PBS platforms and Local Now.
Winnipeg’s “KiSS 102.3” (CKY-FM) and Des Moines’ “104.1 EZ FM” (KOEZ Ames) have joined the All-Christmas list in the past week, and, if previous years’ trends continue, more are likely to make the switch within hours of this post publishing. On that vein, lists from 2001 to 2018 which were missed during this website’s transition to a new host have been restored — thanks to a reader for pointing out the issue. Tips on additions to the list are appreciated at [email protected].
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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.