Longtime KTVU Health and Science Editor/Reporter, John Fowler, has quietly left the station, according to multiple sources who spoke to 415 Media.The decision was made late last week.
Fowler, an Emmy winner in addition to other numerous industry awards supposedly left on his own volition and decided to "break away" with a healthy buyout. We don't know for sure, but we put two and two together: Fowler is in his mid 60's and that doesn't bode well long-term, most notably when your corporate owner is FOX, which took control of KTVU last October.
Fowler, many moons ago, told close associates that he wasn't retiring anytime soon and had planned on staying in Jack London Square for the immediate future. Indeed, he seemed to be just as engaged and focused as he was when he delivered his first reports for KTVU --on the other hand we all know when you reach a certain age in local TV news these days, the handwriting is on the wall that management would like to nudge you out.
Seems Fowler beat FOX and saw the tea leaves and decided to leave on his own without being kicked to the curb.
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I met him just a couple months before the Fox takeover. He was actually optimistic and looking forward to the new management, thinking now they'd spend some real money. I was not optimistic, but didn't say anything to him. I thought he and they would get along like oil and water. Guess I was right.
ReplyDeleteSad. Another legend gone. There are precious few left.
Which is hypocritical, considering how old the Fox Chairman and Fox News President are. If age should matter, then it should count nationwide on all FOX affiliates. Of course, that isn't the case. Still, no surprise that Fowler wanted to move on just the same. Though FOX better not try it on Vacar or they'll be sorry.
ReplyDeleteRupert stepped down as Chairman last week.
DeleteWhy would anyone at FOX be worried about Tom Vacar being a lawyer?
FOX and FNC are full of on-air lawyers. They get treated no different than the others, and nobody is "scared" of Mr. Vacar or his age.
Mr Vacar has a contract.
I see that Gasia is moving to Mornings on 2 starting June 22, replacing Tori Cambell. Who's taking over the 5 and 7 pm newscasts for Gasia?
ReplyDeleteYeah, Rich, I'm surprised you haven't commented on the awful commercials they're running where Sal tries to learn to pronounce Gasia's last name.
DeleteGood thing Stanley Wojciehowicz isn't taking over.
I wish the best to John & his family; he's got a great future ahead of him. For as Kevin McCarthy once said, "Hey!! I want my 2 dollars back!!"
ReplyDeleteJohn Fowler a legend? To whom?
ReplyDeleteHe's fine, nothing to criticize but hardly a legend.
I'm surprised Karel hasn't bought an Emmy yet so he can claim he's Emmy award winning as well.
ReplyDeleteScience and Fox don't go together.
ReplyDeleteJohn I wish you and your family the best. As bad as it is being white and being booted out, I was as a 52 year old black man with a degree. Already I have two strikes against me. My job title was changed. The new guy was paid a lot less. The shame of it all is that I would have worked at a lesser salary in order to keep my job. As much as I had done, no one cared.
ReplyDeleteThis is all too common today. And then economists are puzzled why people aren't running out and buying big-ticket items. Economists are morons.
DeleteI'm sorry to hear about your situation, but I'd say you have only one strike against you, your age. To me, being black is an asset for performance TV work in this day and age.
DeleteBeing a black is an asset in just about everything; too bad blacks themselves refuse to see it that way. At every company I've worked, they've gone out of their way to recruit blacks. They've had special committees (given euphemisms, of course), and a few even had a policy that if the person were black they got the job, period. So why are there so few blacks? They simply don't apply! Seriously. Even at the very young level. I just went to a science fair at my nephew's school in Oakland. It's 60% black and not a single submission to the fair was from a black person. Outside on the b-ball court there were about a dozen blacks taking shots, however, even as inside there were a bunch of "minority recruitment stations" waiting for them.
Delete9:56: Were the majority of the staff black? I'm always amazed at white people who see one or two hires that are black or nonwhite and suddenly the organization is all black. Worked with a guy at an agency where admin was overwhelmingly white but some diversity scattered about and a largely Asian finance unit. He carried on about how he felt like a minority. Our entire division was white except me.
DeleteIt's like the joke about how the first black person who moves into a white neighborhood is tolerated. When the second black family moves in, for sale signs pop up.
A new black weatherperson was hired locally. Does that mean it's better to be black when I see almost no on-air black talent?
Fairy tales.
9:56 - get a hold of yourself. The "special recruitment" committees you're talking about are only to check boxes on the EEO recruitment reports. When it comes to actually hiring - well, just look around any media or tech organization - and tell me how many blacks you see - and I know it's not because blacks don't apply, because I have lost track of how many times the qualifications on my resume have apparently jumped off the page because of how quickly I got an interview, then had what felt like a great interview, only to be told afterward "we are pursuing other candidates who are better 'fits" for the position." The concept that being black is an "asset" an a job search is laughingly ridiculous.
DeleteFowler is talented and it's a nice gesture to recognize his successful career but I think that blaming Ch2 is a non-story. The GM has ratings to produce and they can't keep a whole generation of reporters to the point where they look and act like Al Davis.
ReplyDeleteJohn, I hope you're well set and have some real fun plans in store to make us working stiffs jealous.
Am wishing the best for you and your family, John. When people ask what you are going to do with all your spare time, and they will, all the time! Tell them what I tell them. "I'm retired and have no life, but it is a great way to live." Or, "I wake up in the morning with nothing to do, and by the time I go to bed at night, I have half of it done."
ReplyDeleteFowler and a fat check left the building together. Money talks.
ReplyDeleteWe're all expendable!!
ReplyDelete