Veronica De La Cruz, KPIX Anchor, Just Might Be Reading The Teleprompter This Monday...Maybe

 Will begin, finally, Monday, I'm told.


Nothing official yet but that's the word from the Battery gulch.


KPIX should be thrilled, shouldn't they? But of course.






























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Why Carolyn Johnson Left KGO-TV; All About The Money; Story Behind the Story

 KGO will spin the departure of longtime, respected anchor Carolyn Johnson as finding a new opportunity. Too bad it isn't true.

In fact, Johnson, who is leaving 900 Front to go to an unknown market left because of money, or in KGO's case, an across-the-board pay cutback that accelerated her decision weeks ago to pursue other outlets.

"KGO told all their talent they would need to take a cut in pay. So she, (Johnson, who's been at the station since 1998), walked on them and is taking another job with bigger pay out of the market", said a source familiar with the move.

Make no mistake--this is a major setback for KGO. Johnson, along with Dan Ashley, provided a star-power duo of local anchor status and her leaving is another blow in a news operation beset with morale issues.

Moreover, it's especially damaging to mercurial News Director, Tracey Watkowski who announced Johnson's decision to the newsroom on Friday. A gasp erupted after staffers heard the news.

This was not Carolyn seeking to look for new opportunities. She's a Stanford grad, loves the Bay Area and turned down many job offers in the past. Her business-like, no-nonsense delivery was so good she was almost robotic. Johnson and Ashley provided KGO with a dynamic that made for a compelling news team.

That's now out the door. And in this case, it was ALL about the money. The news that management is about to embark on pay cuts comes right before an important sweeps period. I'm sure that will fire up the troops.

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Carolyn Johnson Leaving KGO-TV News After 20+ Years

Leaving ABC7 --KGO-TV ...Carolyn Johnson...veteran anchor leaving SF ... mostly because of inter-office cutback memo...later news to come.








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Glaser and ND Watkowski Weren't Chummy; Overworked/Exposed Cook May Have Been Impetus Behind De La Cruz KPIX Hire; Damon Bruce scores Guest Coup over KNBR's Tolbert; Thursday News and Notes

  So, from a number of KGO-TV staffers, Leigh Glaser, who's set to leave this Sunday after 23 years at 900 Front, wasn't a big fan of News Director, Tracey Watkowski... Supposedly, Watkowski is a control freak. That wasn't what accelerated Glaser's decision to leave; she was ready to split and wanted to be with her family.

On the other hand, the polarizing Watkowski, who's been monitoring weekend newscasts with a mounting urgency, was known to call into the assignment desks and producer's box and make a lot of rash inquiries, including talent. Watkowski wasn't going after Glaser directly but some of her busy bees may have passed on some notes. Weekend newscasts, particularly Sunday nights, generate some of the highest viewer numbers in the Bay Area and Channel 7 in particular. The good news for Watkowski is that given KGO's fairly solid numbers her status is safe but some veterans aren't thrilled with her mercurial style. Factoid: Glaser's sudden decision to leave was announced to the staff via an e-mail by Watkowski. Draw your own conclusion.

*Veronica De La Cruz is set to join KPIX in May and will work the 6 and 10 News. We told you that and made an inference about what may have led management to look for a "prominent hire." Turns out, according to my spies at PIX, Elizabeth Cook, who was almost the face of the operation working the 5, 6, and 11 newscast, seemed to be burning out. Cook is a capable news reader and proverbial "cutesy female anchor look" but PIX's early-evening numbers have been steadily down and just recently they have been getting killed by KGO. The De La Cruz hire is the first major move by PIX upper management. She came to the city via MSNBC and will work alongside Ken Bastida.

NEWS, NOTES, and COMMENTS: Score round one of the guest wars between KNBR and 95.7 FM, "The Game" to Damon Bruce. Bruce, who began his new show on Monday, had highlighted his first guest, retiring Cal basketball coach, Mike Montgomery. Only problem was KNBR's PM driver, Tom Tolbert, had also told listeners "we're trying to get in touch with 'Mike Montgomery...turns out Montgomery did his scheduled 10 minutes with Bruce and about 30 minutes later, went on the air with Tolbert. Kudos to Bruce and The Game which seems to be attracting the better guests and scored another coup by nailing down Giants MGR, Bruce Bochy on its morning show a few days earlier. The latter was especially embarrassing for KNBR considering Bochy was on the A's flagship station. Probably helped that one of the Game's AM drivers is ex-Giant, Aubrey Huff...A note about Bruce: only heard bits and pieces of his first show and while I've had my ups and downs with the new Game PM host, he's at least a breath of fresh air and more than an alternative to commercial spot-heavy, KNBR with 800 hours of commercials, traffic and sports updates. While KNBR's Tom Tolbert has the advantage of Giants/Warriors lead-ins and a better signal and 50K-watts, Bruce's edgy repertoire will sway a few listeners over to FM...Freaky situation over at legendary leftie airwave Berkeley's KPFA where a bigwig was fired only she locked herself into the back office and blocked the door and has the support of many of her staffers...

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Loren Nancarrow Dies; Former KPIX Anchor

 Sad news ...a former KPIX anchor, Loren Nancarrow has died.

Nancarrow was diagnosed with stage three terminal brain cancer in February, and later retired from his anchor position at Fox 5, San Diego. He called himself a "Brain Cancer Warrior," and authored a blog.

His career spanned more than 30 years and he won numerous industry awards in addition to being involved with a multitude of charities.

He joined PIX in the late 1980's. In addition to news, Nancarrow anchored weather.

He is survived by his wife, Susie, and children, Graham, Hannah and Britta.

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