A break from Uber Blogs to honor some veterans

 

As most of you know, I spent virtually my entire reporting career at KXTV, Channel 10, in Sacramento ... 27 years.  There were a couple of shorter jobs before at KHSL-TV (CBS12) in Chico, CA and KPCO Radio (AM1370, now defunct) in Quincy, CA, but KXTV was my life, my family. 

We built a news product that, at its peak, could not be beat … even by the number one station in town, KCRA.  As the appetite for news has shifted to online sources over the past few years, mainstream news outlets, TV, radio, newspapers, have suffered a serious decline. Revenues dropped.  Cuts have had to be made.  Journalism has suffered tremendously.

Facing the reality, Tegna, which owns 42 stations in the U.S. including KXTV, offered a very generous retirement package to its most senior employees.  As a result, the once powerful KXTV today is suffering the worst loss in any single day in the history of Sacramento TV news.  Four veterans are leaving in one day.

George Warren (reporter/anchor 35 years); Mark Pepper (Stockton photographer/bureau chief for 33 years); Tim Daly (Stockton reporter/bureau chief for 25 years); Dave Marquis (reporter 23 years) all wisely accepted the Tegna buyout.  Today, more than a century of news experience walks out the door at 400 Broadway, Sacramento for the last time.  KXTV will never be the same.

I worked with all these guys for most of my career.  In fact, George, Mark, and I worked together at Channel 12 in Chico since 1979 before we came to Sacramento.  They are all the most respected, honored, award winning broadcast journalists that any TV news operation could hope for.  

                                         But the time is right to move on.

I write this simply to honor the best in the industry.  I grieve for the loss at KXTV which has become a mere shadow of the station I used to work for.  I celebrate the careers and the futures for my former colleagues.  Nice run, you guys.  Thanks for helping make News10/KXTV the station that it was.

And, best of luck to KXTV, as it and most other broadcast stations in the country try to find a path to profitability and at the same time serve the public with a respectable news product. 

Tim & Mark photo: Courtesy Stockton Record