Adele Arakawa leaving KUSA

[C Block 1487]

Even though this was in Out and About, I thought this would merit its own thread given that she's one of the most senior anchors in this market and that it's now official. Hours after Scott posted his "rumor" about Adele taking a buyout, she posted something interesting that I think is worth a full read:

 

Recently, there’s been a lot of attention put on “Fake News”.

 

It’s ugly, insidious and undermines the very values I’ve worked hard to exemplify for my 40 plus years in this business.

 

It’s unfortunate that I feel compelled to offer a commentary – my first in 43 years – because of Fake News.

 

This morning, an internet TV gossip writer chose to publish a story that suggests: I’m being forced out – of my position here at 9NEWS.

 

Here is the truth:

 

I am leaving. Of my own volition, and contrary to the fake news, I’m not being given a golden parachute. I wish. That’s a joke.

 

I had wanted to wait at least a few more weeks to announce my retirement, one: because I believe Cheryl Preheim, whose last day at 9NEWS is December 16th , deserves the attention and accolades for her many years here and her contributions to this community – and two: I’m not leaving for another six months!

 

This was a decision made a year ago. 9NEWS approached me 18 months before my current contract expired to ask me to stay for another term. Twelve months ago, I told them this was it, this is my final contract and that I wanted to retire in June 2017.

 

Close friends and colleagues have known this for months.

 

And now – so do you.

 

The lesson: Beware of Fake News. It’s even redistributed and propagated by normally reliable news sources. Yes, be informed, but make sure that the *truth you seek – is truly that.

 

http://www.9news.com/about-us/adele-arakawa-announces-retirement/364387934

[onthesea 292]

She'll be retiring at a very young age, but possibly is tired of many years working a lot.

[Daybreak 269]

She'll be retiring at a very young age, but possibly is tired of many years working a lot.

Not really. She has to be around 62 so she's at a good age. I just wished they gave her a special assignment position.

[onthesea 292]

Not really. She has to be around 62 so she's at a good age. I just wished they gave her a special assignment position.

According to The Denver News, she'll turn 60 two weeks after her last day.

[C Block 1487]

Not sure whether a "special assignment" position would really fit. Usually that's just a gentle way of leaving. When did you ever see Aimee Sporer or Molly Hughes after they were moved to "special assignment" roles? Adele is also not much of a reporter. Aside from doing things like tributes on the Columbine anniversary, I don't think I've ever seen her do a regular package or a sweeps piece.

[24994J 5269]

The Google says she's 58. I was barely alive when she was in Chicago at WBBM, but everything I've seen and heard says she was at best, a non-factor, and at worst, a proverbial dumpster fire. It's unfortunate it's ending this way, but it's nice that she bounced back and enjoyed such a long run.

[C Block 1487]

The Google says she's 58. I was barely alive when she was in Chicago at WBBM, but everything I've seen and heard says she was at best, a non-factor, and at worst, a proverbial dumpster fire. It's unfortunate it's ending this way, but it's nice that she bounced back and enjoyed such a long run.

 

Huh, interesting. What would have made her situation there a 'dumpster fire?' Big market jumps down were a little more common back then, but still usually motivated by some reason. I've never really heard harshly negative things said about her, more of just the criticism that she's almost never seen outside of a studio. I guess she's Denver's Kathy Brock: been around forever, on the #1 station, and originally paired with a very popular male anchor. I always got the sense that people felt more strongly about Aimee Sporer and Bertha Lynn, but well done to Adele for having a long career.

 

And another piece of trivia that people from outside Denver probably don't know: Adele is, to my knowledge, the only news anchor in the world with her voice on a train! She, along with sports announcer Alan Roach, took over for KOA's Pete Smythe and KCNC's Reynelda Muse as the voices of the DIA train between concourses about ten years ago.

 

 

So I guess she's at least well known for scolding people for delaying the departure of this train.

[24994J 5269]

"Never seen outside the studio", eh? In addition to poor ratings that really couldn't be pegged on her, anyway, she was a critical dud from day 1. Note the bolded text below.

 

From Robert Feder, September of '88...

 

`Hillbilly'? `Airhead'? Or a Ch. 2 anchor?

 

Adele Arakawa soon will become, as Harry Porterfield used to say, someone you should know.

 

Arakawa, 30, just signed a multiyear contract to join WBBM-Channel 2 by early next year. She now works as a 6 p.m. Monday-through-Friday anchor at WRAL-TV, the CBS affiliate in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

 

Although station officials confirmed only that Arakawa has been signed as an anchor/reporter, Channel 2 insiders said she is expected to replace Linda MacLennan as anchor of the weekday afternoon "First Edition" when MacLennan moves up to the 10 p.m. anchor slot now occupied by Walter Jacobson.

 

One thing you should know about Arakawa is that Arakawa is not her real name. Her maiden name was Hausser. Her current, married name is Tiller. So where did Arakawa come from? "It was her mother's maiden name," said a colleague at WRAL. "Her mother was born in Hawaii of Japanese ancestry."

 

"I was the one who suggested she use Arakawa as a minority-ethnic thing," said Hal Wanzer, news director of WTVK-TV, the NBC affiliate in Arakawa's hometown of Knoxville, Tenn. "She's really an east Tennessee hillbilly, just like her husband."

 

Another thing you should know about Arakawa is that she dropped out of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville after the fall quarter of her freshman year in 1976, according to the university's registrar. Although a college degree has never been required to read the news on network or local television, Arakawa comes to Channel 2 with less formal education than most entry-level staffers in the station's newsroom.

 

Wanzer said he "discovered" Arakawa about eight years ago while she was a midday disc jockey at a Knoxville radio station. "The first thing I noticed was the voice," Wanzer recalled. "I thought she sounded awfully good on the air, and I hired her right away as a weathercaster. From there, she moved on to weekend anchoring and then to weekdays."

 

After three years at WTVK, Arakawa moved to Raleigh-Durham, where she has become something of a local celebrity during her five-plus years there. "Adele is one of the most recognizable personalities in this market," said Paul Quinn, station manager of WRAL. "There's hardly anybody around who would outrank her as far as a personality."

 

The local edition of "P.M. Magazine" devoted an entire segment to covering the birth of her son. And when rumors began spreading months ago that she might leave Raleigh-Durham for a job in Chicago, WRAL reported it as big news.

 

Nevertheless, her audience ratings have shown slippage in the past year, according to A.C. Nielsen Co. figures. Arakawa's 6 p.m. newscast has fallen to second place in the market - behind WTVD-TV, the Capital Cities/ABC-owned station.

 

"'Airhead' is probably the first word that comes to mind in describing her," said Bob Langford, entertainment editor of the Raleigh News & Observer. "She looks good waving (from a float) in parades, but people at her station were astounded when they heard she got hired in Chicago. She's strictly a (news) reader who never gets out of the newsroom except to do an occasional puff piece. Most people would say her talents are very limited."

 

A third thing you should know about Arakawa is that she refused repeated requests for an interview.

 

Welcome to Chicago, Adele.

 

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There was also an incident a few years later that she caught quite a bit of flack for. Ironically, it was for something accomplished away from the anchor desk, though it was part of a much larger problem at CBS 2 at the time. Also by Feder, from the fall of 1991...

 

News at Channel 2: Sex and crime at 10

WBBM-Channel 2 news anchor Adele Arakawa never met Dana Feitler, the Near North Side woman who was robbed and murdered two years ago.

 

But that didn't stop Arakawa from concluding that "Dana would have been proud" of her family for "picking up the pieces" after her death.

 

"Murders like the one that took the life of Dana Feitler are happening more and more as women are being stalked in their homes and on the streets," Arakawa said after her "exclusive interview" with Feitler's parents on the 10 p.m. newscast Tuesday.

 

Lurid sex and crime stories are heavy fare these days at Channel 2, where audience ratings have pointed downward for seven years. Some staffers now are ridiculing the turn toward sensationalism, insiders said, by adopting the motto: "If it bleeds, it leads."

 

In other words, it doesn't matter that Arakawa couldn't possibly know how Feitler would have felt. Nor does it matter that she offered no evidence to support her claim that such murders are increasing.

 

All that mattered was that by rehashing the Feitler tragedy and calling it "every parent's nightmare," Arakawa could promote "Women Stalked," her multipart contribution to the November sweeps. (In the series opener, she promised: "You'll hear the chilling story of a woman raped in her own home.")

 

Even by Channel 2's new standards, sex and crime figured more prominently than usual on Tuesday's news: A followup story on the murder of a stripper in north suburban Wheeling. A tear-jerking profile of a woman separated from her children while serving time in prison for selling drugs. The piece was pegged conveniently to the CBS movie, "Locked Up: A Mother's Rage." A report on the sentencing of an obsessed fan who killed Rebecca ("My Sister Sam") Schaeffer in 1989. An update on Paul (Pee-wee Herman) Reubens' sex charges. An update on William Kennedy Smith's rape trial.

 

Channel 2 did manage to squeeze in a few words about the start of the Mideast peace talks, as well as a report on a vandalized suburban Halloween display.

 

"It is inappropriate to draw conclusions about the direction, voice or journalistic integrity of Channel 2 news based on one night," said Channel 2 news director Mark Hoffman. "To do so is unprofessional."

 

Next on the Channel 2 sweeps watch: Walter Jacobson moves into Cabrini-Green.

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Woof. That is rich. That reminds me a lot of the takedowns of Natalie Pujo, the outsider pretty face ethnic woman who was smeared in the press when third place KMGH brought her in along with a poorly-executed tabloid format. I'm not sure how much of that criticism is warranted, and a lot of that seems pretty tame by today's standards. I don't think rehashing a rape and murder victim's story for sweeps would be out of bounds at a lot of stations today.

 

But this:

"I was the one who suggested she use Arakawa as a minority-ethnic thing," said Hal Wanzer, news director of WTVK-TV, the NBC affiliate in Arakawa's hometown of Knoxville, Tenn. "She's really an east Tennessee hillbilly, just like her husband."

 

That is amazing. Can you imagine a news director doing or saying that on the record today? I mean, racial diversity optics with on air hires is absolutely a game still played today. But to say that to the press and in such a crass way? Wow...

[24994J 5269]

That is amazing. Can you imagine a news director doing or saying that on the record today? I mean, racial diversity optics with on air hires is absolutely a game still played today. But to say that to the press and in such a crass way? Wow...

Yeah, one could say that Mr. Wanzer certainly had a way with words.

[ABC 7 Denver 1552]

Yeah, one could say that Mr. Wanzer certainly had a way with words.

 

Probably the same he had his way with women.

[TVCSD 3]

Even though this was in Out and About, I thought this would merit its own thread given that she's one of the most senior anchors in this market and that it's now official. Hours after Scott posted his "rumor" about Adele taking a buyout, she posted something interesting that I think is worth a full read:

 

 

 

http://www.9news.com/about-us/adele-arakawa-announces-retirement/364387934

Always had a lot of respect for Adele, but her video attack on FTVLive is way off base. Fake news??? Hardly. Everyone knows Scott's sources are solid when he publishes stories of this nature. Just look at his track record. It's clear to see that the Tegna suits were behind the video and Adele played along. She will leave with the buyout, aka "golden parachute", everyone at Tegna is doing it, why would she be the exception? You'll know this is true when she lands another TV job. It's a shame to see KUSA, the self-proclaimed bastions of the 1st amendment turn on someone who breaks a story. Here's another good take on the FTVLive story;

 

http://www.westword.com/news/adele-arakawa-retiring-from-9news-how-fake-was-story-predicting-her-exit-8572067

[Eat News 4738]

"Never seen outside the studio", eh? In addition to poor ratings that really couldn't be pegged on her, anyway, she was a critical dud from day 1. Note the bolded text below.

 

From Robert Feder, September of '88...

 

`Hillbilly'? `Airhead'? Or a Ch. 2 anchor?

 

Adele Arakawa soon will become, as Harry Porterfield used to say, someone you should know.

 

Arakawa, 30, just signed a multiyear contract to join WBBM-Channel 2 by early next year. She now works as a 6 p.m. Monday-through-Friday anchor at WRAL-TV, the CBS affiliate in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

 

Although station officials confirmed only that Arakawa has been signed as an anchor/reporter, Channel 2 insiders said she is expected to replace Linda MacLennan as anchor of the weekday afternoon "First Edition" when MacLennan moves up to the 10 p.m. anchor slot now occupied by Walter Jacobson.

 

One thing you should know about Arakawa is that Arakawa is not her real name. Her maiden name was Hausser. Her current, married name is Tiller. So where did Arakawa come from? "It was her mother's maiden name," said a colleague at WRAL. "Her mother was born in Hawaii of Japanese ancestry."

 

"I was the one who suggested she use Arakawa as a minority-ethnic thing," said Hal Wanzer, news director of WTVK-TV, the NBC affiliate in Arakawa's hometown of Knoxville, Tenn. "She's really an east Tennessee hillbilly, just like her husband."

 

Another thing you should know about Arakawa is that she dropped out of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville after the fall quarter of her freshman year in 1976, according to the university's registrar. Although a college degree has never been required to read the news on network or local television, Arakawa comes to Channel 2 with less formal education than most entry-level staffers in the station's newsroom.

 

Wanzer said he "discovered" Arakawa about eight years ago while she was a midday disc jockey at a Knoxville radio station. "The first thing I noticed was the voice," Wanzer recalled. "I thought she sounded awfully good on the air, and I hired her right away as a weathercaster. From there, she moved on to weekend anchoring and then to weekdays."

 

After three years at WTVK, Arakawa moved to Raleigh-Durham, where she has become something of a local celebrity during her five-plus years there. "Adele is one of the most recognizable personalities in this market," said Paul Quinn, station manager of WRAL. "There's hardly anybody around who would outrank her as far as a personality."

 

The local edition of "P.M. Magazine" devoted an entire segment to covering the birth of her son. And when rumors began spreading months ago that she might leave Raleigh-Durham for a job in Chicago, WRAL reported it as big news.

 

Nevertheless, her audience ratings have shown slippage in the past year, according to A.C. Nielsen Co. figures. Arakawa's 6 p.m. newscast has fallen to second place in the market - behind WTVD-TV, the Capital Cities/ABC-owned station.

 

"'Airhead' is probably the first word that comes to mind in describing her," said Bob Langford, entertainment editor of the Raleigh News & Observer. "She looks good waving (from a float) in parades, but people at her station were astounded when they heard she got hired in Chicago. She's strictly a (news) reader who never gets out of the newsroom except to do an occasional puff piece. Most people would say her talents are very limited."

 

A third thing you should know about Arakawa is that she refused repeated requests for an interview.

 

Welcome to Chicago, Adele.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

There was also an incident a few years later that she caught quite a bit of flack for. Ironically, it was for something accomplished away from the anchor desk, though it was part of a much larger problem at CBS 2 at the time. Also by Feder, from the fall of 1991...

 

News at Channel 2: Sex and crime at 10

WBBM-Channel 2 news anchor Adele Arakawa never met Dana Feitler, the Near North Side woman who was robbed and murdered two years ago.

 

But that didn't stop Arakawa from concluding that "Dana would have been proud" of her family for "picking up the pieces" after her death.

 

"Murders like the one that took the life of Dana Feitler are happening more and more as women are being stalked in their homes and on the streets," Arakawa said after her "exclusive interview" with Feitler's parents on the 10 p.m. newscast Tuesday.

 

Lurid sex and crime stories are heavy fare these days at Channel 2, where audience ratings have pointed downward for seven years. Some staffers now are ridiculing the turn toward sensationalism, insiders said, by adopting the motto: "If it bleeds, it leads."

 

In other words, it doesn't matter that Arakawa couldn't possibly know how Feitler would have felt. Nor does it matter that she offered no evidence to support her claim that such murders are increasing.

 

All that mattered was that by rehashing the Feitler tragedy and calling it "every parent's nightmare," Arakawa could promote "Women Stalked," her multipart contribution to the November sweeps. (In the series opener, she promised: "You'll hear the chilling story of a woman raped in her own home.")

 

Even by Channel 2's new standards, sex and crime figured more prominently than usual on Tuesday's news: A followup story on the murder of a stripper in north suburban Wheeling. A tear-jerking profile of a woman separated from her children while serving time in prison for selling drugs. The piece was pegged conveniently to the CBS movie, "Locked Up: A Mother's Rage." A report on the sentencing of an obsessed fan who killed Rebecca ("My Sister Sam") Schaeffer in 1989. An update on Paul (Pee-wee Herman) Reubens' sex charges. An update on William Kennedy Smith's rape trial.

 

Channel 2 did manage to squeeze in a few words about the start of the Mideast peace talks, as well as a report on a vandalized suburban Halloween display.

 

"It is inappropriate to draw conclusions about the direction, voice or journalistic integrity of Channel 2 news based on one night," said Channel 2 news director Mark Hoffman. "To do so is unprofessional."

 

Next on the Channel 2 sweeps watch: Walter Jacobson moves into Cabrini-Green.

 

For you youngsters out there...

The above was how they used to sell these things called newspapers.

That was published the same day that Arakawa learned the real meaning of the word "Mortified".

[TVCSD 3]

The train wreck that is Tegna: http://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2016/12/7/former-tegna-boss-goes-off-on-the-company

 

Does anyone doubt Adele was being let go by the Tegna suits???

[cna247 173]

Always had a lot of respect for Adele, but her video attack on FTVLive is way off base. Fake news??? Hardly. Everyone knows Scott's sources are solid when he publishes stories of this nature. Just look at his track record. It's clear to see that the Tegna suits were behind the video and Adele played along. She will leave with the buyout, aka "golden parachute", everyone at Tegna is doing it, why would she be the exception? You'll know this is true when she lands another TV job. It's a shame to see KUSA, the self-proclaimed bastions of the 1st amendment turn on someone who breaks a story. Here's another good take on the FTVLive story;

 

http://www.westword.com/news/adele-arakawa-retiring-from-9news-how-fake-was-story-predicting-her-exit-8572067

 

Perhaps you are Scott? Because you sound like him. Even your response has that arrogant obnoxiousness his posts usually have. You say look at his track record. Obviously you've missed the numerous apologies he's issued for getting stories wrong in the past. The guy is an arrogant son of a b!+ch. Some of his posts come off as worse than tabloid, and it seems he has some unhealthy obsessions (Wendy Bell, Will Thomas to name a few). He even posted a story about a producer (?) at WFOR that involved her children ... to me that's crossing the line.

[Greggo 340]

Interesting timing. KUSA has lost Kyle Dyer and is losing Cheryl Preheim. Now Adele. Who will replace her? Their female anchor bench is kinda skimpy right now. And yet the guy whose ego-centric 6 p.m. show is tanking gets to stick around. Odd to see Tegna decimate a highly rated station when they have so many also-rans in desperate need of attention.

[C Block 1487]

My guess is that the truth is somewhere in the middle, as Michael Roberts' piece suggested. Gannett probably did offer her another contract, but probably one that wasn't as plush as her current one. To which she probably decided to cut her losses and quit while she was ahead. And even if FTV Live isn't fake news, despite what I may think about Adele, I have 1000x more respect for what she's accomplished over her career compared to what Scott has accomplished. Sloppily running a gossip blog, running fast and loose with facts and grammar, and calling out local TV news hypocrises (shocker) while glossing over his own mistakes is not the accomplishment he makes it out to be.

Interesting timing. KUSA has lost Kyle Dyer and is losing Cheryl Preheim. Now Adele. Who will replace her? Their female anchor bench is kinda skimpy right now. And yet the guy whose ego-centric 6 p.m. show is tanking gets to stick around. Odd to see Tegna decimate a highly rated station when they have so many also-rans in desperate need of attention.

 

To be fair, Gregg Moss and Mark Koebrich have also left this year. It's not just the female anchors.

[TheRob 919]

This is her last newscast from WRAL-TV. That's a lot syllables among the four main talents in the open.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id=SHquZokjiTM;t=54

[TVCSD 3]

Perhaps you are Scott? Because you sound like him. Even your response has that arrogant obnoxiousness his posts usually have. You say look at his track record. Obviously you've missed the numerous apologies he's issued for getting stories wrong in the past. The guy is an arrogant son of a b!+ch. Some of his posts come off as worse than tabloid, and it seems he has some unhealthy obsessions (Wendy Bell, Will Thomas to name a few). He even posted a story about a producer (?) at WFOR that involved her children ... to me that's crossing the line.

 

Opinions are like noses, everybody's got one, regardless of accuracy.

[cna247 173]

Opinions are like noses, everybody's got one, regardless of accuracy.

Not sure what your point is? Are you saying my opinions are not accurate? You didn't address anything specifically though. I see via Charles's post I am not the only one with that opinion.

[Rusty Muck 4159]

For you youngsters out there...

The above was how they used to sell these things called newspapers.

That was published the same day that Arakawa learned the real meaning of the word "Mortified".

Robert Feder was a contemporary of Roger Ebert at the Sun-Times. He's really the last of a dying breed.

[C Block 1487]

Adele's last newscast is next Friday. Kim Christiansen will take her seat at 10pm.

 

http://theknow.denverpost.com/2017/06/11/kim-christiansen-replace-adele-arakawa-kusas-9news/147572/

 

Here's an interesting interview with Adele on CPR News. I mostly got a kick out of it because they used sound from the YouTube video I uploaded fairly recently.

 

http://www.cpr.org/news/story/anchor-away-adele-arakawa-leaves-top-rated-9news-after-24-years

 

But if you don't have the time to listen to a 13 minute long thing, this is maybe the best part:

 

[MEDIA=twitter]876889319348240386[/MEDIA]

 

Also, with regards to the discussion earlier in this thread, I found this piece from a 5280 interview really telling:

 

Any regrets?

AA: That I didn’t report more. I think I could’ve gotten better at it if I did it more, but you miss a lot behind the news desk. I missed out on the creativity of reporting. It kind of feels like sitting in the classroom and not being able to go play at recess.

http://www.5280.com/2017/05/longtime-local-news-anchor-signing-off-last/

[MikePulse 315]

#MeanwhileInOrlando, David Pingalore, the man who came to this town 10 years ago to shake up the common sports report, has his final one at 6pm tonight.

 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/tv-guy/os-et-wkmg-david-pingalore-leaving-20170622-story.html

 

Something fishy.

 

(EDIT: For the love of God, please move this to the out and about thread)

[TheRolyPoly 1843]

#MeanwhileInOrlando, David Pingalore, the man who came to this town 10 years ago to shake up the common sports report, has his final one at 6pm tonight.

 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/tv-guy/os-et-wkmg-david-pingalore-leaving-20170622-story.html

 

Something fishy.

 

Aw no way! I liked his reports. They were unconventional. Jamie Seh, who worked at the small market Watertown at WWTI 50, is now stepping up to become sports director starting at 11pm tonight. She's come a long way.

[C Block 1487]

Signoff:

 

http://www.9news.com/news/local/thanks-for-the-memories-adele/453565123?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5957de7104d30177e3ce1608&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

 

I won't upload my own because my recording got cut off. The 10pm ran five minutes late.

 

Here's an extended version of the package that aired in the 10pm. It's worth watching to see Ed Sardella today along with a mustache-less Ron Zappolo and Mike Nelson:

 

 

Interview with Kyle Clark on Next:

 

 

Please stand clear of the doors. YOU are delaying the departure of this train: