Russ Mitchell Leaves CBS News for WKYC Cleveland.

[recto101]

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/478239-Russ_Mitchell_Moves_to_WKYC_Cleveland.php
This is very interesting for a National TV Network Anchor to move to Mid-Market Local TV anchor.
I know that Jon Du-Pre of Fox News during the Tabloid era of Fox News in 1998 moved from National Correspondent to Co-Anchor the News at KNXV with former KCBS2 News anchor and WBZ4 Anchor Johnathan Elias around 2000's?

 

[FreddyE1977]

The writing is on the wall apparently that more cuts are coming to CBS News in 2012.
Mitchell likely got wind of that and decided that the gig in Cleveland was more secure
(at least so far as anything in the TV news biz can be). He does not have any personal
ties to Cleveland so far as I know.

 

[JayR]

Kudos to Russ Mitchell for taking the initiative and making the move.

 

[KeithE4]

This is very interesting for a National TV Network Anchor to move to Mid-Market Local TV anchor.

Since when is market #18 a "Mid-Market?" ???

 

[Sammi Brie]

I know that Jon Du Pre of Fox News during the Tabloid era of Fox News in 1998 moved from National Correspondent to Co-Anchor the News at KNXV with former KCBS2 News anchor and WBZ4 Anchor Johnathan Elias around 2000's?

Du Pre later went to KPHO. I think having two male anchors didn't last long at 15. They brought in Katie Raml ( ), who is still there today co-anchoring with Steve Irvin, formerly of WTVF Nashville.

 

[recto101]

This is very interesting for a National TV Network Anchor to move to Mid-Market Local TV anchor.

Since when is market #18 a "Mid-Market?" ???

OK I heard of Network TV correspondents do dual duties for Big-Market Local O&O's before.
and I heard of Big Market TV correspondents do Small town markets before like KGO-TV Frank Kracher go do the news in a small town in North Carolina.

 

[firepoint525]

Steve Irvin, formerly of WTVF Nashville.

Very formerly. He's been gone from here for about nine years!

But, in keeping with this topic, WSMV now has Lisa Spencer, ex-Weather Channel meteorologist, as their chief meteorologist now. She has been with them for several years now.

 

[searadiofreak]

This is becoming more of the norm. Traditional networks, and cable nets have been cutting back. Many locals are increasing their local news image. I was somewhat surprised by the Mitchell move, as I think he could have landed somewhere in a top5 market, but there is so much I don't know about this move. A high profile anchor position in a top 20 market can be quite lucrative. Best of luck, Russ. (still remember you from weekends in St. Louis, 1989).

 

[sandiegoinexile]

The writing is on the wall apparently that more cuts are coming to CBS News in 2012.

Isn't everyone in cut mode these days? Most likely he realized that he was no longer a hot property under the new regime at CBS. He was bumped from the weekday morning show and seemingly not even considered as a Katie Replacement. Norah O'Donnell and Bob Schieffer are the fill-ins when Scott takes his earnest self out on the road. Norah is likely angling to host Face The Nation (sad, I know). The Two Charlies (Osgood and Rose) have about 200 years of on-air experience between them, but when one/both keel over, Russ Mitchell wasn't getting those jobs. The weekend news (morning and night) doesn't exactly scream Big Star. Lead Anchor in a large metro area gets a bit more respect/perks.

 

[LKellerIII]

Seems like an odd move to me. Does he have family in Cleveland, or something?

In the 80s, Sylvia Chase left ABC to be the main anchor at KRON, San Francisco. But SF is market #4, and her career at ABC was waning. She didn't set SF on fire, either.

 

[Mark Giardina]

What's the old saying: "It's better to be a big fish in a small pond?" In the case of Russ Mitchell perhaps he saw that his career at CBS was going no where and decided it's better to be working at a local TV operation than being unemployed or stuck in limbo at the network. We've all witnessed a massive layoff in both radio and television over the past few years.

 

[recto101]

Seems like an odd move to me. Does he have family in Cleveland, or something?

In the 80s, Sylvia Chase left ABC to be the main anchor at KRON, San Francisco. But SF is market #4, and her career at ABC was waning. She didn't set SF on fire, either.

But wait Jim Paymar went from WABC in NYC to KRON in SFO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2qOtib4KrQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHSyJlcX4I8


Didn't Max Robinson of ABC go from National to Local TV news in Chicago.
I know Bill Kurtis in the 1970's and 1980's had dual duties at WBBM CBS2 and CBS News before going to A&E in the 1990's and 2000's and now Kurtis moved back to WBBM CBS2 News.

Look Antonio Mora of Good Morning America left around the same time that Spencer Christian went to KGO-TV to take over Pete Giddings spot. I know Mora moved from GMA to WBBM CBS2 News until Bill Kurtis got his seat in Chicago.

 

[KeithE4]

Didn't Max Robinson of ABC go from National to Local TV news in Chicago.

Yes, he was at WMAQ-TV (NBC) for a couple of years in the mid '80s. He had been based in Chicago when he was with ABC. IIRC, WMAQ was his last TV job; he died in 1988.

 

[recto101]

But wait remember Dave Marash of ABC News and WCBS2 News. He worked at Al-Jazeera in 2001-?
I remember Fox News Propagandists say "He Committing Treason and arrest him". I remember Radio propagandists doing the same thing here. But Dave Marash went there because he felt theres better news quality there than in the USA. I do remember that Marash co-anchored Al-Jazeera news with a former TV News correspondent from ABS-CBN in the Philippines. Marash co-anchor on Al-Jazeera was from the Philippines but her career after ABS-CBN Philippines she had a stint on CCTV9 China leading up to the olympics in China and then she did reports of North Korean refugees in China and was the Philippine correspondent for CCTV China before going to Al-Jazeera. I don't remember Marash Co-Anchor being bashed the way Dave was.

 

[ding12]

Seems like an odd move to me. Does he have family in Cleveland, or something?

In the 80s, Sylvia Chase left ABC to be the main anchor at KRON, San Francisco. But SF is market #4, and her career at ABC was waning. She didn't set SF on fire, either.

If not for family or best opportunity available, I can't imagine it being enjoyable moving to Cleveland from the East coast.

 

[e-dawg]

How about former GMA's Christian Spencer leaving from national weather anchor to become a chief meteorologist at KGO-TV San Francisco.

 

[recto101]

How about former GMA's Christian Spencer leaving from national weather anchor to become a chief meteorologist at KGO-TV San Francisco.

There was a fake Spencer Christian that was on GMA from 1999-2005 remember Tony Perkins.

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

Morton Dean went from CBS News to the old Independent Network News (based out of WPIX in New York) in 1985, then moved to ABC three years later.

Speaking of ABC, Steve Bell (World News This Morning and Good Morning America) split the network for KYW-TV in Philadelphia around '87.

All these examples provide the precedent. Maybe the shock is that Russ Mitchell is going to a low top-20, mid-top-30 market; with his experience he should have garnered attention from a station in the top-10.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Maybe the shock is that Russ Mitchell is going to a low top-20, mid-top-30 market; with his experience he should have garnered attention from a station in the top-10.

Cleveland is still a top-20 market (barely, thanks to population losses, IIRC it's at 20 TV-wise right now).

Russ told a local newspaper that he had indeed talked to other stations. I'm sure that top-10 stations were on that list.

It's not that he didn't "garner attention" from larger markets. All the pieces seemed to fall into place, and Russ is a Midwest guy (born in St. Louis).

What WKYC had to offer him...well, seemed to be the right combination based on what he was looking for.

 

[recto101]

Wait I forgot Lisa Kim of KNTV 11 San Jose moved from MSNBC tabloid era in 1998 to join KNTV before it became an NBC Station. I know Don Knapp of KRON 4 and KPIX 5 moved from CNN correspondent in the 1990's to to local news in San Francisco. Pat Harvey moved from HLN News in the 1980's to WGN and KCAL9/KCBS 2 in the 1990's-present.