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The Fresno Bee, Calif., Rick Bentley column: Weather forecaster leaves KSEE and the Valley(Fresno Bee (CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jul. 6--Jason Laney has resigned as the weekday weather forecaster at KSEE, Channel 24. He leaves the local NBC affiliate after eight years. In a letter of resignation submitted Friday, Laney wrote: "Unfortunately, my children will be relocating back to Louisiana this summer. With their departure, this leaves Patricia and I alone with no family in the immediate area. I have really come to know the joy of having contact with family on a regular basis. As a result, I am going to look for employment in a region that puts us close to either my family in the South or Patricia's family in the Pacific Northwest." Laney has two children, ages 14 and 16, from his first marriage. He remarried in October 2005. In an interview after leaving KSEE, Laney says: "My first wife moved from Louisiana to Fresno about a year ago. But nothing jelled here for her or the kids, so they are moving back to Louisiana." Laney's time at KSEE had some stormy moments. He spent six weeks in a rehabilitation program in July 2004, to deal with an alcohol problem. This followed an investigation by Clovis police in May 2004 of a misdemeanor battery reportedly involving Laney. No charges were filed, but KSEE suspended Laney for six weeks. Laney also was mentioned in a wrongful-termination lawsuit filed by former KSEE news director Julie Akins in August 2004. She alleged that Laney helped contribute to a hostile work environment that "included but is not limited to sexual harassment in or about 2004 involving an intern and other employees." That suit was settled in January. Details were not released. Laney returned to work after attending the rehabilitation program. He says that his life has been perfect since that time. "I have never been happier. The job has been going well. And that was when my wife and children moved here," Laney says. Several viewers e-mailed me to ask why Laney had not been on the air for an extended period in recent weeks. "I took a vacation, and then I had some oral surgery that caused me a lot of pain. There were days I would try to work but would have to go home," Laney says. He adds that the surgery also left him with a lot of facial swelling. KSEE general manager Todd McWilliams says Laney will be missed. But he understands why Laney made his decision. "Jason is picking family over career. I applaud him for that," McWilliams says. Laney is a graduate of Northeast Louisiana State University. The Greenville, Miss., native worked at television stations in his hometown as well as in Richmond, Va., Monroe, La., and Amarillo, Texas, before coming to Fresno. He has applied at television stations in Houston and Dallas. Laney also is looking at a possible move to San Antonio, Memphis or, as he mentioned in his resignation letter, the Pacific Northwest. Until he finds work, Laney will continue to teach at Fresno City College. He has been an instructor there since 1998. "I just turned 40. That means I am not quite halfway through with my professional career years. This is a good time to make this kind of change," Laney says. McWilliams has started the process of finding a replacement for Laney. Moving on Tom Burke came to Fresno in June 2001 to be the news director at KGPE, Channel 47. His job was a traditional role of guiding the station's news department. He did it for about a year and a half and then was fired. The day after he left KGPE, he was hired at KMPH, Channel 26, as executive producer of "Great Day." Now, Burke is leaving Fresno after five years in local television to be news director at Fox affiliate KXTL, Channel 40, in Sacramento. His first day is July 10. Burke has been executive producer of "Great Day" since it began in February 2003. His time with "Great Day" was anything but traditional. "Great Day" defies traditional morning news formats. The four-hour newscast often is filled with jokes, sight gags and even a few pratfalls. It was a job that initially didn't appeal to Burke. "Everywhere I have worked has been in a more traditional kind of newsroom. I took the job at KMPH because the timing was perfect. Six weeks after they hired me, the show launched," Burke says. "I ended up loving it. The show was a real stretcher for my creativity." Burke points to Mack the Monkey as an example of his creativity being stretched. The news producer wanted an interesting way to have anchors Kopi Sotiropulos and Kim Stephens talk about the "Word of the Day." The producer recalled how a duck would drop down on 1950s Groucho Marx's game show "You Bet Your Life" to deliver a secret word. On "Great Day," Mack the Monkey goes across the KMPH newsroom to deliver that day's word to the anchors. For Burke, producing "Great Day" meant having fun while still delivering the news. Burke says he is proud of how the morning show has presented breaking news, because the local program continues while other local morning shows have given way to network programming. KXTL has a one-hour, locally produced morning show. Burke says that while his new bosses have promised him there will be plenty of opportunities to reshape the station's news, he is not certain what changes, if any, he will make. Before coming to Fresno, Burke was the news director at Pittsburgh's WPGH. The columnist can be reached at [email protected] or at (559) 441-6355. Advertisements Salvation Army |