Big Changes Possible at KXAS

[jdcnow 14]

Well one change that will certainly happen is that KXAS will now have an investigative reporter - a position that has been vacant at the NBC affiliate for roughly, the past decade. Kimberly King from WXIN Fox 59 in Indianapolis will begin at NBC 5 on June 27th. And there are also rumors that won't go away that KXAS may move it's operations from the only place it has called home.

 

Click here for the article from North Texas TV News Columnist Ed Bark...

 

NBC5, without a full-time investigative reporter for at least the past decade, will soon have one.

 

The Fort Worth-based station has hired Kimberly King, a Southern Methodist University graduate who's currently on the staff of Fox 59 (WXIN-TV) in Indianapolis.

 

The station describes her as "unflappable and dogged when it comes to stories that matter." King will be a consumer/investigative reporter when she joins NBC5 on June 27th, the station says.

 

She has won a Murrow Award among others during her time at Fox 59, which dates at least as far back as the 2000 firing of Bobby Knight as Indiana University basketball coach, which King covered.

 

King also has filled in at times as a weekend meteorologist at Fox 59, and is accredited by the National Weather Association and American Meteorological Society.

 

NBC5 currently has five meteorologists on its staff, so King likely won't be needed in that capacity.

 

ALSO OF NOTE: Persistent rumors are floating that NBC5 is considering relocating from the only home it has had since signing on in 1948 as WBAP-TV. Its main building has always been in Fort Worth, in a tucked away location at 3900 Barnett St.

 

Some sources contend that NBC Universal-owned NBC 5, whose modern-day call letters are KXAS, is considering a move to a location near American Airlines corporate headquarters in Fort Worth (4333 Amon Carter Blvd.) Others have said there even could be a move out of Cowtown to somewhere in Dallas, although that would be a surprising seismic shift as well as a severe jolt to the station's longstanding image as Fort Worth's only major homegrown TV station. NBC5 currently maintains a small satellite office in Dallas.

 

NBC5 has declined to comment, other than to note that the station periodically evaluates its options in terms of whether a move of its main offices would be advisable. One of those periods is currently in progress, according to numerous sources.

 

My thoughts >> If they do decide to move, Amon Carter Blvd. in downtown Fort Worth would only be fitting, as it was Mr. Carter who founded Channel 5, in the first place. I'd also like for them to stay in Fort Worth. If they were to move to Dallas, that would leave KTVT as the only Fort Worth-based North Texas TV station. With 4 and 8 already based in downtown Dallas, I don't see 5 moving to Dallas as being good for the DMA as a whole.

 

And I'm impressed that they've finally hired an investigative reporter. They've been the only Big 4 station here without one...while 4, 11, and especially 8 keep getting Emmy after Emmy and the noteriety (and ratings) that go along with it. Several years ago, I would have said (and, in fact did say) that the only way to fix KXAS is to rent a bulldozer with one of those big demolition balls on it, and yell CLEAR!! But having watched KXAS these past few weeks, they have come along way. They still have a long way to go before I'll accept that they're on the same level of quality as 4, 8, and 11. But they are getting there.