KOLD anchor says he was fired for e-mail

[Paper Trail]

By Erin White
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.06.2006
KOLD-TV Channel 13 evening news anchor Randy Garsee says he was fired Tuesday afternoon.
His termination followed an e-mail he sent out to station staff members Monday evening, Garsee said.
In the e-mail, which was obtained by the Star, Garsee criticizes News Director Michelle Germano for micromanaging. The former anchor described the e-mail as a "scream in the dark."
Germano said she couldn't confirm that Garsee's contract had been terminated because it was a personnel matter, but she did say he no longer works for KOLD.
Garsee said General Manager Jim Arnold approached him Tuesday about 4:15 p.m. as he was applying his makeup.
"He said sending out the e-mail was insubordination. He handed me a box and said, 'Clean out your desk and don't talk to anybody,' " Garsee said.
Garsee's departure makes the second anchor change at KOLD in recent months; longtime employee Kris Pickel left at the end of May to take a job closer to her family in Sacramento, Calif.
Garsee said the e-mail wasn't the first clash he had with management. He said that for the first eight of his 10 years at KOLD, he had the freedom to pursue whatever story he chose. In recent years, he said, that freedom evaporated and he had less time for reporting.
Germano said she wouldn't comment on any specific criticisms of her management style but did say "there are policies and protocols in place for stories to get on the air. That's just a procedural thing." She also said she did her best to create a positive working environment at KOLD.
"In any work situation there's conflict, but I strive to work that and move forward," Germano said.
Garsee also said he'd been reprimanded for his trademark, smart-alecky comments made on-air.
Garsee said he wasn't completely caught off guard Tuesday.
"I felt like it was going to happen sooner or later," he said. Still, he said the timing surprised him.
"I've had people call me and tell me they're stunned. How can you take the No. 1 news anchor and fire him after his co-anchor left right before another book comes up," Garsee said, referring to the November ratings period. In recent years, KOLD has ended KVOA-TV Channel 4's long dominance in the ratings, rising to challenge it for the top spot for local news.
Arnold said he wasn't concerned about changing anchors so close to sweeps, which start next month. Both he and Germano stressed that KOLD's content would not change.
Garsee, who has daughters ages 11 and 5, said he's already talked with Channels 4 and 9 because he'd like to stay in Tucson.
"I gave up a lot of money and put my family's future in jeopardy to send the message that KOLD was going in the wrong direction," he said. "I just want the viewers to know how much I love this town," he said.
Dan Marries will fill in until KOLD hires a replacement, Germano said.
The news director also said a new female anchor would start next week but wouldn't identify her or say exactly when she would start.
Garsee said he will continue to work on a project he's been calling "Randy Garsee's Tucson Murals Project," (tucson murals.blogspot.com) which profiles murals across town.
● Contact reporter Erin White at 807-8429 or ewhite@azstarnet.com .

[ October 06, 2006, 09:42 AM: Message edited by: Paper Trail ]

[The Mockingbird]

Wow, I'd love to see that e-mail. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Paper Trail]

PUBLISHED ON SEPTEMBER 28, 2006:

Media Watch

KOLD's Smart-Ass Anchor Awaits His New Partner

By JOHN SCHUSTER

He's flip. He's straightforward. He's something of a smart ass. He once jokingly called a weatherman a jackass on the air and made light of another "local" news anchor who actually broadcasts from another market.
He's not always on the Christmas-card list of his production staff. If something goes wrong on the air, he'll openly reference it.

For nearly a decade, Randy Garsee has called it as he sees it as the anchor on KOLD Channel 13's now top-rated 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts. Hired in March 1997, a month after KOLD acquired Kris Pickel, Garsee was part of the CBS affiliate's desire to pull itself out of ratings doldrums. It took some time, but eventually the move paid off, and KOLD has been the local news top dog for a few years.

KOLD's approach was to go younger, but Garsee's appeal spreads far beyond a youth-movement trend. An off-the-cuff personality is what separates him from other newsreaders.

"We're in an industry where reporters are expected to write a certain way and get the information out, and anchors are expected to do the same. I kind of run against that grain sometimes," Garsee said. "Everybody I sought advice from said: 'Be the straight and narrow. Do the news; have the chitchat with the weather guy. Go on.' It never set well with me.

"I always feel like people are inviting you into your living room. This is a job. People know it's a job; it's a career, but everybody likes to have a little fun on the job. Everybody does. That's something I took from the newsroom to the anchor desk. I try not to be too flip or too obnoxious, but my philosophy is to watch the newscast with the viewer, and if things go wrong, or if I do something stupid, which happens all the time, comment about it. Say something about it. I get more e-mail about those kinds of remarks--about referencing video, the jokes at the end of the show--more comments on that from viewers than anything else."

A product of Jasper County in southeast Texas, Garsee grew up poor, in an area where personal growth was not exactly promoted.

"I didn't have much direction. I went to one of those schools where they didn't say the C word: college," Garsee said. "I was always very curious and knew at some point I had to get out of this little town. Everybody where I grew up ended up graduating from high school, getting married, working at the paper mill and dying. That's usually how life runs down there. I decided that's not for me. I was working as a bouncer at a nightclub, and my dad, who passed away last year, pulled me aside and said, 'Boy, you're going down a bad road. You might want to think about the military.' It's the only piece of advice he ever gave me, and the only piece of advice I ever took."

Garsee's stubborn nature played a major role in guiding his future toward the Navy. Instead of accepting what his recruiter pitched, Garsee pushed for a journalism position in the service, and had the wherewithal to wait nine months until an appropriate opening became available. During his three-year active-duty stint, Garsee was given the opportunity to pursue broadcasting--but the Texas twang had to go.

"They had a voice and diction course there. It was supposed to be one of the top voice and diction courses in the world, according to them," Garsee said. "They sent me through it twice."

In the private sector, Garsee took control of his fate as well. He was working in production as a master control operator at a television station in Beaumont, Texas; after considering the news product on the air, he felt he could do better. After the general manager got a hold of Garsee's audition tape, a transition to the newsroom followed.

Since Garsee's way seemed to be working, he wasn't about to change philosophies in his news delivery. Hence the humor. However, upon his arrival in Tucson, he had to coax Pickel to take the jump.

"One of the things humor does in a newscast is it brings out the personalities of the people around you," Garsee said. "Everybody thought Kris Pickel and I were a great team, but when she first started, she said, 'I don't want to laugh on the air.' I said, 'Why not?' 'I sound ridiculous when I laugh.' 'No you don't. Everyone sounds natural when they laugh.'

"Eventually, she loosened up, and once that happened, people started calling us a great team. They said, 'You guys act like you really like each other.' Well, we do like each other. Any time you can joke with someone, you obviously like them."

Now Tucson's top news team--which presided over the Best of TucsonTM Best Local Newscast--is no more. Pickel recently accepted an anchor position in Sacramento, Calif., and as a result, Garsee has been part of a musical-chairs anchor situation until KOLD finds a replacement. The candidates have been whittled down to three, and could be decided by mid-October.

"Personally, I think Kris and I took two or three years before we finally got to that point where we knew what the other was going to do. We even stopped consulting with each other at one point and just started playing off each other," Garsee said. "That kind of chemistry, if it isn't there early, then sometimes it can take a while to develop, so let's hope that whoever the new person is, (it) is somebody who enjoys the job, enjoys being on the air and enjoys bringing the personalities out of everyone around them."

Smart-assed anchor ... meet thin-skinned news director.

I guess they'll get to find out if product trumps personality/familiarity.

[ October 06, 2006, 09:43 AM: Message edited by: Bandit '06 ]

Good to see that management isn't afraid to fire a popular anchor for doing something that would result in termination for any other employee.

[Chief]

Bad move on both parts.

He had no business undermining the news director.
She should have suspended him rather than remove him.

Could have been, should have been, handled behind closed doors between the two.

Originally posted by Chief:
Bad move on both parts.

He had no business undermining the news director.
She should have suspended him rather than remove him.

Could have been, should have been, handled behind closed doors between the two.

Agreed. Not defending what the guy did, but this was a real missed opportunity to show some leadership.

[Another side]

On a strictly behavioral basis, I'm with the GM -- you don't criticize your ND in an email to other employees and still keep your job. And, as GM, if you have to choose between a pissed off ND and a smug, insubordinate anchor, well, the anchor loses.
Beyond that, it's almost as if the anchor was testing his muscle ... and lost. Maybe he gained a little humility in the process.

[Zero]

Originally posted by Another side:
On a strictly behavioral basis, I'm with the GM -- you don't criticize your ND in an email to other employees and still keep your job. And, as GM, if you have to choose between a pissed off ND and a smug, insubordinate anchor, well, the anchor loses.
Beyond that, it's almost as if the anchor was testing his muscle ... and lost. Maybe he gained a little humility in the process.

And maybe the station will lose revenue.

Sounds like the GM or ND don't care about how much money they lose, as long as they're getting even with an angry employee, who may very well have every reason in the world to be angry.

Dumb.

[Roy Hobbs]

Okay we've got hitting after the play ended, unsubstantiated finger pointing and a horse's ass anchor with offsetting compliance type ND and GM.

Ball is returned to original line of scrimmage. Mgmt. resumes play without anchor who should have been given chance to apologize to staff, debacle in media for all concerned and bigmouth anchor resumes play from Grand Junction, Colo. or lower.
Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ October 06, 2006, 02:11 PM: Message edited by: Roy Hobbs ]

[Another side]

Not bad, Hobbs ... Not bad.

[Diplomat]

Was she micromanaging?

If so, then what he said was true. It may have been inappropriate for him to put that in an email, though.

Micromanaging doesn't work.

you can't call out your boss publicly and not expect consequences.... even if you're right.

Originally posted by Michigan J. Frog:
Good to see that management isn't afraid to fire a popular anchor for doing something that would result in termination for any other employee.

Interestin point of view, froggy. I was wondering, does that same philosophy apply to the lives of US soldiers when liberals work to sabotage the war on terror?

You truly do have a warped sense of reality.

Originally posted by Michigan J. Frog:
You truly do have a warped sense of reality.

How so. You apparantly support the idea of hierarchy to make a business run. How is that different when it comes to the US.

(I bet froggy doesn't answer)

[Pro]

Because this is a democracy. I'm sure that bothers you, but it's true.

Originally posted by Pro:
Because this is a democracy. I'm sure that bothers you, but it's true.

So, can you democratically change the past?

[Pro]

What the hell are you talking about? I THOUGHT it was your usual bash against liberals and the war. My point is that they have every right to oppose this war and call for American troops to be redeployed, because this IS a democracy, and opposing views can be expressed and campaigned for.

Originally posted by Pro:
What the hell are you talking about? I THOUGHT it was your usual bash against liberals and the war. My point is that they have every right to oppose this war and call for American troops to be redeployed, because this IS a democracy, and opposing views can be expressed and campaigned for.

But we are AT war and there is nothing that can be done about it short of sabotage. Just like the ND in this case IS the news director and there is nothing an anchor can do about it short of sabotage. Have you ever worked in a newsroom where one or two bitter people made it miserable?

[Pro]

But a newsroom is not a democracy. So it is an invalid comparison.

Originally posted by Pro:
But a newsroom is not a democracy. So it is an invalid comparison.

And neither is the past. It is a valid comparison.

[Pro]

Where does "the past" come in?

Originally posted by Pro:
Where does "the past" come in?

Huh?

Uh, meanwhile, can anybody in Tucson send the email?