KGAN reporter Kelsey Minor has confirmed with TVSpy he will be leaving the Cedar Rapids CBS affiliate.

Minor announced the move on his facebook page where he wrote in part,

TO ALL OF YOU: I write this open letter to the many of you who have allowed me to deliver the news to you here in Eastern Iowa…After much consideration, I have decided that the next two weeks will be my last with CBS 2 and FOX 28 News and I will deliver my last report on January 18th…Thank you all so much for your support and watching me do this job I really love to do. With that said, make it a great day everyone.

Before joining KGAN in October 2010, Minor worked in Jackson, MS and Boise, ID.

KGAN anchor Jason Vincent commented on Minor’s facebook posting by writing, “You will be greatly missed Kelsey Minor Kgan!”

WGVU, the PBS station in Grand Rapids, is marking the 40th anniversary of its launch on December 17, 1972.

“Of the top 40 markets, we were the last market that did not have a PBS station at the time,” WGVU general manager Michael Walenta told the Cedar Rapids Business Journal. “A group of citizens got together, and — a PBS station has to be licensed to either a community group or an institute of higher education — talked to then (Grand Valley State University) President Don Lubbers. President Lubbers then talked to Congressman Jerry Ford and said, ‘We would like to do this.’ As the story goes, Congressman Ford said, ‘Well, if you come up with a half of a million dollars, then I’ll come up with the other half million.’”

WGVU now operates two television stations and two NPR radio stations, and serves more than 2.4 million viewers in 28 counties, according to the Cedar Rapids Business Journal.

Adam Carros has been promoted to news director of KCRG in Cedar Rapids, IA.

“I’m excited for the chance to take the lead for such a well respected news organization,” Carros told TVSpy. “KCRG already has a great team in place.  I expect to build on that reputation with strong journalism and good story-telling.”

Carros started at the Cedar Rapids ABC affiliate as a producer in 2009.  He was content manager at the station before being named news director.

Carros previously worked at KWWL in Waterloo, IA, as a producer. Before working for KWWL, he was a reporter and producer at KOMU in Columbia, MO.

[RickGevers.com]

Jason Vincent, the news director who resigned from KQDS earlier this month after posting a disparaging comment about Native Americans on his Facebook page, is joining KGAN, the Duluth News-Tribune reports.

Vincent will be the morning anchor at KGAN, the CBS-affiliate in Cedar Rapids.

Vincent was the news director at KQDS, the Fox-affiliate in Duluth. In early August, he posted a status update to his Facebook page that read: “Add drunk, homeless, Native American man to the list of animals that have wandered into my yard.” Read more

During a recent weather update from meteorologist Justin Roberts, KGAN alerted viewers about a “Head Advisory” in the Cedar Rapids area (image above). [Via NewscastStudio]

After being served with a subpoena, Waterloo NBC-affiliate KWWL has agreed to turn over footage of its interview with the mother of one of two missing Iowa cousins to authorities.

The cousins, Lyric Cook, 10, and Elizabeth Collins, 8, disappeared July 13 after taking a bike ride while their grandmother, Wylma Cook, was babysitting them. KWWL reporter John Wilmer interviewed Misty Cook Morrisey, the mother of Lyric, and Wylma Cook on July 20, after Morrisey stopped cooperating with the authorities investigating the case.

KWWL intends to cooperate with the subpoena, which seeks the raw, unedited footage of the interview. News director Dan Schillinger told the Associated Press that the station does not have any additional footage of the interview, which is available on its website, because it is station policy to get rid of outtakes. Read more

New Orleans CBS-affiliate WWL is adding Brendan McCarthy to its stable of investigative reporters beginning in September.

McCarthy has worked as a crime reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune since 2006. He joins his Times-Picayune colleague David Hammer, who will also join WWL later this year. The pair will work with investigative reporter Mike Perlstein and the rest of the station’s investigative unit.

“Brendan is a gifted storyteller, and his reporting has broken new ground in the coverage of crime in New Orleans,” WWL news director Bill Siegel said in a statement. “Our news organization immediately becomes stronger with his addition as we expand the investigative unit.”

Meteorologist Denise Pelster is joining KWWL in Cedar Rapids from KLKN in Lincoln.

“We’re excited to have Denice on the team,” news director Dan Schillinger said in announcing the hire. “She has great energy and the skills we look for as part of Storm Track 7.”

Pelster will serve as co-host and meteorologist on the weekend morning newscast alongside Danielle Wagner. Her first day on the air will be Saturday.

Cedar Rapids CBS-affiliate KGAN recently reported on some renewed interest in the disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit, who began her broadcasting career with the station.

Huisentruit disappeared in 1995, a short time before she was expected to arrive for work as a morning anchor for KIMT in Mason City.

“Investigators believe she was kidnapped, but they’ve never named a suspect, or found her body,” KGAN reporter Alice Barr told viewers on Thursday.  “Now some renewed interest in the case has her family and friends more dedicated than ever to finding justice for Jodi.” Read more

Jim McKernan has been named vice president and general manager of KWWL, the NBC-affiliate in Cedar Rapids. His first day will be February 27.

McKernan joins the station from Bonten Media Group, where he was a senior vice president, overseeing WCYB-WEMT in the Tri-Cities (Tennessee and Virginia) and WCTI in Greenville, NC.

According to Broadcasting & Cable, McKernan signed off from his post in an email, writing that he wishes “the fine people of Bonten Media Group much success going forward.”