“Hawaii News Now” has announced

Tanaka will take over for current 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. anchor Shawn Ching. The station said Ching is leaving “Hawaii News Now” next Friday to concentrate full-time on his law career. “Hawaii News Now” is the branding for Honolulu’s CBS affiliate KGMB and NBC affiliate KHNL.

“Though Shawn Ching is difficult to replace, we are confident that Chris can fill his shoes on our top-rated broadcasts,” said KGMB-KHNL news director Mark Platte. “In the two years he has been with us, Chris has proven to be a gifted and intelligent anchor who can think on his feet.”

[Honolulu Star Advertiser]

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Mizutani left last year for a job in public relations. In a statement, he said reporting “has been a part of my professional life for nearly three decades and continues to be a passion.”

“It hit me hard on Dec. 17, the day Sen. Inouye died. I was overwhelmed with emotion and I felt this intense desire to tell Sen. Inouye’s life story,” Miztuani said in a statement. “It was on that day that I said to myself, ‘I tried something new and enjoyed my experience, but I’m a reporter. I need to follow my heart.’”

This is the second time Mizutani will return to the station after leaving for a public relations job. He has worked at KHON for nearly 28 years.

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Kristina Lockwood

It is a return to KHON for Lockwood, who has previously served as the station’s national sales manager. In her new role, she will also be responsible for KHON-D2, Honolulu’s CW affiliate.

“We are excited to have Kristina back at KHON-TV. She is an outstanding broadcast executive with strong roots in Honolulu,” LIN Media Television EVP Scott Blumenthal said in announcing the hire. “Her unique blend of sales experience in both television and digital media, leadership skills and strong relationships make her an ideal candidate for this position and for advancing our key initiatives.”

Most recently, Lockwood was the director of sales statewide for Cox Media’s California division. She replaces Joe McNamara, who exited KHON last week.

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KHON

McNamara had been the station’s general manager since 2006. KHON, previously owned by New Vision Television, was purchased in May by LIN Media.

No successor was immediately named, but LIN Media will “be naming someone here very quickly,” EVP for television Scott Blumenthal told the Star-Advertiser.

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Confirmation of Grace Lee‘s (pictured center) departure from the San Francisco CBS owned station has come from her new station, Hawaii News Now.

News director Mark Platte confirmed Lee will anchor the station’s morning news show “Sunrise.”  Lee began working for KGMB in 2002 before leaving for KCRA in Sacramento.  She returned to KGMB in 2007 to launch “Sunrise.”  She left again in 2010 to join KPIX as an anchor and reporter. continued…

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Rob DeMello

Kanoa Leahey, who has been the station’s weekday evening sports anchor since 2004, will remain with the station but transition to part-time, allowing him to continue to provide local play-by-play coverage to ESPN, which he began doing two years ago.

“I am both extremely excited for Kanoa, and incredibly honored to be given this opportunity,” DeMello said in a statement. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for the position and for those who have held it before me.” continued…

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Jennifer Robbins

Robbins comes from KABC in Los Angeles, where she was a weather producer for chief meteorologist Dallas Raines. Prior to that, she was an on-air meteorologist and environmental reporter at KBOI in Boise.

Robbins will be a reporter on the morning newscast and a meteorologist on the weekends.

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Yunji de Nies

“It was a no-brainer for me,” de Nies told the Honolulu Star Advertiser of her return to Hawaii. “I just didn’t think it would happen so soon.”

de Nies begins September 10 as co-anchor of the 6 p.m. newscast alongside Paula Akana and the 10 p.m. newscast alongside Kenny Choi. She will also do some reporting for the ABC-affiliated KITV. At ABC News, she was an Atlanta-based correspondent who covered the Southeast region across all the network’s platforms.

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Yasmin Dar

Dar is the traffic anchor at KITV, the ABC-affiliate in Honolulu. According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, KVAL news director Sean Flanagan saw Dar on KITV while he was vacationing in Hawaii.

“We believe that Yasmin will bring a unique dynamic to our newscast that will resonate with our viewers,” he said in a memo to KVAL staff.

Dar’s last day at KITV will be August 17. She will anchor the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts at KVAL starting August 30.

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Taizo Braden

“We are excited to have Taizo join the team,” news director Lori Silva said in a statement. “With his on-air experience, we think he will make an immediate impact.”

Braden was most recently a traffic reporter at rival KGMB, the Honolulu CBS-affiliate. He will begin at KHON on April 30. In his new role, he will prepare stories for newscasts as both a videographer and reporter, according to KHON.

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A managing editor with the station since 2010, Parker has been overseeing KITV’s newsroom since the departure of news director Genie Garner in February.

“Chuck’s deep experience in Hawaii, passion for local news and expertise in multi-platform news generation make him the right choice to lead KITV4 News forward,” KITV president and general manager Andrew Jackson said, announcing the promotion.

Before joining KITV, Parker spent nine years working as an editor at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

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Leong began her career as a producer, reporter and weekend anchor for the Honolulu ABC-affiliate in 1991. She rejoined the station in 2006 after six years at rival KNHL, the NBC-affiliate in Honolulu, where she was weeknight co-anchor.

“Jodi Leong’s long career in broadcast journalism and strong professional connections to members of the news media in Hawaii will be of great value to our reach and effectiveness,” University of Hawaii associate vice president Lynne Waters said in a statement.

Leong’s first day at her new job will be March 15.

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Garner will be “seeking future opportunities on the mainland,” KITV president and general manager Andrew Jackson told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Her last day was Friday.

Garner joined the station in 2009 from WHAS, the ABC-affiliate in Louisville. Jackson said Chuck Parker, the managing editor of KITV, will be “taking a leadership role” until Garner’s replacement is named.

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Media Council Hawaii filed a complaint in 2009 concerning the then-newly formed virtual triopoly of KHNL, KFVE, and KGMB.  Raycom Media, owner of KHNL and KFVE, had struck a deal with MCG Capital, owner of KGMB, to form an entity, now known as “Hawaii News Now,” that would effectively be run by Raycom.  As part of the complex deal, Raycom traded programming and control of MyNetworkTV-affiliate KFVE with MCG for that of CBS-affiliate KGMB–a move that basically made Raycom the owner of Honolulu’s NBC and CBS stations. continued…

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Al Roker

The only problem was that KHNL, along with its sister station KGMB, was still very much on the air. Without any interruption.

KHNL went into extended breaking news mode throughout the night and into the morning as the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center announced that a tsunami, stemming from the earthquake off the coast of Japan, could hit the islands of Hawaii in the early hours of Friday morning.

TVSpy confirmed with KHNL that they were never knocked off the air this morning so what happened on “Today”? It turns out that Roker had misunderstood notes that had been handed to him, a spokesperson for “Today” told TVSpy.

Roker’s flub was especially odd considering that it came right after “Today” ran video of a placid Hawaiian shoreline.

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