Yunji de Nies, who has been a correspondent for ABC News since 2006, is returning to her native Hawaii for a job at KITV in Honolulu.

“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.

Yasmin Dar has been hired as the newest anchor at KVAL, the CBS-affiliate in Eugene, OR.

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.

Despite extending talks for more than a week past the original expiration of their retransmission consent contract, Time Warner Cable and Hearst were unable to come to an agreement by midnight yesterday, leaving 13 stations unavailable on the cable provider today.

“Time Warner Cable has reached hundreds of agreements with other broadcasters without broadcaster blackouts, but Hearst’s demand for a nearly 300% increase is way out of line,” a Time Warner statement released last night reads. “That kind of outrageous increase is unfair to our customers and unsustainable for our business.”

Hearst has statements informing viewers on each respective station’s website. Read more

Chuck Parker has been promoted to news director at KITV in Honolulu.

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.

After more than 20 years in the television business, anchor Jodi Leong is leaving KITV to join the University of Hawaii as director of communications.

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.

Stations in Honolulu have essentially become 24-hour news channels as the islands of Hawaii are threatened by a tsunami stemming from Friday’s earthquake off the coast of Japan.

ABC-affiliate KITV, CBS-affiliate KGMB, and NBC-affiliate KHNL all extended coverage from their late local newscasts to provide constant live coverage of the tsunami, including a news conference with the director for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Chip McCreery, who warned of the destruction that a looming tsunami could cause.

The recent shared services agreement between KGMB and KHNL was evident throughout the night as the stations’ news coverage emanated from the same anchor desk with the Hawaii News Now duo of Stephanie Lum and Keahi Tucker (left), along with meteorologists Ben Gutierrez and Dan Cooke. Lum and Tucker powered through the night together.

“This is exciting,” Tucker said early on in the night. “I wouldn’t be up at 1:30 if it wasn’t exciting.” Lum, Tucker, and Gutierrez handed it off to the morning team at 5:00 a.m.  Lum told anchors Steve Uyehara and Tannya Joaquin that they had stuffed the desk with snacks for them. Read more

Shawn Ching is returning to TV news.  The former KITV anchor and sports director is leaving his second career as a lawyer to join Honolulu’s Hawaii News Now.

“Shawn has a storied broadcast career that spans two decades,” Hawaii News Now, a shared news operation of KGMB, KFVE, and KHNL, said in announcing the move. “Having Shawn join Hawaii News Now is a game-changing moment for us.”

Ching spent 13 years at Honolulu ABC-affiliate KITV, where he anchored the station’s 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts and also served as sports director.

After receiving his law degree, Ching became an attorney for Kobayashi, Sugita & Goda before joining King, Nakamura & Chun-Hoon, where he specialized in labor law and commercial litigation.

Ching will co-anchor Hawaii News Now’s 5 and 5:30 p.m. newscasts with Stephanie Lum.