KSTP has named Chris Egert the co-host of “Twin Cities Live,” the Minneapolis ABC affiliate’s afternoon talk show.

Egert, who has been the station’s weekend morning anchor, begins in his new role on April 29. He replaces John Hanson, who left the show last year to work at a sports radio station.

“It’s an exciting career move for me and my family and I can’t wait to be part of the show,” Egert said in a statement.

“Twin Cities Live” is celebrating the five-year anniversary of its debut on April 21, 2008.

“The show is always evolving and improving. And with the addition of Chris Egert, our team is ready to take the show to new levels,” executive producer Mandy Tadych said.

KSTP reporter Mark Saxenmeyer was fired from the Minneapolis ABC affiliate this week after he made an “inappropriate gay reference” that was posted on the station’s website, according to The Star Tribune. Saxenmeyer, who is gay, explains the “bizarre ironic” incident in a lengthy interview with The Star Tribune’s C.J.:

On Saturday, Saxenmeyer wanted to do the story about gay Twin Cities fathers Paul Melchert and James Zimmerman being invited to attend the Obama White House’s 2013 Easter Egg Roll with their 3-year-old twins, Emmett and Gabriel. The interview was scheduled during a time of day that Saxenmeyer was not working, so he passed the story on to colleague Katherine Johnson.

“We were having a conversation about sensitivity issues when it comes to things like that. She was asking what are the appropriate questions to ask a gay couple? It was good conversation because, as a gay man, I like to help people better understand gay people, and oftentimes you can do that through humor.

“I’m an admitted jokester. Humor defuses awkward situations. Sometimes through humor you gain a better understanding. She was in the process of writing her Web script on her computer. So I wrote a few things into the Web script to make her laugh.

“She came over, looked at [what he’d written], laughed, and I said, ‘Make sure you delete that because obviously that would not be funny out of context.’ She deleted most of it. There was one little part she missed when she closed it.” Read more

Yesterday we told you that two ABC affiliates, WISN in Milwaukee and KSTP in Minneapolis, were delaying the new start time of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in favor of local newscasts.

Several stations air Kimmel’s program an hour later than its scheduled time due to hourlong newscasts: WEAR in Mobile, KIFI in Idaho Falls, KOAT in Albuquerque and KRGV in Welasco, Texas. All of these stations had hour-long newscasts in place before the Kimmel-”Nightline” swap.

• Related, TVNewser: Promising Signs for ‘Nightline’ in New Timeslot

KMBC in Kansas City airs “Jimmy Kimmel Live” at 11:35 pmCT because of existing contracts to show syndicated programming. The station wraps up its 10pmCT newscast at 10:35 and then airs “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory.” KATV in Little Rock also delays the show to 11:05pmCT in favor of sitcom reruns like “According to Jim” and, in the past, “Home Improvement” and “The Drew Carey Show.”

Minneapolis ABC affiliate KSTP is expanding its weekday 10 p.m. newscast to a full hour, TVNewsCheck reports.

The 60-minute broadcast will premiere on January 8. The station says the newscast “will be staffed with more reporters, more photographers and additional resources in order to tackle topics that typically are not featured in a traditional 35 minute news format.”

KSTP’s expansion comes as ABC shifts “Jimmy Kimmel Live” from 11:35pmCT to 10:35pmCT. Kimmel’s program will air at 11 p.m. on KSTP.

Ken Barlow (pictured right), the KSTP meteorologist who revealed his struggle with bipolar disorder for the first time in October, has announced he’s starting a non-profit with David Wellstone (pictured left), the son of the late Senator Paul Wellstone, to reduce the stigma attached to mental illness.

In October, the meteorologist for the Minneapolis ABC affiliate appeared on “Almanac”, a show airing on the local PBS station KTCA, to talk about his struggles with mental illness.  “We have to stop hiding.  There is nothing to be ashamed of,” Barlow told the hosts.

Barlow said he met Wellstone during this year’s National Alliance on Mental Illness walk.  Wellstone suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression after the plane crash that killed his father Paul, mother Sheila and sister Marcia. Read more

John Hanson is stepping down from his post as the host of “Twin Cities Live,” the local talk show on Minneapolis ABC affiliate KSTP.

Hanson, who has hosted the show since its launch in 2008, is moving to Kansas City, where he will be the program director at a sports radio station.

“This was the most difficult decision of my career. I’ve been part of Twin Cities Live, before it was called Twin Cities Live. To be on TV in front of family and friends in my hometown every day was incredibly special,” Hanson said in a statement.

Hanson’s last show will be December 21. The station says a search for his replacement “begins immediately.”

In an interview with the Pioneer Press, Ken Barlow, meteorologist for KSTP talked about the relief he felt after publicly revealing his bipolar disorder.

Barlow told the Pioneer Press he first spoke about his condition while emceeing a walk for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

“When I was standing up there, I was thinking, these people came here to end the stigma of mental illness, and I’m up here living one — I’m afraid of this stigma.  I thought as I was on that stage two weeks ago, I’m not going to do this anymore, I’m not going to be ashamed. Two million people have this in the country and millions of others deal with depression and other forms of mental illness. I’m not alone.”

Read more

Vineeta Sawkar, morning news anchor for ABC-affiliate KSTP has been told she will no longer anchor after May 1, 2013.

Sawkar says she wasn’t expecting the news given she’s only two years into a five year contract, “[I] don’t think I’m part of their future, and that’s fine,” Sawkar told the StarTribune.  “I don’t take it personally.  I’m not bitter.  I’m not mad about it.”

“While she may not be anchoring a regularly scheduled newscast on May 1, that doesn’t mean her opportunities are over at KSTP,” said Lindsey Radford, KSTP’s news director.  “We’ll certainly consider her for a reporting role because she’s just been a tremendous person in the newsroom.”

Sawkar told Twincities.com the eight month deadline gives her some time to consider her future, “I’ve been looking at ads out there and at different companies and thinking, ‘What would I like to do?’ There’s a lot out there. I hope someone would find me valuable enough to hire.”

The Twin Cities anchor has been at the station for all but five of her 22 years in broadcasting.

Bob Jordan has been named news director at KIRO, the CBS-affiliate in Seattle. He will begin his new role in August.

Jordan comes from WFTV in Orlando, where he has been the news director for the last decade. It was Jordan’s second stint as WFTV news director. Both WFTV and KIRO are both owned by Cox Media Group. The move is a return to Seattle for Jordan, who is a former news director at NBC-affiliate KING.

“Great things have followed Bob wherever he’s gone through his successful career,”  general manager Jay O’Connor said in a statement announcing the hire. “KIRO 7 Eyewitness News has incredible momentum and we know Bob Jordan is the right individual to lead our great news staff.” Read more

Reporter Bob McNaney is leaving KSTP after 17 years with the Hubbard Broadcasting-owned station.

McNaney, who is married to former KARE reporter Trisha Volpe, is stepping away from TV news for a job in PR.  He has been named vice president of crisis communications for Padilla Speer Beardsley.

“I have been honored to work for the Hubbard family and with countless talented people at KSTP,” McNaney said in bidding farewell to the station.  “Working with great friends, I have been blessed to receive many national awards for the work we have done here.” Read more