Ever wonder what happened to that disgraced, dismissed or promoted TV type? Here’s where they are now.

July 24, 2008

It’s revolving-door time in the local TV news business. On July 5, veteran meteorologist Pete Grigsby gave his last weather report for KMBC Channel 9. The tanfastic, sharply dressed weather guy took a job as an administrator, teacher and PR person with the Blue Springs School District. KMBC reporter Chris Nagus is also leaving the station in August to join the CBS affiliate in St. Louis.

Given the transient nature of local TV news, the Department of Burnt Ends wanted to track down other on-air types who have put in time in Kansas City. Here’s a roundup of those who once brought us the news — and sometimes made the news themselves.

Krista Tatschl

Former station: KMBC Channel 9

Tatschl left Channel 9 in 2004 to be a mom and now goes by her married name, Krista Eyler. She also became Funky Mama, a singer-songwriter who serenades the wee ones with her red electric guitar. Her songs include “Potty Train,” “Big Bow-legged Baby” and “Onomatopoeia.” According to her Web site, funkymamamusic
.com, she blends “rock, bluegrass, country, blues and other musical styles.” Now a mother of two, Eyler has just released her third CD, Moo Juice.

Darren Mark

Former station: KSHB Channel 41

Mark spent two and a half years working “wacky” live remotes as a reporter for Channel 41’s morning show, Kansas City Live. The program was canceled last fall, and Mark says he declined an offer to stay on at the station as a hard-news reporter. Unable to find a similarly whimsical vehicle, Mark is now the vice president of marketing and PR for Corona Cantina #1, a restaurant in the Legends that is expanding to the Mall of America.

Steve Shaw

Former station: Fox 4 News

Ah, Steve Shaw. The Department of Burnt Ends misses the former Fox 4 reporter, whose darting eyes and dramatic speaking style conveyed high intensity in every story. The station fired Shaw in December 2006 after police charged him with drunken driving. In an interview last fall with The Kansas City Star’s Steve Penn, Shaw said he was a recovering alcoholic. Three months after leaving Fox 4, he ended up at the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis.

George Kiriyama

Former station: KSHB Channel 41

Kiriyama left his post as general assignment reporter with Channel 41 in 2006 for the NBC affiliate in San Jose, California. Last year, he and his colleagues produced Dreams to Dust: Americans Interned, a documentary about Japanese internment camps during World War II. This was a personal story for Kiriyama, whose father and other family members spent more than three and a half years in the camps. In April, Dreams to Dust was nominated for a Northern California Area Emmy Award. It lost to Truly California: Gumby Dharma.

Michael Scott

Former station: KCTV Channel 5

In December 2006, Scott abruptly left Channel 5; rumors of the reason abounded, but nothing surfaced. Soon afterward, he landed at the ABC affiliate in Huntsville, Alabama. Controversy erupted again last May when a news producer accused Scott of calling her the N-word. Scott told The Huntsville Times that he actually said, “Negro, please.” Whatever the case, Scott was fired, and he has since filed a breach-of-contract suit against the station.

Michael Scott’s famous gecko incident.