Denver's 7News director Jeff Harris departing

[Colorado Media Newsroom]

From The Denver Post:



Jeff Harris, news director at KMGH since 2008, will leave the station in October to take a job in his hometown of Cleveland. Harris will join WEWS, an ABC affiliate within the Scripps corporate family, as news director. Harris has led the newsroom to journalism’s highest honors including the George Foster Peabody Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award, the Columbia-DuPont Award as well as regional Emmys.

Harris informed the newsroom staff of his departure on Wednesday.
“This is all things coming together at the same time,” Harris said by phone. “It’s a great opportunity for me personally and a perfect match for the company. Everything is aligned. It is incredibly bittersweet because of the affection I have for Denver.” The timing is right, he said, because his kids are going to be in college back East, “and there’s a station in need in my hometown.”

KMGH General Manager Byron Grandy said, “this was a move that, when the job came open early in the spring, he’s sort of been toying with.”
The station plans a nationwide search for a successor.

The Cleveland-Akron market ranks No. 19 on Nielsen’s list with 1.48 million TV homes. The Denver market ranks No. 17 with 1.57 million TV homes.

Speaking of ratings, Grandy said he does not expect to take a ratings hit in the 6-7 p.m. hour when the two popular syndicated shows, “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune,” leave the station (relocating to Fox31.) A significant ratings decline has resulted in other markets when the long-running game shows leave established berths. Grandy expressed “great confidence” in the new 6 p.m. broadcast, to be anchored by Eric Kahnert, and the Scripps pop-culture half-hour at 6:30 p.m., which launch here Sept. 8.

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