Rowlett will stay in the game
11/30/07 11:09 AM
By ED BARK
D-FW's Walter Cronkite, a k a CBS11's Tracy Rowlett, is forestalling his planned July retirement and re-upping for two more years.
"This is an exciting time at CBS11," he said in a statement released Friday morning. "And I'm looking forward to being here when the station emerges as number one in the market."
That could take a good deal of time. CBS11 emerged from the November "sweeps" as No. 2 in total homes in the key 10 p.m. ratings race and also at 6 p.m. But it ran last among four stations at 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. CBS11 has even further to go among advertiser-preferred 25-to-54-year-olds, where it ranks no better than third in any of those four news slots.
Still, the station came out of the Belo8-dominated sweeps with some momentum, particularly against badly slumping NBC5. As of January, Rowlett will anchor only the station's 5 p.m. newscasts as well as contribute his weekly Sunday night "Perspectives" pieces. But his principal value to the station may be as a behind-the-scenes producer of special reports for the station.
"His talent, skills and knowledge are invaluable to us," president and general manager Steve Mauldin said. "And his influence on our on-air product is enormous. We are very fortunate to have him."
Rowlett joined CBS11 in 1999 after 25 years as a mainstay anchor at Belo8.