Utah's current longest-running TV news anchorwoman has decided to step back from in front of the camera. KTVX-Channel 4's Kimberly Perkins will retire from television at the end of the year to spend more time with her family.
"It is all about the children," said Perkins, the mother of 10-year-old Jonathan and 13-year-old Katelyn. "It's absolutely the right time (to leave) after 12 incredible years — and what a fun run it's been. I have the opportunity now where I don't need to work. (She married millionaire businessman Skip Klintworth about 3 1/2 years ago.) And, as much as I love this job, I really love the family more."
Coincidentally, Perkins' departure is just one of two major anchor changes coming at Ch. 4. Her partner for nine years, Randall Carlisle, will continue to anchor the station's 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. newscasts, but in October he'll be replaced at 10 p.m. by Scott Swan, who's coming to KTVX from station WISH in Indianapolis. Swan will co-anchor the 10 p.m. newscast with Amy Troy, according to KTVX Vice President and General Manager Steve Cohen.
Cohen said Perkins "had been talking for some time about when she really wanted to exit. We thought we might get another six months out of her, but at the end of that we fully anticipated that she would say she wanted to get out of the chair.
"She really felt this is it. We'll be sorry to see her go."
While the 42-year-old Perkins' departure is voluntary, 51-year-old Carlisle admits he has "mixed emotions" about cutting back his work schedule. His contract runs through October 2002, and he insists that he has "no intention of leaving because of this."
For Perkins, this marks a major change in her life. Her first newscast came when she worked at Cornell's student radio station in 1976, and she's been doing TV news for 22 years — in Binghamton, N.Y.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Pittsburgh before coming to Salt Lake City's Channel 4 a dozen years ago.
"That's a lot of years behind a microphone," she said. "To leave such an incredible job means I have to be leaving for something really wonderful, and that's what it feels like.
"Am I a little bit scared? Sure. I've been the news lady for all my adult life. A lot of mothers, after their children are born, stay at home and then they go back to work. And I'm doing it the reverse — I've stayed at work all these years and now I'm jumping into the at-home scene. I actually think I'm going to be exhausted."
After more than a decade anchoring both early evening and late-night newscasts, Perkins cut back her workload to just the 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. shows. But even though that has been "great," she was still away from home from 4 to 8 p.m., missing things such as homework, soccer games, ballet and dinner with her husband and children.
"It's been a fabulous schedule for a working mom, but now I can now be a stay-at-home mom," she said.
Perkins and Cohen are in the "talking stages" about her perhaps continuing to be associated with the station in some manner, but there's no real plan as to what form that might take. She's thinking perhaps special projects or public service endeavors.
"Obviously, children's issues have been really, really close to my heart here at the station and through seven years at the YWCA," she said. "I won't be going away. I'll be doing something, I just don't know what yet."
And she won't be leaving Utah, a place where she never expected to end up staying when she arrived to take the job at Ch. 4.
"At the time, I really thought I'd be here a few years. And, like so many people, I fell in love with Utah and the lifestyle here," Perkins said. "This is home, so we're not moving."
But her longtime co-anchor is going to miss her nonetheless.
"It's like losing a member of your family, or your wife or something," Carlisle said. "We've grown real close. I'm prejudiced, but I think we're one of the most natural male-female anchor teams anywhere in the country. . . . Plus the fact that we're very good friends. I understand why she's doing what she's doing. But I'll still miss her a lot."
After four years anchoring the news in Dallas and Minneapolis, Carlisle returned to Utah in December 1991 to take the job at Channel 4. (He had previously anchored the news at KUTV-Ch. 2 for 8 1/2 years.) Cohen told him of his plans last month, and Carlisle admits it was "somewhat of a surprise" at first but acknowledged that, while the early-evening ratings have been good, something had to be done to boost the station's flagging 10 p.m. numbers.
"I don't think you want to have all of your broadcasts in the hands of one guy, even if he's formidable," Cohen said.
"I think part of that is that people perceive that we're not doing anything new at 10 o'clock, even though we are," Carlisle said. "And so by putting a different team in there it may change that perception. . . . If I were in (Cohen's) place, I'd probably do the same thing. In most markets, it's rare for the same anchor to do three major newscasts. We've had ratings trouble at 10 o'clock recently and I can see him trying to separate the newscasts."
Still, he has "mixed emotions" about the change.
"I'm going to miss being here for all the action that goes on at night as part of the 10 o'clock news, but, personally, it's going to be a real positive thing in my life," Carlisle said, "because for 25 years now I've been coming home at 11 or 12 o'clock at night from work. I'm going to be working a daytime shift after the change takes place and I'm sort of looking forward to that — to see how normal people live.
"The first night I get home around 7, it'll be, like, 'OK, what do I do now?' But I'm sure I'll find something."
In addition to the other changes, Channel 4 will add current KSL-Channel 5 reporter Reed Cowan as its new early morning anchorman Monday, Sept. 18. (He'll replace Doug Jardine, who has left Channel 4. On Aug. 3, Jardine, 41, pleaded guilty in 3rd District Court to two counts of misdemeanor attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a 17-year-old girl.) Cohen expects to name a new co-anchor for the early evening newscasts in a matter of days — and he expects it to be one of the women currently working at the station.
And Channel 4's future is somewhat up in the air right now — it and the other nine stations in the Chris-Craft group are being sold to Fox, pending FCC approval. And, because Fox already owns a station in Salt Lake City (KSTU-Channel 13), Channel 4 will, in all likelihood, be resold to another station group.
But Cohen said it's "business as usual" at KTVX, and the anchor changes are proof of that. "For me, it's sort of recognition that KTVX is going to be around for a while," he said.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com