Sports Anchor Out at KARK
KARK sports anchor Mark Rushing is leaving the station after 6 years. KARK-TV Assignment Manager Greg Yarbrough tells ATN, "He resigned a few weeks ago. He will be working for us every Friday until high school football season is over."
posted by ATN @ 2:52 PM
74 comments
74 Comments:
Jump before you are thrown overboard!!
And the hits keep on coming for KARK...
You mean hits in a good way I assume..
I know each outlet has a lot of turnover, but isn't this excessive? Somebody name the folks that have left each place in the past year. BTW good luck to Mark.
Mark is a classy guy and a hardworker, although that didn't always translate on air. This was in the works for some time. Godspeed Mark.
Life is GOOD.... Mark was, by far, the worst "talent" in this entire market. He was boring, boring, boring.
I say promote KELI ... now !
Mark was a hard worker?
OH PLEASE... Mark made Andy Pearson look like a workaholic.
Keli was a very good catch. Who hired her, Iler or Heverling?
why does it matter who hired the talent? Mark best of luck to you...you'll be missed. You really are a positive guy!
Mark is an extremely hard worker. He cares about the product and one of the best and most caring people I have ever worked with. Mark you are a class act who will be missed.
Good for you Mark for not working under Bo!!! Good luck to you!!!
Just wondering if Heverling hired her. If so, good job Rob on your hire. You have an eye for talent.
Then acting news director (currently assistant news director) Jeff Whatley hired Keli.
and oh yeah, FIRE HOUSTON NUTT!
Okay so Mark is a nice guy. He's also terrible on television. Maybe his new advertising job will work out better.
The "sports rush" was a lot closer to being the "sports flush." Being nice is good, but, being boring is unforgiveable on TV.
Please read chapter 27: "You can resign or be fired. Either way you're leaving."
It's a shame to see him go, since KARK has lead the market in Rushing for the past several years. They'll probably want to bring in some young gun with a high-powered offense to replace him.
Maybe they will bring in someone who CARES about sports and who can get excited about it. That would be a step in the right direction.
I want KELI to get the job !!!!
Don't fool yourself - Bo runs the sports department at KNWA and KARK - Rushing's probably making a good decision. I probably wouldn't want to work for Bo either. . . .
Mark got REALLY LAZY in his last couple of years... reading major league hockey and baseball.
That's my whole point... Mark has been there 6 years and was not in charge. It takes effort to lead.
Frankly, Bo isn't any good either. He is at best market 100 level talent. 4 should lure sullivan away from 7 and barry brandt while they are at it.
Razorback Nation: Who CARES??? Keep it in NW Arkansas. Channel 4 needs to get a grip - start by looking at some old 1970's and 1980's even early 1990's newscasts. Then they had quality talent and the ratings to go with it. Arkansas viewers recognize a good product when they see it - Bob and Jancey are good...but sports and weather...and that morning show of theirs is another story.
"Frankly, Bo isn't any good either. He is at best market 100 level talent. 4 should lure sullivan away from 7 and barry brandt while they are at it."
Don't count on it. Sullivan and Brandt have worked for 4 in the past and had bad experiences - that's how they came to be at 7 - thanks to now retired news director Bob Steele. If I were them, I wouldn't go back to 4 either.
"Mark got REALLY LAZY in his last couple of years... reading major league hockey and baseball."
Major League Hockey - there's no such thing. There's professional hockey at the NHL level, but it's not called Major League Hockey. What's wrong with covering that? Please spare me the song and dance about how no one in Arkansas follows hockey because it's simply not true. Plenty of transplanted midwesterners and folks from the northeast and even Canada living in Arkansas who would love something other than Razorback and local sports crammed down their throats all the time. One of the reasons the two hockey teams failed in central Arkansas was the abysmal and pathetic coverage by the local media, who basically refused to give the teams the coverage they deserved. Sports journalists like Wally Hall should have been fired after making a statement a few Thanksgivings ago in his collumn that one of the things he was thankful for was that there was no more hockey in ALLTEL Arena. People like him have an obligation to cover sports like that, particularly locally when a team is there, whether they like the sport or not. I'm not that familiar with Rushing, but props to him for covering NHL hockey.
Oh yeah... props for covering hockey. It takes LESS work to run a tape of hockey, than it does, to get out of the studio and cover something local.
Lazy, lazy lazy !!!!!!
Did any of you consider that KARK didn't cover sports as fervently as the other stations because of the lack of resources? Since Nexstar took over the station and started slashing overtime and AP, reporters and sportcasters haven't been able to cover every single story of interest. Razorback Nation was yet another nail in the coffin of coverage for Central Arkansas.
Having said that, that doesn't say much for Mark's delivery. Criticize that, but don't criticize his lack of coverage. He and Poqueno tried.
Lack of resources? You only need a phone and some still shots to cover anything? Who won the local game? Even a graphic is fine... but local beats canned every time! Give us that!!!!!
KARK started running Razorack Nation because it was SICK of Mark just airing stuff on hockey and major league baseball. Anything about the state of Arknasas is better than the out-of-town crap that Mark shoveled.
And by the way... does Mark shave his eyebrows or what ?
First Alice, now Mark. KARK is taking some serious hits.
You're joking right?
NO
The post about hockey failing in Arkansas because of the lack of adequate media coverage is laugh-out-loud, gut-busting. Transplants and retirees!? Guess you'd like see some major curling or jai alai highlights as well.
Hockey failed in Little Rock because no run gave a rip. If so, they'd have sold tickets and media coverage would have followed.
I have watched Mark for years and he just doesn't have it. I don't care for Bo either but I think Matt Turner and Aaron Peters are good at what they do.
bad thing bout Bo and Aaron is they can't stay sober. Both of em like that ole licker....Bo is a real hoot and self proclaimed ladies' man when he is all lickered up.....lil Aaron just follows him round....
"Hockey failed in Little Rock because no run gave a rip. If so, they'd have sold tickets and media coverage would have followed."
You're absolutely right and just made my point for me. The media didn't give a rip and should have. They had an obligation to cover the team whether they liked the sport or not. We all have stuff in our jobs we don't like, but we do them anyway. Proper coverage of the hockey teams when they were here should have been a priority by local media outlets. Glad to hear Rushing was trying to do something other than show highlights from Little Rock's washed-up, has-been team of NBA wanna-bes that are the Arkansas Rim Rockers or the NFL rejects that are the Arkansas Twisters. *yawn* Just what I always want to see - a fat, out-of-shape, 900 pound Oliver Miller trying to get up and down the floor - pathetic.
You're obviously one of those "hockey isn't popular in the south" people. Please - get a clue. Tell people in Dallas or Tampa Bay that no one gives a rip. Both of those towns average 18,000 - 20,000 fans per game, and each city has a Stanley Cup Championship. Speaking of people not giving a rip, that would describe the current popularity of the Cowboys in Dallas. The hockey team is WAY more popular than the loser Cowboys. Someone might want to mention that to the sports anchors in this state who think they're obligated to cover the Cowboys simply because the owner of the team is from Arkansas.
The same could be said for sports talk radio in this state. Two shows and they're both extremely mediocre. Chuch Barrett is nothing more than a puppet for the UA Athletic Department who gets 3 hours every weekday to cover-up what a pathetic football program the University has, and Randy Rainwater wishes he was like Chuck Barrett and has redneck losers on his show who have so much time on their hands that they're actually handicapping AA high school football. Pass me the vomit bag please . . . . . .
Rushing was just trying to think outside the box a little bit - too bad the powers that be in sports media in this state want to continue to keep us in the dark ages . . . . .
Media covers what people are interested in... and that is NOT hockey. Bottom line, Mark has no business being on air.
If the Razorbacks went to a national championship, Mark would still lead with French Open tennis or maybe the Tour de France. He just didn't understand that a local station's ONLY strength is doing local sports better than anyone else can.
"Media covers what people are interested in... and that is NOT hockey. Bottom line, Mark has no business being on air."
Well it's certainly not the Rimrockers or the Twisters either . . . . and there's only so much Razorback coverage one can do.
Rushing will survive, whatever he does after he leaves KARK. Bo wants that job all for himself anyway . . . . .
At least Bo covers local stuff.
"At least Bo covers local stuff."
Yeah, but he's a donkey's behind.
Viewers don't care if the person is a donkey's behind... they want to see local sports on the local station. When they want national sports, they watch ESPN.
Mark did cover local sports and not just the Hogs, like Bo.
P.S. And some viewers DO indeed care about the anchors' attitudes. They can tell when someone is conceited.
If people knew the real personality of some media people in LR... they would never watch. Some are nice, others are nutjobs. TV is all about image.
KATV has beautiful women like Beth Hunt and Ann Pressley. KARK has Jancey Sheats. I have no idea if those people are nice or not, but, they're great to watch on TV.
Christina Munoz is the finest woman at KATV... then Beth the little dove is next... and then Ann Pressley. One station having three beauties leads to ratings!
What about me? What about Win? Do I lead to ratings?
Win Noble
What about Becky and Melissa at THV?
Becky and Melissa are pretty hot... as is Melissa Simas at KARK
Becky Duechefield is NOT HOT. unless yo like homely women
Whoever said Becky is "homely" needs to put down the crack pipe. Becky is hot.
Becky needs to buy a rack... then she would be hot.
Beth Hunt is the best, all around, in this market.
You're talking about females? I think Jancey is every bit as good as Beth.
Personally, I'd like to see a bit more coverage of women's beach volleyball. For some reason, I feel strangely compelled to watch it.
Beth Hunt is a goddess... walking perfection! She's the best-looking, most talented, hardest-working, finest female in the known universe!
Beth is the best in LR, alright. Wonder if she'll go bigger market?
Yes, Beth will go to a bigger market, when Randy Dixon runs her off...just like the rest.
Randy is a back-stabbing, liar of a weasel woman.
Do weasels eat doves?
If they let him.. I mean them.
Well I really miss Katy the Daybreak Dog. Hopefully though, she'll beat out Dwayne Graham and get that job as Razorback Offensive Coordinator. They sure could use her.
Katy isn't the only "dog" working at KATV.
I don't think any one at 7 is a dog and I think all the girls there are pretty and I would date any of them if they would let me
I laugh at the comments on theses posts. This business is not about personalities. It's about the money. And if you will monitor the stock price of some of these companies, you will discover who is really doing "good" and who is really doing "poorly". A sports anchor will not effect your stock price. Decisions made at the executive level do. Take a look at Nexstar's stock. It IPO's at $14.00 and what is it trading at now? $4.44 That speaks more to me than whether some station has a "good" anchor or not.
And that was a typo. Meant "these", not "theses". Good thing I don't run CG.
Alice Stewart was the best thing that KARK ever had. Too bad she moved on to bigger and better opportunities. It was a great move for her!!!
Bring back Carlton Wing. Mark did not deserve to take that job over him.
Carlton, should never have been treated the way he was at KARK. He was a super guy and a great anchor.
Alice was not the "best thing" to happen to KARK. Anybody seen Jancey, Soonseeharay (sp?), Keli, Melissa, Bob, or Razorback Nation? Good riddance to Alice. The station is waaaay better without her.
Good luck Mark!
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