UPDATE: Wayne Dolcefino tells me his next career move
That's why I'm so glad I tuned into Live at 5 tonight to get my daily Melanie Lawson and Art Rascon fix. Turns out an announcement about the missing Dolcefino was made. The station reported that Wayne "elected to leave."
While we will probably never know the full reason for the Dolcefino/channel 13 breakup, the general consensus is that he and the higher ups butted heads over his stories. Let's face it, Dolcefino has an aggressive, provocative, hard hitting and sometimes comical style that just doesn't exist much on TV anymore. More often than not in television news these days, the story's promo is more interesting than the actual content.
PICTURES: SEE PHOTOS FROM WAYNE DOLCEFINO'S GOODBYE PARTY
Love him or hate him, Houston TV sweeps months will seem smaller from now on. Dolcefino wasn't afraid to take on political figures, the police, the schools...pretty much anyone with any authority. Who else besides Dolcefino is willing to actually get put in handcuffs in the course of reporting a story?
This has all come to an end right when Wayne and crew cleaned up at the 2012 10th Annual Lone Star EMMY Awards.
So what happens from here? Obviously we don't know the terms of the split, but there could be a non-compete clause for Mr. Dolcefino so he might not be able to appear on Houston TV for a period of time. My guess is that another Houston TV station will hire him. In fact, one of his old bosses is in charge at a station practically down the street from abc13 so you never know what can happen. If anyone should hire him at this point in my opinion, my vote is for KHOU 11.
I can't imagine a colorful character like Dolcefino would just retire at this point, but then you never know.
As I've blogged before, Wayne Dolcefino has been a staple at the ABC owned station since 1985. He's won a ton of awards such as 25 Emmys, three IRE medals, the 2012 Edward R. Murrow Best Investigation and a lot more. Before KTRK, Dolcefino was in radio at 740 KTRH and 590 KLBJ Austin.
On a personal note, when working at the same station, Dolcefino did make my life rough once or twice. But on the other side of that, Dolcefino sent me a nice email concerning my work while I was freelance reporting at KIAH 39. I appreciated that coming from him of all people.
Personally, I'd like to see Dolcefino back on air in Houston. He certainly knows how to keep things interesting. And as Dolcefino has brought up on this very blog, where will inspiration come from for some other journalists in town if he's gone?
I reached out to Wayne for this post but did not hear back from him.
UPDATE
This will be the biggest Houston media story of the year, if not the decade. My blog traffic is exploding.
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Where are Wayne Dolcefino and Tim Melton?
Maybe they'll hire him as The Newsfixer at channel 39.
ReplyDeleteBAHAHAHAHA Good one!
DeleteHey Mike, First Gene Norman left KHOU 11, And now Wayne Dolcefino, This is very very sad, He's not dead, He's alive, KTRK 13 needs to hire a replacement for Wayne Dolcefino?
ReplyDeleteI say that ABC-Disney got tired of spending money on lawsuits and decided to can him.
ReplyDeleteWow Norman and Dolcefino both during sweeps...KPRC you're next!
ReplyDeleteI agree. Or KRIV.
DeleteI'm going to bet my money that it will be:
Delete-Lauren Freeman (KPRC)
-Chris Stipes (KRIV)
Hey Mike, I just wanted to know that Dolcefino's bio is no longer appearing at abc13.com
ReplyDeleteWhat a sad day. A man of integrety with the guts to fight the corruption within the system. We are the losers not him.
ReplyDeleteIf he lands at KRIV I'll be shocked. Why? Fox is too cheap to hire him. He needs a producer and a couple of photographers working with him. No way Fox 26 will pay for that, plus his salary.
ReplyDeleteThis guy stepped on a lot of powerful toes. Really would like to know why he left.......
ReplyDeleteWho?
ReplyDeleteWayne Dolcefino, He left KTRK 13 Wednesday, right before Thanksgiving?
ReplyDeleteKTRK's GM said the station had to reel Wayne in on some of his stories because of concerns he was going too far.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way KRIV's news director would hire Wayne. Tom has said he is not a big fan of investigative stories because they can result in legal problems and because he doesn't believe there is enough out there to warrant an investigative team, such as Wayne conducted.
KHOU likely would be disinclined to hire Wayne because Belo is shy about legal costs that can be associated with such stories and because Belo does not subscribe to investivative work that casts the reporter as an entertainer. Wayne's port series was a good example of the entertainment approach he used.
KPRC is the station that probably would have interest in talking to Wayne about hiring him.
KPRC management has shied away from serious investigations. That's why Stephen Dean left. He didn't like the idea of being told what or who he could investigate.
DeleteWhy not do a series where the reporter ISN'T the entertainer?
DeleteOr, Disney could have an eye on that 30 year full benefits mark.
ReplyDeleteKTRK fucked up on this decision! Well what's new with those pussies? Sorry I mean pussycats.
ReplyDeleteHey Mike, After KTRK 13 hires a new replacement investigative reporter for Wayne Dolcefino, Tony Consiglio is most likely to join Fox 26 from WVII as weekend co-anchor alongside Rita Garcia?
ReplyDeleteA certain KTRK reporter thinks he should be the station's investigative reporter. NOT GONNA HAPPEN.
ReplyDeleteWayne was a true a-hole, you need those type of people to keep others honest. You either loved or hated him. KTRK doesn't like anyone who rocks the boat, producers/editors/photogs, they'll find a way to get rid of you. He had a hefty salary, somewhere in the range of 300K plus. I doubt anyone will hire him for that amount but he'll resurface somewhere because he has to feed his ego.
ReplyDeleteI could never figure out how he got on tv. He was unattractive and spoke like a frog.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sad day!!! Wayne has the guts to tell it like it is, something we seldom see anymore. Bad decision.
ReplyDeleteApparently he has joined the Burzynski Clinic to head up PR.
ReplyDeleteHi Mike, tyvm for giving me a better insight on this media story of the year!!!!! Wayne Doelcefino,was one of the reasons I watched the station, He made sure that the American People and Tax Payers was aware of a whole lot of corruption by big Boss Hogs, including some Police Departments, and at the same time putting him and his families life in danger!!!!!!! WHAT A HORRIBLE RISK THOU, he surely will be missed by me, He will not have any problems gaining employment. What we all must remember is (KNOWLEDGE IS POWER)
ReplyDelete