Steve Mark, former Houston television sports anchor and news manager, is leaving Space City for Denver to be the news director of WeatherNationTV and America's Voice.
"It's a bit surreal, sometimes, to mark the passage of time; in this case, 36 years here," Mark told mikemcguff.com. "One of the benefits of having worked at just about every TV outlet in Houston (KIAH, KPRC, KRIV, KHOU, Houston Dynamo) is that it's afforded me to build on a wide variety of relationships that I really treasure. There are a lot of people here that I'll miss."
Mark, certainly left his mark on Houston TV news, from his time as the CW39 KIAH NewsFix managing editor, to his roles at various Houston TV stations as a sports anchor/reporter.
Houston sports fans first caught Mark's work back in December 1984 when he arrived at KHOU 11. He later moved to FOX 26 KRIV in August 1988. From there, he joined KPRC 2 in 1997 where he spent the next decade.
"Between reporting sports and news, I've been fortunate to cover a lot of landmark events here: The Rockets' NBA titles, a few no-hitters, (Mike Scott, Darryl Kile) and the Atlanta Olympics that was so Houston-centric," Mark told me. "George Foreman's heavyweight title win in 2007 changed the landscape in boxing for five years, and his KO in Las Vegas was hugely memorable. Sprinkle in a hurricane or two for good measure. There's a certain vibe covering those moments that you can't replicate."
In between his decades covering sports and his jump to new management with KIAH, Mark worked for the Houston Dynamo as Director of Public Relations.
The University of Texas grad started in broadcasting with KLBJ 590 AM Austin as a sports reporter. A year later in 1980, Mark moved to TV as a sports anchor/reporter by joining KTVV (now KXAN 36).
From there, the Texas-Ex made the daring move of crossing the Red River by joining KOTV Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Now as he crosses the Texas state line again, Mark is looking forward to his next journey.
"I loved making the jump to management while at KIAH," Mark told me. "After Tribune eliminated NewsFix, my plan was not to simply find any job, but what I call the Next Big Thing. This opportunity in Denver is unique and quite special. The people at WeatherNationTV and America's Voice are really terrific, and are pros at what they do. I look forward to diving in."
