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Oliveira’s departure is Austin’s loss
Ron Oliveira said goodbye at the end of KVUE’s 10 p.m. news last night. His swan song began with a clip showing him saying goodbye earlier in his career, when he left the station in 1985 for a three-year stint in management at KGBT in Harlingen. He looked like a kid then, but he already knew more about Austin than a lot of other folks in TV news.
Last night’s farewell was more emotional. Oliveira, 49, thanked viewers for the nearly quarter-century run he’s had anchoring local news. Then he said he hoped to see us again “real soon.”
Let’s hope so, too. Austin’s television news has long been enriched by veteran anchors who have chosen to stay here rather than climb the big-market ladder. Having folks such as Oliveira, KXAN’s Robert Hadlock, KEYE’s Judy Maggio and Fred Cantu and former KTBC anchor Dick Ellis at the helm has been a plus.
The experience and stability pay off in a big way during local elections, when newcomers to Austin news sometimes stumble through names, districts, precincts and issues.
Oliveira’s negotiations for a new contract with KVUE stalled in January and then collapsed. We don’t know how much money he made, if he was asking for too much for his contract renewal or whether KVUE, which is owned by Belo Corp., offered him a decent raise that he decided wasn’t enough. Neither the station nor Oliveira will talk specifics.
When he said goodbye, Oliveira, who also has anchored at KXAN and KNVA, sounded like he might have something in the works here. Or maybe he just hopes to when he starts looking for a new job today.
But he has a noncompete clause that says he cannot work for another station in Austin for a year. Maggio was off the air for six months when she jumped ship from KVUE to KEYE. Occasionally such clauses have been overturned in court, but it could be at least six months before we see Oliveira back on the air.
Let’s hope Austin doesn’t turn into a market that sees young anchors come here for three years, pack their bags and move on. Local newscasts in cities like that are notoriously shallow and short on context. Anchors may not do a lot of reporting, but they do orchestrate the newscast and help viewers understand complicated local stories.
A revolving door is not a plus for Austin’s TV news.
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