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Pelikan off the air at KEYE
KEYE, Austin’s CBS television affiliate, has pulled weekend sports anchor and sports reporter Chris Pelikan from its roster. According to sources close to the station, Pelikan was dismissed Sept. 8 following a Sept. 7 broadcast from the locker room of the Round Rock Express. During that segment, a brief moment of nudity aired in the background of an interview shot.
KEYE management did not return repeated phone calls requesting comment on Pelikan’s firing, which is reminiscent of the station’s dismissal of sports anchor Robert Flores in 2004. In that instance, a tape was aired that found Flores muttering an expletive under his breath. Similarly, neither KEYE nor parent company Viacom would comment on that matter, although a Viacom spokesman at that time cited the group’s “zero tolerance” for these types of incidents.
Sources expressed regret and shock over the firing of Pelikan, whose wife recently gave birth to the couple’s first child. A Midwest native, Pelikan joined KEYE in February 2008.
All traces of Pelikan have been wiped from the station’s Web site, but an archived copy can be seen by clicking here.
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By Mike
October 18, 2009 1:24 AM | Link to this
KEYE is Austin TV's version of the LA Clippers.
By chris
September 22, 2009 11:48 AM | Link to this
The Firing shows that KEYE really doesn't care about their employees. If they really wanted to reprimand Pelikan for this couldn't they have suspended him without pay for a week? I don't think they should have punished him at all.... I'm not sure who the editor was in this case, but that is the only person at fault. It may have been Pelikan that edited it but still, that's not a fireable offense.
Way to keep a good rep, KEYE.
By Tim Bishop
September 17, 2009 8:29 PM | Link to this
That's not a good rule. He was a great reporter.
By Dale Roe
September 17, 2009 9:09 AM | Link to this
Hi, Jennifer! Thanks for writing. I only referenced Viacom as being KEYE's parent company at the time of the Flores dismissal. I'm sorry if that was unclear.
By Jennifer
September 16, 2009 7:46 PM | Link to this
KEYE is not owned by Viacom now. It is owned by Cerberus, and managed by Nextstar.
By John
September 16, 2009 8:30 AM | Link to this
I worked for Nextstar once.. they don't seem too caring when it comes to its employees, HOWEVER, your FCC is responsible for this firing crap that goes on. The FCC holds the stations,like KEYE responsible and can impose stiff fines, and even revoke their licenses,putting them out of business. The FCC is still messing around worring about Ms. Jacksons aging boob on CBS. Also, I think the photographer, the executive producer, and the editor should have also been fired, if you're going to fire the reporter. Pelikan, you cant see it now, but Nextstar did you a favor. You'll land on your feet.
By Brett Stroud
September 15, 2009 8:31 AM | Link to this
I stopped watching KEYE forever when the Flores incident took place. I can see they still don't deserve my or anyone else's viewership.
Zero tolerance rules are a crutch for the stupid and lazy. Clearly they are properly employed at KEYE.
By Rob
September 15, 2009 6:51 AM | Link to this
Seems like the camera man should be the one in trouble (if anyone), not the reporter. But I agree with other posts, why on earth should this jeopardize this man's career, when we are barraged daily with explicit violence called entertainment?
By emmy
September 15, 2009 2:19 AM | Link to this
It sounds like they're looking for excuses to fire people--trying to disguise downsizing as "zero tolerance". I agree with the comments about the Web site. I hadn't gone there for awhile, but when I did so recently I was surprised (putting it mildly). At first I thought that it was someone's high-school project or something, and I kept trying to find the *real* site using Google. (I'm serious!) Needless to say, I didn't find the information that I was looking for, and I won't visit the site again. At the very least, a Web site for an information company should have a site map and a search function. I did get a nice laugh when I clicked on "Help", though. It appears to have been lifted verbatim from a site called "arkansasmatters.com", and they didn't even bother to do a "change all" from "arkansasmatters.com" to "weareaustin.com". The Chamber of Commerce should get an injunction to stop them from using the name "We Are Austin". It's embarrassing.
By Donald Mason
September 14, 2009 5:25 PM | Link to this
How insane. This country will tolerate showing violence and people physically tackling others but we can not see a naked butt? I cannot believe a man would be fired just beacuse a little bare skin was shown in a shot. Is much of this country showering in bathing suits and changing with their eyes closed? We like to think that it is very wrong for organizations like the Taliban to require women to dress a certain way, but many Americans are extremely similar to them.
By Kristen
September 14, 2009 5:20 PM | Link to this
Sounds like a huge overreaction. He was one of the least annoying sports casters in town.
By Kasey
September 14, 2009 5:19 PM | Link to this
Man, has KEYE gone to the crapper since Nexstar took over... first they replace their relatively decent website (and AP award-winning, I might add) with the steaming pile of crap that is WeAreAustin.com, then they decide to drop RTN for Telemundo in another lets-copy-KVUE move, and now they're shuffling the staff around like deck chairs on the Titanic.
Put it out of its misery already.
By Greg
September 14, 2009 4:46 PM | Link to this
Well then ... Flores should hook Pelikan up!
By Alex
September 14, 2009 3:52 PM | Link to this
Yeah that was brilliant of KEYE and worked out really well last time...except they lost Robert Flores to a small, obscure network called ESPN where he works as an anchor for a little show called Sportscenter.
Way to go KEYE...way to go.