Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 38

E8 Monday, June 1, 1998 Life Arts Austin American-Statesman i -uuiiiwu (A cOur news philosophy is to make sure we aggressively cover the news of the day. Some days thafs government; other days itfs crime. We haven't changed anything. 3 Cathy McFeaters, KVUE news director 1 Is KVUE's 6 and 10 p.m. anchors are, from left, Mike Barnes, sports; Judy Maggio and Walt Maciborski, news; Mark Murray, weather.

Competition tests KVUE's restraint VjTUr Barnes edits Houston Astros baseball highlights for the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts. Continued from El the day," she said. "Some days that's government; other days it's crime. We haven't changed anything." KVUE boasts a long history of popular anchors, from the early heyday of Kate Kelly (now a top anchor in San Francisco) to today's Judy Maggio, who consistently ranks high in popularity polls.

Three anchors at other Austin stations worked at KVUE: KTBC's Dick Ellis and KXAN's Robert Hadlock and Ron Oliveira. Paired with relative newcomer Walt Maciborski at 6 and 10 p.m., Maggio has been a mainstay at KVUE for 17 years. The station has such a strong reputation that there is relatively little turnover, except when people go to bigger markets. Sports anchor Steve Atkinson, for example, recently left to take a job at WFAA in Dallas, and weekend sports guy Mike Barnes moved up to replace him. Rounding out the principal KVUE anchor team is meteorologist Mark Murray.

For the past few years, Maggio has pulled double-duty as anchor and managing editor, which means she takes part in management decisions. All of the anchors and reporters (totaling 20) are involved in daily news meetings, along with producers and directors. Lively discussions take place several times a day in the spacious, sunny-newsroom on Steck Avenue in Northwest Austin. "The whole newsroom drives the story ideas," McFeaters said. "If you have to pick one group, I'd say it's reporter-driven.

A big priority for us is to make sure we have strong beat reporters. You have to be in tune with your community, and the fact that we have people who know Austin helps us maintain a strong beat system." Reporters generally turn out one story a day at KVUE and compete for the lead spot on each newscast. The final lineups are decided by the producers, news managers and managing editor. McFeaters says there's no formula for what goes in or what goes on first. "We try to take each story individually," she said.

"The litmus test is how we tell the story. We want it to be fair, balanced and have perspective." Although the station solicits viewer feedback with its "KVUE Listens" campaign, McFeaters said the station does not rely on research or audience comments to determine what goes into the newscasts. "We would never want to increase coverage of one area because of research," she said. "Our job is to make the news of the day compelling, not to make it fit some type of category." Although the competitive mood has intensified, KVUE is no stranger to stiff competition. Independently owned when it signed on as an ABC affiliate in 1971, the station, now owned by Gannett Broadcasting, was Austin's third entry in TV news, behind KTBC and KXAN.

But it wasn't long before KVUE surpassed KXAN and in the early '80s overtook KTBC, then a powerful CBS affiliate. The two stations traded ratings crowns over the years until the Fox-CBS affiliation switch in '95. As a Fox affiliate, KTBC's news nose-dived in the ratings, and new CBS affiliate KEYE had to start from scratch with an attention-getting, bells-and-whistles approach. The beneficiaries of the resulting viewer confusion were KXAN and KVUE, which stayed with their networks. Some people have noticed a change at KVUE recently.

Maggio and Maciborski sometimes stand to read the news and sometimes use props just like the anchors on KEYE. The bells and whistles may be spreading. "The competition has become tougher, but I don't attribute it just to KEYE," McFeaters said. "It has more to do with fast growth. With all the newcomers, there's no allegiance among viewers any more.

We constantly have to prove ourselves. People have more choices now, and they're really busy. Our competition right now isn't just KXAN or KEYE. It's also the 'off button. It's not like there isn't anything else for peopleto do here." On a warm April evening, the 6 p.m.

news begins on KVUE. Maciborski anchors from the UT campus while Maggio holds down the fort on the sleek set dominated by a wrap-around desk and an Austin skyline. In the studio during breaks, Maggio scribbles notes on her script and pecks on a computer keyboard buried in the desktop. Occasionally she chats and laughs with the crew and compares notes with weatherman Murray on an Austin band they've both heard recently. The atmosphere is entirely different in the cramped control booth, where producer Scott Reather and director Maureen Connolly bark instructions and questions to the technical folks reporting from locations around town.

They also communicate with the studio anchors. On a small TV in the booth, KXAN's news plays silently. The furious activity in the booth is a marked contrast to the serenity viewers see on the screen. "It's like conducting an orchestra," Reather says calmly after Maggio signs off. Back in the newsroom, computers click as monitors beam flickering images from the local competition.

Each of the just-ended newscasts looked and sounded different. "The stations here do seem to be trying to distinguish themselves," said UT's Schultz. "If you look at the content of the news, often there are three and sometimes four different leads, and I think that's good. It shows they're not trying to copy each other." Ld 6 v- Photojournalist Lalo Garcia uses an editing station to piece together a report. Photography by Ralph Barrera American-Statesman Staff MARK MURRAY- Age: 39 Residence: Far North Austin Home Life: Married to Crystal Education: B.S., Metropolitan State College in Denver JUDY MAGGIO Age: 38 Residence: Northwest Austin Home Life: Divorced; daughter Carly, 6 Education: B.A., University of Texas Maggio has practically grown up on Austin TV.

WALT MACIBORSKI Age: 31 Residence: Southwest Austin Home Life: Married to Kim Education: B.A., University of Southern California Born in Canada, Maciborski grew up in South- MIKE BARNES Age: 30 Residence: Northwest Austin Home Life: Married to KVUE weekend anchor Kim Barnes; son Brandon, 1 Education: B.A., University of Texas I. 1,1,1,1 I J. i N. HI. II IINI Hired out of college by KVUE in 1981, the Houston native has snent her entire career em California and started out as a desk assistant for ABC News in Los Angeles.

Maybe that's why he's the only Austin anchor who does Ehis impersonations on the air. 17 years on one i tin station. She started as a The newest member of the 6 and 10 p.m. anchor team, Barnes was bom in Dallas but has called Austin home since coming to UT. After graduating in 1988, he went back to Dallas to look for a job and wound up with a six-month stint at KBTX in BryanCollege Murray and his wife just celebrated their fourth year as a "big couple" to 13-year-old Josh.

Murray has been active in the Big BrothersBig Sisters for many years, and he and Crystal enjoy their time with Josh. "It's been as good for us as it has been for him," Murray said. 3 mere are so many I I stuffed-shirt, pretty-boy an-! -W chors out there who aren't general assignments reporter and weekend anchor and quickly worked her way up to the top job. "It's a great market to work in and a great city to JaL LJl 1 human," Maciborski said. "These guys are great at live in," Maggio said.

"We've put down roots here. I don't think I would ever leave Austin." Divorced last year, Maggio lives with her daughter, who just finished kindergarten, and their border collie Murphy. Maggio has worked with some of Austin's most popular anchors Dick Ellis, now at KTBC, and Ron Oliveira and Robert Hadlock, now at KXAN. As managing editor and anchor, her duties include some management responsibilities. But she still enjoys reporting and interviewing.

"I get out pretty frequently," she said. "Usually it's a big story, like the elections or the political conventions. My job, because of how long I've been here and my deep interest in politics, is to bring it all home. I always study so I'll be prepared to think on my feet" Maggio said the standout assignment of her career was a 1996 interview with Lady Bird Johnson. Bom in Wisconsin and raised in Colorado, Murray came to Austin eight years ago from Colorado Springs and says he prefers the hot weather.

He makes no secret of the fact that he loves his job and not just because of the cool tools in the weather office. "Weather is big news, with topics such as El I Nino and the tornadoes we've had," Murray said. "When I come to work, I think about how I can make the weathercast a little bit different. Sometimes I talk about Austin's weather history or experimental long-range forecasting or just try to help people understand all the things that are going on in weather." Murray doesn't spend all his time gazing at radar and computers. He loves going out to hear local music and especially enjoys Trish Murphy and Reckless Kelly.

And sometimes he stays home with his Yorkshire terriers, Mercedes and Porsche. During college, Barnes interned at KVUE and happily returned in '89 for the weekend sports job. "I had always intended to go into sports journalism," Barnes said. "I was a huge sports fan growing up, and my dad used to take me to see the Cowboys, the Rangers and the old Dallas Chaparrals." Until he was tapped in May to replace Steve Atkinson on weekdays, Barnes worked with his wife, weekend anchor Kim Barnes. The two met in journalism school at UT but didn't start dating until 1990, when Mike suffered a serious head injury in a car accident.

They were engaged within six months and married in '92. Barnes' favorites sports to cover are football and baseball. He doesn't mind not covering pro sports. "This is a good market for sports," he said. "There's a lot of knowledge here about college and pro sports.

Years ago I would have said my ultimate goal was to get to a huge market, maybe my hometown of Dallas. But having a family now, we're happy here." communicating, but you wish they could just be real." After working for ABC in Los Angeles, Maciborski went to London as a desk assistant and then to Washington, D.C., as an intern for "World News Tonight." He also has worked behind the scenes for "2020 and "Prime Time Live," as he puts it, "tracking down people who took Phen-Fen and doing research." He landed his first anchor job in Medford, on the weekend news. "I was only making $5.50 an hour, but I loved it," Maciborski said. A couple of years later, he came to Austin as a reporter, moved up to weekend anchor, then to weekdays. Along the way he met Kim, a native Texan, and married her last year.

"Austin's a great place for covering news," Maciborski said. "It's a big little city. It's big enough to have news makers, like Michael Dell and George Bush, but small enough that they're all pretty accessible." Maciborski said his dream job is reporting or anchoring for a network newsmagazine such as "Dateline NBC.".