Len Jennings, who most recently was the primary weeknight anchor at WBBH-TV in Fort Myers, FL since 1997, will join Kelly Eckerman as co-anchor for KMBC 9 News at 5 p.m. and for the 9:00 p.m. newscast on KCWE starting Wednesday (6/20).
Bottom Line Communications announced his hiring in March.
Jennings, a Midwestern native and Boston College graduate, will also be featured every Sunday as co-anchor with Lara Moritz at the 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts and will serve as primary anchor for the Sunday 9 p.m. newscast on KCWE.
Veteran Larry Moore and Moritz will be the featured anchor team on KMBC 9 News at 6:00 and 10:00 p.m.
It will represent a big move for Jennings from the Fort Myers/Naples market, which is the 62nd largest in the U.S. to Kansas City, which is ranked as the 31st largest. Before joining WBBH he was the main anchor at WZVN in Miami for 10 years.
In 2005, Jennings was honored by the Associated Press for Best Continuing Coverage for his powerful and compelling stories on ALS advocacy and treatment. His reporting and coverage highlights include two launches of the Space Shuttle Discovery, extended coverage of Hurricane Charley, Super Bowl XXXIII, and extensive coverage of state and national political races in Florida.
Here was his sendoff from WBBH, including Brian Williams.
Channel 9 hires a good looking, middle-aged, nice guy, good news anchor to start anchoring the evening news shows… Can you say Kris Ketz?
Ketz is doing very well on the morning show, which is quite successful and a big money maker for the station… but wasn’t he always viewed as the heir apparent to Larry Moore (who will be 67 this July)?
Discuss amongst yourselves.
If you ask me, since Larry Moore “is getting so old now,” and may finally be close to reaching his own personal-set retirement age, it could be that KMBC hired him (Jennings) not only because he does a good job, but because he looks SLIGHTLY like a younger Larry Moore.
But I agree with TV Guy up there. Ketz looks a LOT more like Moore than this Jennings fellow here does!
Either way though, there seems to be a universal, single “conspiracy theory/rumor” of sorts that Larry Moore will soon be leaving soon, and KMBC is more worried about their 5pm newscast than anything (which does actually seem to be their weakest one so far), so they’re there trying to find and hire a Larry Moore lookalike so when he finally DOES leave, viewers will already have somebody that they’ve been looking at (who’s also old) that seems similar enough to Larry Moore for them to keep their attention on their station.
July 24, 2012 — Imagine my surprise while in the KC/MO area on business to see our Ft. Myers, FL on KMBC! Knew he left Florida, but forgot where he moved. Don’t know whose spot he took, but he is our loss, your gain — great guy, so give him a shot — you will like him! Sign me a lifelong ABC Viewer from FL! The best to you, Len — and you thought Ft. Myers — hah! Take care of your Golden Retriever in this heat!
GREAT ADDITION
Great addition to KMBC!! Good looking, pleasant delivery, right age. Beats the pompous acting Kris Ketz for evening news by a landslide–leave Kris in the mornings. Hope Len makes this a long commitment!
Welcome, Len!
It’s great to see a familiar face from Ft. Myers! Glad you’re here1