So much for the sudden retirement of veteran Kansas City radio reporter Dan Verbeck and his "spend more time with my family" departure from 980 KMBZ. Verbeck is already doing news reports at KCUR, KC's public radio station (FM 89.3). Instead of "Cruiser 980, Clear!" you can now hear Verbeck sign off "KCUR News." Link to a recent story: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kcur/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1257807 04-10-2008
I was as snookered -- I'm sorry, surprised as anybody to turn on KCUR-FM one morning and behold the voice of Dan Verbeck. After all, I had just written his retirement story. As it turns out, what Verbeck had retired from was well-paying union work as a commercial crimes-and-fires reporter. At age 63, he has embarked on a new career as general assignment reporter for KCUR, the NPR station serving our area. I just spoke with news director Frank Morris, who confirmed that it is a full-time position and that it came as no surprise to either him or Verbeck. "He and I had been talking for eight years or so about getting over here," said Morris. "It was a good time for him to take (laughs) a massive pay cut." I can't get too sore at Verbeck, since I should've spotted the warning signs myself. Two weeks after my story, Tana Guthrie -- another long-timer who had just been pushed out at a station owned the same radio company -- said to me, "Wasn't it obvious when they put him on the 2 a.m. shift?" And anyway, the "poet of yellow tape," as Morris affectionately refers to him, has landed on his feet at a station likely to make better use of his talents than the one he just left. It's kind of what might happen if George Stephanopoulos were forced out at ABC and took a job at the "NewsHour." Ha! We can only dream.
Dan Verbeck
Bottom Line: Kansas City's award-winning radio journalist Dan Verbeck will depart 980 KMBZ on Feb. 8. The station will have a one-hour segment between 8-9 a.m. on his last day highlighting his career. It should be mandatory listening for journalism students. 02-04-2008
VETERAN NEWSMAN DAN VERBECK TO DEPART KMBZ
Dan Verbeck, whose familiar news signoff "Cruiser 980... Clear!," has resonated in Kansas City for years, will be leaving NewsRadio 980 KMBZ to "pursue other interests" after more than 20 years at the station during two different periods. The station plans to air tributes to Verbeck this week with his last day at KMBZ being Friday (2/8). "Dan is respected by all members of the media in Kanas City and his decision to move on is significant," says KMBZ Program Director Neil Larrimore. "Dan has been a large part of the reason why listeners have always believed in the quality news product KMBZ puts on the air. We will all miss him here at KMBZ Radio and throughout the market." Verbeck began his journalism career as a reporter and photographer at several Chicago area newspapers and moved to broadasting in 1969 when he joined the Army. He has covered virtually every major news story since arriving in Kansas City in the mid-1970's. He is in the Hall of Fame of Kansas City Media Professionals and has been honored by both the Missouri and Kansas Broadcasters' Associations, The Associated Press and United Press International. Verbick is past president of the Westport Historical Society and is vice president of the Civil War Round Table of Kansas City. He and his wife, Sylvia Stucky, are the parents of three daughters and two sons and live in rural Platte County.
"Cruiser 980, Clear!"
BOTTOM LINE: Kansas City Star columnist Aaron Barnhart has written a well-deserved tribute piece on Dan Verbeck. 02-07-2008
Cruiser 980 clear, over and out: Dan Verbeck retires from KMBZ Tonight Dan Verbeck will go to bed at 5 p.m. or try to anyway. He will rise shortly after 11, along with the rest of the third-shifters and any zombies lurking around area graveyards. And then, for the last time, he will work what seems like one of the grimmest assignments in all of media: reporting live from the scene as murder, mayhem and mischief spill out onto the darkened streets of Kansas City. Some time before 8 a.m. Friday — his employer, KMBZ Radio, wants him back in the studio for a special goodbye show then — he will file his last report from the KMBZ mobile unit, including his familiar signoff, “Cruiser 980, clear.” What is amazing and even inspiring about Verbeck is that this has been his job for 23 years on KMBZ (980), and as he prepares to leave, it’s not because he has grown bitter or weary at all the carnage his fellow humans can cause to themselves and one another. No, he’s leaving because he has an aging mother in California, a wife and teenagers at home, three grown kids (including two by a previous marriage) and a granddaughter on the way, and at age 64, he has earned the right to spend more time with all of them. Link to rest of article: http://www.kansascity.com/620/story/478264.html
Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star and TV Barn http://blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn/index.html did an excellent interview of Dan Verbeck in 2005 shortly after Verbeck returned from the devastating floods in New Orleans.
