King Anchor Rejoins Kiro

Four months after KING-TV sacked him as a weekend anchor, David Kerley is returning to Seattle television news.

Kerley will be anchoring and reporting for Channel 7, KIRO-TV. Again.

"I've got a lot of friends who are still there," Kerley said yesterday. He started his first tour of duty at KIRO as a weekend anchor and reporter in 1983. KING-TV hired him away in 1986, then, in April, decided not to renew his contract.

Kerley is scheduled to slide back behind the KIRO anchor desk next Saturday, August 22.

"This represents a change in how we look at the weekends," said Channel 7 news director Gail Neubert, noting that Kerley is "a talented anchor." She said the weekend anchor spot generally had been viewed as a training ground or scrap heap.

Neubert, who was Channel 7's executive producer during Kerley's first go-round, has yet to name Kerley's co-anchor. She said candidates inside and outside KIRO were still being considered, with the inside track probably going to a woman.