Kiro News Director Resigns To Take Job At Los Angeles Station

Ten years ago, John Lippman, an up-and-comer who brought KIRO-TV up from the basement of local television news, was approached by CBS to become the news manager for a bigger station in a bigger market - Chicago.

He turned it down.

But CBS came calling again recently, this time with an even bigger station in the second largest TV market in the nation: Los Angeles. Lippman - now with more than a dozen years under his belt as news director for KIRO-TV - couldn't refuse.

"I'm delighted to be joining CBS and KCBS-TV," said Lippman, 42. "The opportunity to speak to 10 1/2 million people instead of 2 million is quite something. KCBS is CBS' biggest station, and it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up."

Lippman announced his decision to resign yesterday by coming in from the last day of his vacation and posting a small typed notice on his office window. His resignation is effective Jan. 20.

The news of Lippman's resignation was unexpected and came as a surprise to the station's staff.

"It was to me," said Lisa Thompson, KIRO spokeswoman. "And it was probably news to the rest of the staff."

Under Lippman's tenure at KIRO, the station's daily news output more than tripled to 5 1/2 hours a day, the staff grew from 45 to 100, and the news operation became computerized. In 1980, he brought Seattle TV news into the helicopter age with the purchase of Chopper 7. By the following year, KIRO-TV was at the top of the ratings in the Seattle market and it stayed at or near there for most of the next decade.

Lippman leaves to join a network-owned-and-operated station that is in last place among the three network stations in Los Angeles. In the past 10 years, the station has had eight news directors. Lippman, however, said he looks forward to the challenge, which he likens to the task he faced in 1979 when he took over as news director of KIRO-TV.

Despite his successes locally, Lippman also had his critics - including employees who viewed their boss as aloof and uncommunicative, and characterized his management style as autocratic. After poor ratings last February, the station hired a management consultant to work with Lippman, who admitted to the staff that to recapture their past success, he would need to change his ways.

Aaron Brown, the former KIRO-TV anchor who recently left Seattle for New York to anchor a new ABC News overnight broadcast, was among those who clashed with Lippman.

"I'm happy for him if that's what he wants," Brown said about Lippman's move. "Change can be very difficult, but I think it'll be good for KIRO in the long run. There's considerable tension in the newsroom and I think John has probably done what he could for the station."

Brown said Lippman was a hands-on manager - which had its advantages and disadvantages.

If there was some work that needed to be done, Lippman was there willing and able to do it, Brown said. The flip side, Brown added, is that Lippman often meddled and was involved in everything.

"John was a guy who was in tune with the business," Brown said. "He's in the business of winning and sometimes the business of winning is not the same as the business of journalism. It's a very difficult time in any news business and he was trying to win. I just happen to disagree with some of his decisions and his judgment."

Lippman said the move to Southern California does have some drawbacks.

"I hate to leave Seattle and Tacoma," he said. "It's home. I was born in Chicago, but I've been here 20 years. This is home for me now and it's a hard place to leave."

It will also cause some havoc on his personal life. Julie Neff, the director of the Center for Writing and Learning at the University of Puget Sound, and Lippman's wife, will stay in town and continue her work.

"We'll be a commuter marriage," Lippman said. "When she comes down, she'll bring me water."

But it's clear that Lippman's thoughts have already turned to his next challenge and he's not wasting any time. He starts his new job Jan. 21, and this weekend he will be in Los Angeles doing some prep work.

"I plan on throwing myself into the February ratings period, which is very important for TV," Lippman said.

Asked about regrets he may have had about his tenure at KIRO-TV, Lippman brings up the offer made to him by CBS a decade ago, the one that he passed up. His voice trails off as talks almost wistfully about the path not chosen. But he's soon back to the here and now.

"Looking back at my decision 10 years ago, I don't think I was ready then," Lippman said. "But I'm ready now."