Tides and news await no man. Exhibit A: Steffan Tubbs.
The new co-host of “Colorado’s Morning News” on KOA 850-AM hit the ground wading when he returned to Denver two weeks ago after a seven-year absence.
He was scheduled to debut last Tuesday but events connected with Hurricane Katrina sent him to Houston a week early.
Tubbs, a reporter at KOA from 1994-98 before leaving for ABC News in Los Angeles, interviewed evacuees. “Personally, I needed a week (off), but as a newsman I needed to be down there. I heard some of the most incredible stories in my 15-year career as a reporter, survival stories of women and children. People broke down and cried.”
Tubbs succeeds Steve Kelley, who left to anchor “Good Day Colorado” at KDVR-Channel 31. He’s mindful of Kelley’s 19-year legacy at the “Morning News” desk. “He is a legend in Denver radio (but) I think I bring something different to the show.”
Whether Tubbs and his on-air partner April Zesbaugh,an old friend, will achieve the conversational confluence she had with Kelley remains to be seen, but she got in the first shot: “He has the best hair in radio.”
Late, late ‘Fortune’
Fans of “Wheel of Fortune” may want to set their recorders.
KMGH-Channel 7 is pre-empting tonight’s show to take part in the ABC’s “Monday Night Football” doubleheader, a fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Katrina at 5:30 p.m.
“WoF” will air at 2:35 a.m. Tuesday. That is not a misprint.
Changes in the air
KKZN 760-AM, the local outlet for lefty Air America, changing its late-night lineup, beginning Wednesday.
Gone is L.A.-based Phil Hendrie, replaced by “The Majority Report” with Janeane Garofolo and Sam Seder from 8 to 11 p.m. and Mike Malloy, 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Hendrie’s style drew frequent criticism from listeners, said Jerry Bell, KKZN program director. “It just wasn’t the right fit.”
Around the dial
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates talks about the future of computers on “This I Believe” today on “All Things Considered” (3 p.m., KCFR 1340-AM) … Look for: KHOW 630-AM to drop Bill O’Reilly’s syndicated talk show … Quotable: “I might be one of the better dressed people in radio because I just spent a fortune on clothes for television.” – Steffan Tubbs.
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
