In Their Words is a weekly feature appearing Sundays in The Blade's Sports section. Sports columnist Dave Hackenberg talks with Rob Powers, the sportscaster who just left WTVG-TV, Channel 13, to begin a job in New York City.
Life became much more hectic much sooner than Rob Powers expected late last week.
His start date as the No. 2 man and weekend anchor in the sports department at WABC-TV in New York City was moved up. So, on Thursday, Powers co-anchored the 5:30 p.m. newscast at WTVG, did his sportscast during the 6 p.m. news, and then hustled to Metro Airport in Detroit to fly to the Big Apple.
At 5 p.m. Friday afternoon he did a live report for his new employer from Yankee Stadium, anchored yesterday's in-studio sports segments, and then was scheduled to fly to Minneapolis this morning to follow the Yankees for as long as they win in postseason.
At WABC, the ratings leader in New York City that bills itself as the most watched station in the nation, Powers is under sports director Scott Clark, a Bowling Green State University graduate who worked in the Toledo at WTOL-TV, Channel 11 during the late 1970s.
Powers, a Cleveland native, came to Toledo in 1998 and won four Emmys as well as being named Ohio's best sportscaster by the Associated Press during his decade-plus at WTVG. He worked double duty starting in June, 2004, when he added co-anchor duties for the 5:30 p.m. newscast to his 6 and 11 p.m. sports segments.
Powers is moving from the No. 73-rated TV market, based on some 423,000 TV households in the metro Toledo area, to the No. 1-ranked market with nearly 7.5 million TV households. Both WABC and WTVG are wholly owned subsidiaries of the ABC network, which is a division of the Walt Disney Co.
Before joining WTVG, Powers spent two years at WRTV in Indianapolis and 6 1/2 years at WICZ in Binghamton, N.Y.
Powers, 43, met his wife, Debbie, who then worked for the NBA's Indiana Pacers, while in Indianapolis. They have two sons, Jack, 6, and Brendan, 4.
"COMING TO Toledo was the perfect opportunity at the perfect time. Deb and I knew we would be married, and we wanted to start a family as soon as possible. So I was looking for an anchor job where I could pretty much call the shots and have a Monday-through-Friday schedule with weekends off. Toledo was equidistant between our families, mine in Cleveland and Deb's in Indy, and we both liked the city a lot. Still do. So, I had no plan to leave. We weren't going to entertain a move until the kids were older. As long as we were happy and I was doing good work, we were fine.
"TO GET A CALL from New York City and to stay with Disney and ABC, which is as stable as anything in this industry, well, I couldn't say 'no' to that opportunity. It's one of the things in this business that I think everybody dreams of trying. Sure, there's a little fear of the unknown. I know I had a great thing in Toledo and my family and I enjoyed being here. But we've tried to do our homework and we think we know what we're getting into and what opportunities we'll have. I wasn't looking, but this happened and it's the right time.
"I CAN'T SAY enough about how nice the people in Toledo have been. As soon as it was announced I was leaving to go to New York, my phone started ringing off the hook and my e-mail exploded. I got a phone message from Frank Gilhooley and what he said blew me away. I was a mess the rest of the day. The man's a legend in this town. So is Jim Tichy, and he and his wife sent a really nice card. But the comments from people who have stopped me on the street or come up to me at breakfast or somewhere, those things have meant just as much. I was really blessed to work in this town.
"MY DAD, Bryan, was the quarterback for Heidelberg's undefeated team in the late 1950s. He was back in Cleveland as a teacher and coach in the mid-1960s when the PBS station there started putting high school football and basketball on TV. He was hired to be the color commentator and he did it for 26 years. I figured out that if I wanted to spend time with my dad on Friday nights I had to go to the games. So I went to all of them. At first, I stayed in the booth with him, but when I got a little older I'd sort of split time between there and down in the truck with the producers and directors.
"I realized how cool the business was and I got the bug. But after I graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 1988 it took me two years to find a job in TV. In the meantime I worked as a groundskeeper at a softball complex. I'd ride the mowers all day and then play ball every night and play a doubleheader on Sundays. Finally, I got an opportunity at the station in Binghamton.
"COVERING THE Ohio State national championship game in January of '03 was so much fun and having a Super Bowl in Detroit was cool.
"But the local stuff, like shooting Southview's state [football] championship game last year, was the most fun. Our Friday night shows during high school football and basketball were always a bear to put together, but coming up with something new every week and having it all come together was a blast. And I loved that bowling special, The 13th Frame, we did every week. It was so off the wall. We always had to announce where we were going to be because people would follow us around from week to week.
"I WAS THE FACE, I guess, but the talent in sports at [Channel] 13 has been tremendous. The people who passed through that door worked so hard. They were the best. Lynn Allen and Katie Pollock were there at the start. When Katie left to work on [Cleveland] Indians broadcasts, Ryan Burr came. Now, he's with ESPN. Dave Chudowski was here and went to Cleveland, Katrina Hancock is working in Detroit now, Jason Brown is in North Carolina, Hakem Dermish is in Washington.
"They've all moved on to do good things. Now, it's Dave Holmes and Joe Nugent, and they'll have a lot of success in this business too. I was surrounded by a lot of talent on our sports staff.
"EVERYBODY WHO reports sports on the air in this town is talented and dedicated. Each station and each personality bring something different to the table. If you're looking for something in particular, you'll find it. I hope people in Toledo realize how lucky they are to have such talented, good people on TV to cover their kids and their schools."
Contact Blade sports columnist
Dave Hackenberg at:
dhack@theblade.com
or 419-724-6398.
First Published October 11, 2009, 11:00 a.m.
