Veteran Newsman Calls It Quits

Dan Lewis of KOMO 4 TV gave his last evening newscast today. Eric Johnson put together this emotional tribute.  Lewis had anchored for 27 years.  The newsteam of Lewis, the late Kathi Goertzen and weatherman Steve Poole were the third longest running TV news team in the country.  Barer Of Maple Valley wishes Dan the best in retirementt.

Dan Lewis Leaving KOMO News Desk

After 27 years, Dan Lewis is calling it quits as KOMO 4 TV news anchor.  Lewis who along with the late Kathi Goertzen and weatherman Steve Poole were amongst the longest running local TV news teams in the country.   As well as his longevity or maybe because of it, Lewis has become known as a steady presence in the local media, guiding viewers through a couple of personal tragedies such as the passing of Kathi Goertzen and a helicopter crash that took the life of a KOMO reporter and pilot last month.  Lewis was brought over from Washington, DC in 1987 to replace retiring anchor Jim Harriott.  He has said his decision to come out west to work at KOMO 4, the best move he has ever made.  Lewis will make his last newscast toward the end of May.

Tragedy Hits Seattle

A KOMO TV news helicopter has crashed to the ground in downtown Seattle while trying to land on the Fisher Plaza helipad.  It is reported that 2 people aboard are dead.  The close knit Seattle media community, are visably shaken while reporting this horrible incident.  One other has been hurt. 

WSU To Name A Building After Goertzen

A building that is part of the Edward R Murrow College Of Communications will be named after Kathi Goertzen, it was announced today.  Goertzen was a long time anchor for KOMO 4 TV news here in Seattle, whose fight against a series of brain tumours, inspired a city and whose passing brought it to tears.
Kathi was a 1980 graduate of WSU and an avid Coug.  The WSU Board Of Regents passed the resolution to name what is actually an addition to Murrow Hall that houses the Dean Suite, Faculty offices and test and research labs.  For more details and a wonderful video by Eric Johnson, click here

Goertzen Passing Devastates City

When someone is on TV for decades, they can seem almost like part of your family and that couldn't be more true than with Kathi Goertzen. Goertzen co-anchored the KOMO evening new for the better part of 30 years, her pairing with Dan Lewis was one of the longest running news teams west of the Mississippi.
Kathi was a classmate of mine at Washington State University although I really didn't meet her until years after we graduated.  I asked if she remembered me, she said I looked familiar.  We lived in the same dorm in our freshman year. She was in the Com. Department and so was I.  We didn't have any classes together and we where always going in different directions when I saw her.
But one thing for sure is that I was proud of her.  In a time when local news anchors seemed to be just pretty faces, she brought a real articulate, thinking dimension to the evening news.
When her fight began with her brain tumor, she brought her viewers along, sharing her deepest feelings, because as much as her viewers thought of her as a member of the family, she must have had many of the same feelings about them.
Kathi is gone now and a city that only two years ago was devastated by the passing of another longtime broadcaster Dave Niehaus is now in mourning again.