Choi leaving KITV anchor desk for San Francisco

Kenny Choi, evening news anchor at local ABC-TV affiliate KITV, will be leaving for a job in San Francisco at KPIX-TV, owned and operated by CBS.

Getting hired by a so-called network O &O (owned-and-operated station) has for generations been the holy grail of broadcast journalism, just shy of being hired to work at the network itself.

Additionally, San Francisco is the sixth-largest television market in the U.S. while Honolulu is ranked 66th.

Choi will anchor KPIX weekday morning and noon newscasts beginning April 11, succeeding Frank Millicoat, who had served the station for some five years, according to KPIX News Director Dan Rosenheim.

Choi’s last day at KITV is March 31.

“My colleagues at KITV and the many viewers I have come to know in our community have truly made my time here in Hawaii special,” he said. Choi, his wife and their 2-year-old daughter will be making the move to the City by the Bay, but he added, “I’ll always cherish this place and the people who make these islands second to none.”

Choi joined KITV in September 2010 to work on “KITV4 News This Morning” with then co-anchor Mahealani Richardson.

The following year he was promoted to 10 p.m. weekday anchor, and added 6 p.m. anchoring duties last year, co-anchoring the evening newscasts with Yunji de Nies.

KITV and its neighbor island satellite stations were sold for $21 million by Hearst Television to SJL Broadcast Management in May.

Since the sale closed, a handful of on-air personalities have left the station.

Emmy-winning broadcast journalist and weekend anchor Pamela Young left KITV in December.

Weekend morning anchor and reporter Ashley Moser now works at KSL-TV in Salt Lake City, the 34th-ranked U.S. market.

Reporter Andrew Pereira left the station to become the information officer in the Honolulu managing director’s office.

Off-camera, some technical employees were cut at the station following upgrades in technology, but those part-time employees took jobs with the Hawaii Pacific Television Council established by IBEW Local 1260.

Positions now being advertised on the TV station’s website include one for an anchor and reporter, a news producer and an account executive.