Longtime broadcast news reporter Keoki Kerr will leave Hawaii News Now on April 8 for a position with the Hawaii State Teachers Association.
Kerr, 48, is to become a communications specialist with the teachers union, handling internal and external communications, a position vacated by Teri Tanaka last year.
“I think it’s time for something new and different in my life,” he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “I’ve been a (television) reporter for 25 years and have gotten a lot of experience and skills that I can put to work, working for a community organization like this. … Working to advocate for students and teachers is a noble calling, just like being a journalist.”
HSTA President Corey Rosenlee said Kerr’s “reputation as a fair and accurate reporter on issues that impact our community, combined with his personal commitment to building volunteers, mentoring young people and coordinating community events will be valuable to our organization.”
The union has 13,500 members statewide.
Kerr’s broadcast news career began at KGU-AM 760 when he was a junior at Punahou School in 1983. Among other news, he covered Frank Fasi’s re-election as Honolulu mayor in 1984.
Kerr’s television career started at KITV on a part-time basis in 1987 when he was still in college, and transitioned to full-time in 1991.
Kerr has worked at Hawaii News Now since 2012, where News Director Mark Platte lauded his “stellar work” on stories relating to problems at the Hawaii State Hospital, among other coverage.
“Keoki’s work for us the past four years … speaks for itself. During his 25-year career, he did important and groundbreaking stories that mattered in a place where investigative reporting is sorely needed,” Platte said, in a staff memo. “He’ll be greatly missed.”
Kerr also will miss his “hardworking colleagues. … I wish them all the best,” he said.
“Equally I’d like to thank the probably hundreds of sources I’ve benefited from over the years in all areas of government, and nonprofit and private-sector people who have trusted me with their stories that wouldn’t have been told if they didn’t have the courage to speak up.”
As is common in broadcast contracts, Kerr’s employment agreement included a six-month “noncompete clause,” which would prevent him from moving to another television or radio station for half a year. Since his new job is not at a competing broadcast outlet, the clause does not apply.
Hawaii-born and raised, Kerr graduated from Hamilton College in New York with a Bachelor of Arts in government, with a concentration in U.S. politics.
Separate from his career, Kerr has for years performed onstage at Hawaii Opera Theatre, Manoa Valley Theatre and the Army Community Theatre, and at Diamond Head Theatre in the Society of Professional Journalists’ fundraising “Gridiron” satirical production.
He also has written and served as a master of ceremonies for various events staged by educational, nonprofit and professional organizations.
Kerr will begin his new job April 15.
