Swann, Ashcraft leave KTSM

Management at KTSM-TV Channel 9 announced today that main anchor Ben Swann will be leaving the station next week. Swann has taken an anchor job at WXIX-TV, the Fox affiliate in Cincinnati.

Swann has been the anchor at Channel 9 since March 2008. Before that he had been a morning anchor at KFOX-TV Channel 14, where he started off as a photojournalist. He also spent time working at KVIA-TV Channel 7, where at least two of his brothers have worked or currently work.

It is still not known who will take his position at KTSM.

Also out from KTSM is reporter Lindsey Ashcraft. Her last day is on Wednesday. Ashcraft -- a native of Kentucky and a graduate of the University of Kentucky -- arrived at Channel 9 in July and she has not lined up a job after she leaves El Paso.

Swann and Ashcraft join a growing list of on-camera talent at Channel 9 that have recently exited the  station. 

In just the last year Nichole Gomez, Eric Fink, Javi Perez, Oscar Garcia, Melanie Olivas, Nichole Ayoub, Russ Pappas,Trevor Connor and Ric DuPont have left the station.

Comments

[AlcoholicsAnonymous]

HA HA HA HA HA HA!

El Paso SUCKS for keeping committed anchors to their stations. Man the managements must SUCK to have all these people leaving for better jobs. How sad.

[*******]

Management @ KTSM is horrible! They don't care about the staff & encourage inter-office gossip & low morale. Hope they clean house soon.

[Pam Miller]

KTSM Sucks And KDBC Too KVIA #1

[Joe]

Ben, good luck in the Buckeye. JUST WATCH OUT FOR LES NESSMAN AND THE WKRP BUNCH THEY ARE STILL LURKING THERE. El Paso loss and a Cincy gain

[elchucoguy]

Newsdirector: Hollis Grizzard. That's a name that should be mentioned when this happens. He is at the helm of this 49 situation. Is it his doing? The GM? Comcorp, the owners of KTSM?

[79 grad]

How about all the behind the scenes people in production and news who were forced out, laid off. I here there is more to come in news non-talent people, as they say "Trim the Fat". How sad for KTSM/KDBC once powerhouse players now pawns.

[Roy Ortega (The only commenter who is not afraid to use his real name)]

Here's an irrefutable and easily verifiable fact: Everyone leaves KTSM Ch.9. Everyone.

[the mop]

I am guessing Robert Bettes is breathing a sigh of relief. Only one more week of dashing into the broom closet every time Ben comes down the hall. Ahhh, good times

[TV has been]

Management is not good at 49, but let's face it....there's not enough ad revenue money coming in to pay folks a fair wage - that's the real crime, college-educated reporters getting paid at or below the poverty level of 22k! And you expect anyone talented to stick around?

[Eddie R]

True talent always leaves El Crappo!

[La loca]

They will not be coming to Univision26 because they are not bilingual.

[Gio Macias]

Wow. Ben Swann was the best!
Sharp and very good on camera.
Man why do the great ones leave and Robert Bettes stays?

Best of luck to a real pro.

[John B]

Television news broadcasts in the El Paso area have constantly been a source of real amusement and entertainment to me since I moved here from a much larger market 3 years ago. Most on air men don't even know how to button (or not button) their suit or sport coats, anchors don't know or use proper English, weathermen have severe problems with their hair (or lack of it), anchor women don't know WHAT to do with theirs,and the biggest question is why did we never see Nichole Gomez and Chester Lampkin on air at the same time? Answer: Nichole is Chester's drag persona!

[hmmmmm]

wow john, you were coming off as somewhat credible UNTIL the you blew it at the end. your now in the gsyboy catagory here. goodbye.

[Jeff]

Not sure who Lindsey Ashcraft is is she the one who insulted Natalie Morales on-air? Ben Swann you will be missed. It's a shame that managment has pushed Ben Swann, Nichole Gomez and Nichole Ayoub out they were my absolute favorites. They need to be focued on getting Chuck Debroder and Robert Bettes out.

[Seone]

Ben Swann is a pompous a** no matter where he anchors. I would not be surprised if he had wore out his welcome at KTSM and KFOX. His holier-than-the news attitude will not be missed. The best thing he ever did was let the gas slip on air. Guess he wasn't the savior that KTSM - nor Ben - thought.

[AlcoholicsAnonymous]

John B, you sir made me LAUGH OUT LOUD on your last line of your post. Thank you good sir.

[Gabe]

It seems evident that most commentators just don't "get it" about the nature of the news market-- and I don't mean just here in El Paso. A large percentage of people in the on-air news business are trying to get to a "big" market, such as L.A., or NY, or any such market. When they take a job here in El Paso (or Laredo, or Lubbock, etc.); i.e., a "smaller" market, it's a stepping stone to a job in a bigger market. The bigger market will pay more, will increase your visibility, and will, hopefully lead to a better job in an even BIGGER market. The only folks who stay in El Paso tend to be born-and-raised locals (or out of town transplants) who are happy to work and live here. These are the people who don't see an EP job as a stepping-stone. Examples are Estela Casas, Gary Warner, Nick Miller, Celina Avila.

So, the comments about management being "bad" seem to miss the point-- nobody can FORCE someone to stay in a job that they don't absolutely love in a city where they probably didn't grow up and far away from their family. When I lived in L.A. ('93-'06), guess who I saw on the local news? EP 'expatriates' such as Raymond Mesa, Dave Johnson (now "David Ono"), and I think one or two others. I guarantee you that these folks are in L.A. to stay; they've made it to the "big" market they sought to be in.

Don't be surprised that at some point someone wonderful like Oralia Ortega will leave for a bigger market on the east coast; i.e., somewhere closer to her Florida hometown.

[AlcoholicsAnonymous]

To Gabe, how is Cincy a 'big market'?

[iwantrealhd]

Cincinnati 34 el paso 98 even a drunk should be able to figure that one out

[AlcoholicsAnonymous]

At least a 'drunk' can use better spelling & grammar skills than a moron who wants real HD. Let me re-correct your poorly made sentence for you :-)

"Cincinnati is 34, El Paso is 98. Even a drunk should be able to figure that one out."

Also you have a source to your findings? Thanks.

[Hmmm]

http://en-us.nielsen.com/content/dam/nielsen/en_us/documents/pdf/Misc/2010-2011%20DMA%20Ranks.pdf

The 2011 DMA. El Paso grew, to 97. Cincinatti grew too, to 33.

[Steve Putnicki, KELP-TV Class of 1968, KROD-TV/KDBC-TV Class of 1971]

Even in El Paso's "Golden Broadcast Days" in the 70's and 80's, there was never money to pay on-air talent, production work horses and engineering staffers to keep them in El Paso. All the money went to owners, account execs. and management leading to the inevitable downfall of the over-the-air stations in EP. Money was never really 'invested' in personnel or technology. We owe this to the leadership of Sleighel, Wyler and JB Walton, Jr.
Perhaps some local 'Got Rocks" will see the opportunity to invest in a local affiliate and allow the Stars of EP to shine, pay them what they are worth and allow local talent to remain in El Paso.
Peace out from one of the old guys.

[i want real hd]

i am so sorry AA, in my previous post, i was not attempting to make a sentence. that is why at the end of the post there was no period. i should have maybe stacked the info so you could better understand the meaning, and it took about 1 minute on an internet search to find the information. granted, cincy is not the super large market, but compared to el el paso at 97, or 98, depending which site you look at, it is a major jump.

http://www.stationindex.com/tv/tv-markets

[One Voter]

Bye, bye, Ben.

Hope I'm wrong, but John B seems to be another person who can't tell the difference between two 'people of color', even when of different sexes. He managed to malign two of the nicest and most capable people on the air in El Paso. Maybe now that Nichole is gone, he won't have that problem anymore, unless he might possibly have the same problem with Hema and Miri over on Fox.