Television news veteran Tim McNiff is again leaving his morning anchor duties at KARE-TV, Channel 11, this time after less than a year. The station announced Monday that he will take on long-form reporting and commentary for the NBC affiliate.
McNiff will be "launching a multiplatform news and sports digital series for KARE 11," the station said in a statement, that will focus on in-depth commentary and insider interviews.
The series will be "pulling heavily on McNiff's sports and news backgrounds," according to the station, which also announced a morning anchor successor.
McNiff, 55, said the job change gives him "an opportunity to return to my roots and talk about things that interest me, and what I hope people in the community will find interesting.
John Remes, KARE's general manager, said McNiff "will be creating something we don't have at KARE 11 or in the market."
McNiff left TV news in 2014 for a marketing job with Media Minefield after 21 years at KARE but returned in May 2017 to team up again with Kim Insley on "Sunrise." The two had been the longest running morning show team in the Twin Cities TV market.
The duo's shelf life was short-lived, however. Insley and KARE parted ways in October, ending her "Sunrise" run after 24 years.
Before anchoring "Sunrise," McNiff worked in the station's sports department for 10 years starting in 1993. "Sunrise" runs from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. Mondays through Fridays.
Taking McNiff's spot as morning news anchor will be Kris Laudien, a former anchor at Global News Canada who grew up in Vancouver. Laudien's first day will be March 5.
"Pretty much doing what I am doing here," Laudien said during his on-set sendoff last week during "Global News Morning Calgary," where he worked for 14 months. Before that, he was the host of "CTV Morning Live" in Winnipeg. He's also worked in newsrooms in Vancouver and Edmonton.
Appropriately enough, Laudien's adios ended with the "Mary Tyler Moore" show theme song playing.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
