C.J.: At WCCO, Leigh is off to Denver and Shelby is back in the saddle

It's official: Karen Leigh finally has a contract that will take her from "WCCO This Morning" to CBS4 in Denver.

In late January, I posted an item on StarTribune.com, reporting that broadcast insiders said they believed Leigh had been offered a main anchor job at Denver's KCNC, which is known as CBS4. The Denver Post then quoted a KCNC official, who stressed that Leigh was one of several candidates for a spot on the anchor desk alongside Jim Benemann.

Readers such as Ken Voight, who e-mailed me on Valentine's Day, wanted to know why Leigh was still around. "I see she is still there on WCCO," he wrote. "What gives?"

Insiders told me the process could have been slowed because February is a sweeps month. The lovely, loquacious Leigh did not return calls Wednesday.

I asked WCCO-TV PR woman Kiki Rosatti on Wednesday what took so long.

"There are a lot of contract details that go on behind the scenes and you hope that people involved are respectful of that process," Rosatti said. "We cannot legally release anything until every 'I' is dotted and every 'T' is crossed. It happened this morning at 9:59. So she is going. Her last day is Wednesday of next week. Unfortunately, the word kind of got leaked out in advance. It's just really unfortunate. It's not like anybody's trying to keep a secret; it's just that you have to go through the business of these deals."

For anybody confused by Rosatti's doublespeak, I'll translate. Yes, the TV stations, KCNC more than WCCO, were trying to keep this a secret. Columnists who would write about the move before the stations wanted to talk about it are among those "people" not being "respectful of that process." (Note to Kiki: In the news business, whether print or broadcast, it's called a scoop; I'd love to hear you gently chiding a WCCO-TV reporter for going after one.)

Insiders speculate that Leigh sought a higher profile challenge in a market closer to her hometown of Little Rock, Ark., where her niece, nephew and sister Tracey live. (But Google says Denver is a tad farther than Minneapolis to Little Rock.) So now, instead of our lakes, Leigh and her dog, Ruby, get to enjoy picturesque Denver.

If news director Scott Libin has not lost his mind, expect Leigh to be replaced by "WCCO This Morning" reporter Angela Davis, who previously was a main morning anchor at KSTP. Wouldn't be the first time Libin has given Davis such a job.

Broadcasters at other stations are nervous about Davis getting the job. She's really good. Excuse the mixed metaphor, but Davis is just a ray of bubbling sunshine in the morning.

Don speaks, explains When Don Shelby is at a loss for words, he's obviously not feeling well.

The WCCO-TV anchor, who also has a WCCO-AM radio show, had a transitory blockage in his brain that temporarily affected his speech on a recent show. He had a major health scare in 2004 when he suffered several strokes caused by a hole in his heart, which required a patch.

While anchors Amelia Santaniello and Frank Vascellaro filled in Tuesday for Shelby on his radio show (and the 10 p.m. news), Don called in to say he feels good after a hospital stay. The hard-headed Shelby apparently wasn't listening to his wife, colleagues or his body during the 50 or so days during which he'd been fighting a bug. He has been coughing violently enough to crack three ribs.

But it was sweeps, so he couldn't do something like miss work!

On the radio, Santaniello asked Shelby why he hadn't returned her Saturday phone call. "Because Amelia doesn't call me," Shelby said.

It seems that Amelia and Frank had left a message on his home. "I only return cell phone messages," Shelby told them. Good to know.

We also now know the words that Shelby does not like hearing from anybody who's trying to cheer him up. "Don't say this: They'll get along fine without you," said Shelby, repeating what his wife, Barbara, told him. "Can you image that on your tombstone: 'They're going to get along fine without you'?"