Instead of getting up at 2 a.m. to go work alongside Kim Insley at the KARE 11's "Sunrise" anchor desk, now Tim McNiff gets up at 4:30 a.m. to exercise.
He said he's in the best shape of his life and professionally very happy as the executive director at Media Minefield, based in Minnetonka. "We operate in a specific area of PR called 'earned media.' It's an interaction with a professional journalist with the sole intent of informing the public with expert analysis about a timely topic or issue. If something happens overnight with the Supreme Court, we find an expert to appear on [channels] 4,5, 9 and 11, FOX and CNN to talk about the Supreme Court. We create opportunities for our clients to appear in the media. For our clients, it's brand enhancement. We can do it in the Twin Cities and any market across the United States; we have this network that's built all across the country. Last year we worked in 143 markets across the United States."
They also provide crisis management to clients.
Because McNiff has always put his wife, Amy, and their daughters Bridget and Haley first, there have never been any real crises to manage at home. There was, however, unhappiness with the demanding schedule of TV sports reporting and anchoring, which he did for 10 years at KARE and spent his final 11 years working early morning hours, which required an early bedtime that caused him to miss a lot of family togetherness.
The career shift came when Bridget, our "oldest daughter, decided to pursue the college of her dreams, which was the college of my financial nightmares. 'I can't [volunteer] coach football anymore. I've got to get another job,' " McNiff told his wife. "I'm done every day at 10:30 -11 in the morning. I could go work a second job, and if I work from 11 to 6 p.m. I can help Bridget offset the cost of what we were expecting her college to cost us."
Then a KARE 11 photographer told McNiff he needed to meet Media Minefield founder Kristi Piehl.
"The reason news in this town isn't what it was is because most of the rock star producers work here now," Piehl said with a smile. "McNiff is here, good producers are here doing great work, and I'm happy to have them. But I'm sorry for the viewers."
While McNiff will gladly share his producing expertise, he's mainly in charge of expanding business through sales.