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I have not watched Kens since i lived with my parents as a kid. But yeah he's been on there for a loooong time. I have since moved on to watching KABB but will not mind watching his farewell.
By Jeanne Jakle - Express-News
San Antonio TV news will be forever changed after tonight.
Local television's brightest star, anchorman Chris Marrou, will deliver his final newscast after more than 35 years of helming KENS' “Eyewitness News.”
The significance of this exit isn't lost on Mayor Julián Castro.
“Chris Marrou is part of the fabric of this city. His face on television tells you you're in San Antonio,” Castro said.
Castro will be among the many who will honor the retiring anchorman during tonight's live half-hour special, “S.A.'s Newsman: A Tribute to Chris Marrou,” which will air at 10:35 p.m. after Marrou's final broadcast.
It will consist largely of tributes. His co-anchors Sarah Lucero and Deborah Knapp, for instance, will present taped pieces on his family and illustrious career. At the end, Marrou, 62, is expected to talk about his future, which, associates say, likely will include travel with wife Kathy and, of course, time with grown twin daughters Molly and Mirage.
However, it's Marrou's past — his more than three decades as a TV newscaster here — that defined him in San Antonio.
Chris Rene Marrou was born in Nixon, grew up in Castle Hills and graduated from Lee High School. He studied political science at Princeton University from 1964 to 1967 before starting his career as a broadcaster.
He began as a reporter with WOAI-TV in San Antonio. After a brief stint in Dallas at KRLD radio, he returned to the Alamo City. In 1973, he signed on as anchor of KENS' evening newscast, joining the already popular team of weathercaster Jud Ashmore and sportscaster Dan Cook.
The trio soon became famous for impromptu remarks during segues into breaks; KENS shot to the top of the ratings.
Marrou's KENS pinnacle, however, is generally considered to be the 1980s. After a brief stint at Boston's WBZ, he was welcomed back to San Antonio. That comeback started what many consider KENS' golden era, when Marrou and his team of Cook and weathercaster Albert Flores dominated the TV news with, as Flores put it, “folksy fun.”
“It was more personal, more of a family,” said Flores, who left KENS and TV forecasting in late 2002 and now runs advertising agency Diverse Media. “Management appreciated who you were, understood it was important to let us be ourselves on the air.”
In that era of news “happy talk,” Flores said the chemistry among the three — “Marrou's poignant self, Cook's practice of expressing himself freely and myself, the young kid on the block” — added up to hefty ratings points and ad dollars.
“We'd get a 53 share, an audience unheard of today,” he said. “At one point, we had the distinction of being the highest-rated evening news in the country.”
One of Marrou's trademarks is the humorous 10 p.m. capper, the “Eyewitness Newsreel,” which he writes and has tailored to the times. After tonight's edition, which will look back at the best moments throughout his KENS tenure, the newsreel will retire along with Marrou.
KENS' news will be solo anchored at 6 and 10 p.m. by Lucero and at 5 p.m. by Knapp until new anchorman Jeff Vaughn debuts Jan. 4.
Both anchors say the set will feel sadly empty.
“Sitting next to Chris Marrou for the past 25 years has been a joy,” Knapp, who has shared the anchor desk with Marrou the longest, wrote in an e-mail. “He never ceased to amaze me with his knowledge and perspective on the events of the day.
“But like most San Antonians,” she added, “what I loved the most was he made me laugh every single day. While he took his job as a newsman very seriously, he never took himself that way. I'm really going to miss that — and him.”
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i haven't watched his newsreel in a long time, but i'll be sure to dvr tonight for the of it.
I have not watched Kens since i lived with my parents as a kid. But yeah he's been on there for a loooong time. I have since moved on to watching KABB but will not mind watching his farewell.
KENS sucks...
When my brother was little he pronounced his name "Chris Maroon" ... (and "Damn Crook" for the other one).
He's 41 now ... that's just crazy that Marrou has been around for that long. That's sad to seem him go.
I used to say asstray when I was a kid.
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