Kurtis Ming, the consumer affairs reporter and news anchor best known for his “Call Kurtis” consumer reports series, has departed Sacramento’s CBS station after more than two decades.
His departure was announced during the 4 p.m. news broadcast on KOVR (Channel 13), the CBS-owned station that served as Ming’s workplace for 22 years of his broadcast TV career.
No reason was given for his departure, with the station’s anchors only saying that Ming “has decided to take another road.” From the broadcast on Friday, it appeared Ming’s decision was his alone; his contract was set to expire in February, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Desk has reached out to Ming by e-mail for additional information.
Ming started at KOVR in 2003, when the station was owned by Sinclair Broadcasting Group. At the time, he was a general assignment reporter and weekend news anchor for the station, which typically ranked last among the four English-language news stations in the Sacramento market.
Things turned around when KOVR was purchased by CBS in 2005, forming a duopoly with KMAX-TV (Channel 31) that allowed the station to tap into additional resources for its news reporting. Ming took advantage of that opportunity by spearheading the launch of a new consumer investigative series, “Call Kurtis,” where viewers were encouraged to call or e-mail in with their consumer issues.
The concept was not unique to KOVR or Ming — other stations in the market had long done consumer affairs reporting and investigations — but the “Call Kurtis” moniker stuck, and Ming’s knack for using hidden cameras and Mike Wallace-like tactics to go after businesses who engaged scams and wrongdoing quickly won over viewers in Northern California.
His work transcended that of a consumer reporter, with Ming regularly accepting assignments that saw him travel throughout the country and around the world. He reported from the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, found himself in New Zealand during a major earthquake in 2010 and traveled to Pakistan and South Korea for stories on geopolitical matters of interest.
When news broke at home, the station trusted Ming to deliver the story. He covered the Scott Peterson murder trial in 2003 and 2004, the recall of Governor Gray Davis and the craziness of the California gubernatorial race around the same time, wildfires, floods and earthquakes.
Ming started his broadcast TV career as a behind-the-scenes worker for the NBC News magazine program “Dateline” before moving to KCOP (Channel 13) in Los Angeles and later KGO-TV (Channel 7, ABC) in San Francisco. His first on-air reporting job saw him move to Redding, where he worked at KRCR (Channel 7, ABC). Before joining KOVR, he worked at KTVN (Channel 2, CBS) in Nevada.
Ming’s work earned him 42 regional Emmy Award nominations, of which he won 11 awards. He was also the recipient of the Consumer Journalist of the Year Award from the Consumer Federation of California in 2016, and he maintains membership with IRE, the consortium for investigative reporters and editors.
