KNBC NEWSMAN CLOONEY IS REPLACED

Despite a rise in ratings since he joined the station 20 months ago, Nick Clooney has been replaced as a news anchor at KNBC Channel 4, news director Tom Capra said Wednesday.

No explanation for the decision not to renew Clooney’s contract was offered by KNBC. Clooney was said to be on vacation and unavailable for comment, except for a three-sentence statement released through KNBC’s public relations department.

Clooney will be replaced as co-anchor of Channel 4’s 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. weekday newscasts by Keith Morrison, a Canadian broadcaster who for the last 3 1/2 years has been anchor of “The Journal,” a nightly news and public affairs series on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. network.

Clooney’s final appearance on the air was last Friday. Until Morrison arrives Jan. 27, KNBC weekend anchor Bill Lagattuta will co-anchor the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts with Kelly Lange, a spokeswoman for the NBC-owned station said.

Clooney, the brother of singer Rosemary Clooney, joined KNBC in April, 1984, after eight years as an anchor at WKRC-TV in Cleveland. He also had served as managing editor of the news department there and during his tenure at KNBC was periodically reported by colleagues to have clashed with management over newsroom decisions and policies.

In the statement released by KNBC, Clooney said only that he was glad to have been part of the Channel 4 news team, was grateful that news coverage and viewership had improved and was confident that that trend will continue “because my colleagues are good at their jobs.”

Morrison, 39, is a native of Lloydmister, Saskatchewan, who earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Saskatchewan in 1966 and began working in broadcast journalism three years later. He has worked as a reporter and anchor at a variety of Canadian TV stations and at the CTV network.

Morrison has commuted to Toronto for the “Journal” broadcasts from his home in Ottawa, where he lives with his wife and four children. His wife, Suzanne, is a former press secretary to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.