Kirstie Wilde Leaving KNBC-TV

Kirstie Wilde, a news anchor at KNBC-TV Channel 4, was let go Friday after six years at the station. She plans to go to work at KTTV Channel 11, sitting in the anchor chair when the station unveils its proposed new 11 p.m. newscast some time after the February ratings sweeps.

Wilde said she had expected that KNBC would not renew her contract when it came due Friday, but that the station kept her in the dark until after Thursday’s 4 p.m. broadcast. She said she was in the middle of anchoring her regular 4 p.m. newscast when John Rohrbeck, KNBC’s general manager, called down and asked one of the news producers to inform Wilde at the end of the program that she had just completed her final broadcast at KNBC.

In a telephone interview Friday, Wilde said that neither Rohrbeck nor Tom Capra, KNBC’s news director, came to tell her that she was through.

Wilde’s contract with KNBC ran through Friday, but, she said, the station did not want to give her a chance to bid farewell to her audience.

“In this business, they are really reluctant to let you say goodby,” Wilde said. “I guess they think you’re going to pull a ‘Network’ (the Paddy Chayefsky movie) and go on forever or start bad-mouthing the station.”

A KNBC spokeswoman said the station still has 10 days to match KTTV’s contract offer and was still considering what it will do. Wilde said she has no expectations the station will decide to keep her, since KTTV made its offer last November.

Linda Alvarez, the anchor on Channel 4’s 6 p.m. newscast, was scheduled to replace Wilde on Friday’s 4 p.m. broadcast, but a station spokeswoman said that no permanent replacement had been named.