Kolender’s Job Complicates Union’s Coverage of Probe

The San Diego Union’s coverage of alleged corruption in the San Diego Police Department has been “made far more difficult because it involved one of its own,” according to a Dec. 23 article in the Union.

The news feature was the first in a series, which raised little new information but examined in-depth allegations ranging from police involvement with prostitutes to favoritism and cover-ups of department misconduct. Many of the accusations were either directly or indirectly aimed at former police chief Bill Kolender, who now serves as assistant to the publisher, Helen Copley, of the San Diego Union.

The situation is highly unusual, to say the least. Since Kolender is head of corporate security, among other duties, reporters and editors at the Union working on the stories often saw him in the Union-Tribune’s Mission Valley headquarters.

In a phone interview Thursday, Kolender said his relationship with the paper’s editors is “amiable.” But that has not always been the case.

“Kolender, who has no role in the Union’s editorial process, repeatedly has accused his newspaper’s reporters of taking a work in progress out of context, of making him the target, of deliberate ambiguities and printing ‘potshots by nameless, faceless persons,’ ” according to the Union’s Dec. 23 article.

Kolender has vehemently denied all the charges, calling them “bull----” and “baloney.”

“I have said publicly that every word they have printed about me is totally untrue,” Kolender said last week.

In a Union article in July, which reported that the grand jury had heard testimony that convicted madam Karen Wilkening had arranged a “liaison” between Kolender and one of her employees, Kolender was quoted chastising the Union’s coverage, accusing the reporters of “taking hearsay and printing it.”

But the article also quoted a much more conciliatory written statement from Kolender, defending his employer’s coverage.

“The mere existence of these baseless charges, even though they were apparently produced by inappropriate and perhaps even unlawful grand jury leaks, was newsworthy,” Kolender said in the statement. “The San Diego Union and its reporters therefore did what they should in pursuing and printing the story.”

Kolender said that his job, which includes supervision of the corporation’s departments of community relations, construction and building maintenance, is “not to keep the press from printing something.” He declined to comment on any specifics of his internal dealings with the company, but said there is “no tension” between himself and the Union staff.

Union Managing Editor Karin Winner, who co-wrote the Dec. 23 article, said she did not want to comment on the paper’s coverage of Kolender.

“It’s an ongoing investigation and I don’t feel I should make any comment of any kind,” she said.

Winner vehemently denied that Kolender has put any pressure on editors, although she did acknowledge that she and Kolender “have had communication.”

“I think it has been extremely difficult for him, seeing us in the elevators and halls knowing we’re doing an investigation,” Winner said. “Under the circumstances I think he has conducted himself admirably.”

Union Editor Gerald Warren, who called Kolender a “gentleman,” acknowledges that he often sees the ex-police chief at company functions. His presence made it more “difficult” to cover the story because “when you’re writing about someone who works with you, you are bound to suffer a little more than if you were covering a complete stranger,” Warren said.

“You have to take a third, fourth, fifth look when it involves one of your own.”

The Arbitron ratings for November did not bring good news for the KFMB-FM (B100) morning team. Among listeners 12 and over, “Jeff and Jer” slipped from a 9.5 rating share to a 6.5, moving from first to third. In the key 25-54 age group, the rarely humorous duo went from an 8.5 to a 6.3.

“It’s an estimate,” said B100 program director Mike Novak. “You’re dealing with an inexact science.”

Overall, the simulcast KKLQ (Q106) was again the top rated station in the 12 and over category, but the race is closer than it has been in three years. The country tunes of KSON, simulcast on AM (1240) and FM (97.3), posted a 7.5 to KKLQ’s 7.7. KSON won the 25-54 age group with an 8.6 share, replacing B100, which slipped to 6.3.

Other big winners: KJQY-FM (Sunny 103) continued to surge with its new, heavily-promoted soft hits format, moving into second among 25-54 listeners with a 7.6 share, and KSDO-AM (1130), which was inexplicably first in the morning with its news-talk format with an 8.8 rating among listeners 12 and over.

On the flip side, it was another unspectacular book for KKYY-FM (Y95), which slipped from a 2.6 to 2.0 among listeners 25-54. In the same age group, Y95’s morning team of Ron Stevens and Joy Grdnic, showing no sign of capturing an audience, went from 3.0 to a 2.3.

KFMB-TV (Channel 8) is expanding its morning news from a half-hour to an hour, beginning today at 6 a.m. The station is dropping Charles Osgood and the CBS Morning News, which has been airing at 6 a.m. . . .

For those interested in a big-screen refresher course on the “The Godfather” saga before going to see “The Godfather, Part III,” the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art will screen a 35-mm print of “The Godfather” Thursday at 7:30 p.m., followed by “The Godfather, Part II” on Jan. 16. The good news: Francis Ford Coppola’s daughter doesn’t appear in either one. . . .

The KUSI-TV (Channel 51) newscast continues to improve, but it is still plagued by the type of glitches that make it an extremely funny program. Thursday night, while anchorman Roger Grimsby talked about the San Diego Zoo, the graphic behind him depicted anti-abortionist Connie Youngkin going to jail. . . .

Whatever happened to KFMB-TV (Channel 8) weatherman/comedian Larry Mendte’s skit-comedy show “Channel Z,” which was given the go-ahead by the station early last year? Mendte said the concept still lives. He said it will probably air sometime in the next few months, which sounds familiar. Several segments have already been taped, he said, but problems arranging crews and his own schedule have slowed the process. One of the skits, a take-off of Citibank commercials featuring XTRA-FM (91X) morning comedian Russ T. Nailz, aired at the end of Mendte’s recent “Best of How Come?” special. . . .

Reporter Dave Owen is out after 17 years at KNSD-TV (Channel 39). The station has hired William La Jeunesse, most recently of KTSP-TV in Phoenix, as an investigative reporter.