Crossing the Street in Portland

The crying Buffalo Sports Anchor isn't the only one crossing the street.... 

Head over to the left coast and you will find that longtime KGW Sports Anchor is giving the sports on KATU. 

Becker spent 32 years at KGW until he was offered a buyout at the Tegna station. So, he took his cash and walked. 

"What happened was," as Becker says now, is that "everything was great at the station, but the company offered an early retirement package" for people who fit a certain criteria.

Becker was eligible. His reaction was, "That's something to think about."

He sat out his non-compete and then resurfaced at KATU. 

"It's been so much fun," says Becker, of being back on the local airwaves.

Becker says, he got a call from Craig Birnbach, who was then the sports director at KATU.

"He asked me if I'd be interested in filling in during the summer," Becker says, "because his wife was going to have a baby."

When Becker's non-compete year ended, he got in touch with Birnbach to say he was interested. "I ended up getting the gig to fill in," Becker recalls. "My very first day, Craig told me that he'd gotten a job at Oregon Special Olympics, so he was leaving. He ended up leaving a few weeks after I was here."

With Birnbach out of the picture, Becker says, he worked Monday through Friday as a fill-in sports anchor. When KATU posted the sports position, "I decided to apply for it," Becker says.

In early August, Becker was officially hired.

"The timing was perfect," says Becker.

H/T The Oregonian

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