(Updated 9-12-09) The situation in the KEYE TV (CBS) sports department is about as muddled as this picture of Chris Pelikan. This little picture is the only image that I could find after he was scrubbed thoroughly from the “We Are Austin” web site, evidence that he is no longer the weekend sports anchor with the TV station.
Station management has not commented on the official reason for Pelikan's departure so far saying only that questions regarding him are a “personnel matter.”
Other sources, however, say that Pelikan was dismissed after airing some locker room video. He interviewed a Round Rock Express player Monday, September 7th. In the background for a split second viewers could see the naked rear-end of an athlete. A quick check of the Federal Communications Commission’s site revealed no complaints against the station in connection with the incident. KEYE TV has a zero-tolerance policy regarding such video.
Pelikan came to KEYE in February, 2008. Last year, he along with Sports Director Bob Ballou and producer Anthony Geronimo received honorable mention for “Best Sportscast” from the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters. Pelikan came to Austin from the Fox affiliate in Saint Louis where he was a sports producer and reporter. He worked three years. Prior to that he was a sports reporter and anchor based in Dallas with Texas Cable News. Pelikan is a native of St. Louis. He graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia in 2000 with a dual degree in Broadcast and News-Editorial Journalism. His wife recently gave birth to a baby girl.
Pelikan’s departure leaves a gaping hole in the sports de
partment. The position is not now posted on the KEYE web site. The opening could be filled by Anthony Geronimo, a one-man-band sports producer who has been working behind the scenes for a number of years, making the on-air staff look good. Geronimo’s blog appears on the station’s www.weareaustin.com. He is shown wearing a suit and a big smile. Geronimo always wears the big smile but not the suit.
Otherwise, heading into football season with the second-ranked Horns ranked #2 nationally and lots of high school football, Sports Director Bob Ballou and Sports Photographer Pedro Garcia are going to be very busy.© Jim McNabb, 2009