When Chris Marrou co-anchored KENS-TV's news, everyone around him seemed reduced to a supporting role.
By contrast, his 5, 6 and 10 p.m. successor, Jeff Vaughn — in his first outing next to co-anchor Sarah Lucero on Monday — came through as if he were genuinely part of a team. Vaughn and Lucero, who has been acting more confident herself since Marrou's exit in late November, seemed a matched set Monday night; neither dominated the other.
Vaughn, who came from an anchor job in Kansas City, Mo., rushed through a story or two during his initial bow at 5 p.m. However, the 44-year-old warmed up considerably by 6 p.m., giving appropriate emphasis to each news item.
He also shared his best visual asset — an infectious smile — more frequently and joined in banter with Lucero, weatherman Bill Taylor and sportscaster Joe Reinagel as if he already were one of the gang. They joked how he brought the cold with him (though these temperatures are nice compared, he said, to the below-zero weather in Missouri) and he mentioned he was a Cowboys fan.
“It's hard not to feel welcome the way everyone has embraced me and my wife,” Vaughn said in a phone chat after the 6 p.m. newscast. The couple already bought a home in San Antonio, and he said they couldn't wait to move in with their dog, Shiloh, and cat, Quincy.
Does he foresee having some kind of signature down the line as Marrou had with his newsreel?
“I think I'll be the Web guy,” he said, adding KENS is looking to become much more interactive. Already plugged in via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, Vaughn said he hoped to use those social networks — along with a blog on the KENS 5 site — to develop a relationship with San Antonio viewers that goes beyond “just this guy reading the news.”
Jeanne Jakle's TV column appears Wednesdays and Sundays in S.A. Life, and she blogs at Jakle's Jacuzzi on mySA.com. E-mail her at [email protected].
