Anchor

Chris Earl’s love for journalism began at the age of five when he was watching the 1980 election coverage. On those kindergarten mornings, when other kids were watching cartoons, Chris was plopped in front of the living room TV, watching the news. From there, his passion for storytelling only grew.

A Missouri native, Chris lived in both Kansas City and, later, in St. Louis but he claims Kansas City as his hometown, from his lifelong fandom of the Royals, Chiefs, KU and K-State.  He loved the WSU basketball teams of the Eddie Fogler era of the late 1980s.   

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Chris came to Kansas as a news photographer in Topeka, covering the historic #1-ranked KU men’s basketball team and K-State’s season that led to the Fiesta Bowl.  His path followed to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Duluth, Minnesota, 14 years in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and the last two years as the evening news anchor at a station in Fort Myers/Cape Coral, Florida.

Now, Chris is back to where it all started – Kansas. 

While much of Chris’ career is focused on television and digital, he got his start as a sportswriter for The Capital Times in Madison, in 1996.  He kept writing for years and is the author of three published novels, Gotcha Down (2004), The Interim (2007) and The Last Out (2009).  All three novels do have Kansas “scenes”, with some chapters set in Johnson County, Kansas City, Lawrence, Topeka and even Wamego.  

One quirk: Chris once won $10,000 on ESPN’s “Two-Minute Drill” in 2000 for his sports trivia knowledge.  As that was “half his life ago”, he has forgotten most of those facts. 

You may spot Chris out walking – and, on rare occasions, running – the streets of Wichita as he believes the best way to learn a city is on foot, in the neighborhoods, seeing the homes and the restaurants.  He’s ready to meet and see the people and places of KAKEland and is set to carry on KAKE’s legacy of journalism and community service. If you see Chris out and about, please say “hi” and be ready to answer his question: “What was the best part of YOUR day?”