Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 23, 1994 TAG: 9407260007
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Though DeSchepper will be moving to a smaller television market - Sioux City is the 135th-largest market while Roanoke is 65th - he will be returning to the part of the country he grew up in.
This spring, DeSchepper refused to let Channel 10 anchor Kalley King out of her contract to take a job in her hometown of Minneapolis. There is one difference between his situation and King's, DeSchepper said:
"When I came to the company, I didn't sign a contract saying I would be here a certain period of time."
DeSchepper came to Roanoke 10 years ago, but he said he and his wife had always thought about returning to the Midwest. Those thoughts have become more persistent now that they have two children, ages 7 and 2.
"It seemed like every year we stayed in Roanoke, we had less and less of those thoughts," DeSchepper said of moving back to the Midwest.
DeSchepper wouldn't say whether his departure has anything to do with the pending sale of Park Communications Inc., the company that owns WSLS.
Sioux City has a population of 140,000 and is "known as the home of Jollytime popcorn, Sue Bee honey and Hormel meatpacking," DeSchepper said.
"It's best known recently for the United Airlines crash there," he said, "and the community had such a wonderful way of responding to it."
DeSchepper's last day at WSLS is Aug. 17, and he begins work in Sioux Falls the following week.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***