Weekend news anchor leaves KDKA

Gabrielle DeRose, co-anchor of the KDKA (Channel 2) weekend evening newscasts at 6 and 11 p.m., left the station Monday when her contract expired, says Al Blinke, KDKA news director.

DeRose joined the KDKA news department in January 2001. She is a Penn State graduate who began her television career in Altoona. After working in television there eight years, she came to Pittsburgh.

"I very much wanted to stay," DeRose says. "They tried to keep me up to the last minute. Unfortunately, it was a situation that didn't work for me. It was not something I was comfortable accepting."

DeRose declines to say why she left, but confirms her duties would have remained the same had she stayed. DeRose would not comment on whether she was offered the opportunity to stay in her job, but at a lower salary. She also will not confirm whether she will seek legal help or whether she will audition for the WPGH (Channel 53) co-anchor opening for the 10 o'clock weekday newscast. "Gabrielle is a good reporter," Blinke says. "I am sorry we could not reach an agreement on a new contract. It was her decision to leave. She could have stayed there without a contract." Blinke declined to say whether the pay would have remained at the expired contract amount. "These are tough economic times," he says. "Everybody is making tough decisions how to spend money."

"She is walking away with her head held high," says John Haer, executive director of the local chapter of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Haer would not comment on whether the union would intervene on DeRose's behalf.