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A veteran television executive named as the new general manager of KIMO-TV Channel 13 says he plans to challenge Anchorage's hottest television station, KTUU-TV Channel 2.
"I've been brought in to turn this station around, and to take a big share of Channel 2's ratings," said Irwin Starr. "I'm here for the duration."
Starr's appointment coincided with the Jan. 18 announcement that a Phoenix, Ariz. financial company had placed KIMO and its sister stations in Fairbanks and Juneau in receivership.
Greyhound Financial Corp., which lent three partners in the Alaska Television network $11 million in 1988, refused to renegotiate the term of that loan.
Instead, Greyhound ousted KIMO and ATN President Duane Triplett, and installed Starr in his place.
Starr is an employee of Cookerly Communications, the firm hired by Greyhound to operate KIMO. Before coming to Alaska, he managed television stations in Albuquerque, Portland and Spokane.
Generally speaking, when media outlets are placed in receivership, managers brought in try to turn the property around enough to attract a buyer. But with speculation running...