‘It has been an honor.’ Lexington broadcaster Tom Kenny leaves ABC 36 after 21 years
Tom Kenny, the main news anchor and managing editor at ABC 36, was on air for the last time Friday.
According to Kenny, the news team at ABC 36 “decided to go a different direction,” and was let go from his position.
“The station came to me and said that they were terminating my contract as the main anchor because they wanted to go in a different direction,” Kenny told the Herald Leader. “I was offered another position in the newsroom that I respectfully declined and so we parted ways.”
ABC 36 News Director Miranda Combs confirmed this in a statement as well, calling the decision a “tough one.”
“We absolutely adore Tom but we decided to go a different direction on the anchor desk and offered him a different role and he declined that,” Combs said. “Tom was incredible in the newsroom, and he will be dearly missed.”
Originally from Peoria, Illinois, Kenny arrived in Kentucky for his first television job 38 years ago. He joined the ABC 36 team 21 years ago where he began as a general assignment reporter, and rose through the ranks to investigative reporter, morning and noon anchor, and ascended to the main anchor role and managing editor.
“I have spent my adult life serving this community in central and eastern Kentucky and it has been an honor to do so,” he said. “It has been a privilege that I never took for granted and I took that responsibility very seriously to keep the community informed and serve in any way that I could, and be involved in the community as much as I could.”
His community outreach included serving as president of the non-profit foundation Friends of Lexington Fisher House, a 16-room facility which will give a home to families of veterans being treated at the Lexington Veterans Affairs Hospital.
According to Kenny this will be the first house in Kentucky built on a VA property, which is expected to open later this year.
“I have done a lot of work with the VA and saw far too many families sleeping in their cars in the parking lots because they could not afford a hotel and didn’t have friends in the area for a place to stay. I just thought that is not acceptable because that is now how we treat our veterans,” Kenny said.
Kenny is now looking for his next work opportunity, and said he’s thankful to ABC 36 for the opportunity to serve for 21 years.
“I am not bitter or angry and I have nothing but great things to say about ABC 36 and the great people there,” he said. “I thank the station for giving me the opportunity to serve. ... I have no ill will and wish nothing but success for them. It was decided that I wasn’t a part of the future on air plans and that is just how our business works.”
