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This is my last Ed Kilgore blog. I promise. Until the next one.
I was wrong. I’m not talking about my assessment of the Channel 2 sports anchor. I stand by everything I have written about him.
My memory just failed me about how long ago it was that I wrote something that angered him so much that he was shocked I tried to talk with him about his move off the 11 p.m. newscast. Adam Benigni took over at 11 p.m. Monday.
You may recall last week that I thought it was a few decades ago that I wrote something that upset Kilgore and I couldn’t check because I no longer have access to the Buffalo News library.
But I still have friends there, one of whom did some research for me. I’m reporting what he found in order to be fair to Kilgore.
I was right that I did critique the voices of Kilgore and all area sportscasters 20 years ago.
Ed was ranked No. 9 out of 30 on the list, one spot behind former Buffalo Sabres analyst Jim Lorentz and one ahead of former Channel 7 sportscaster Jerry Azar. Remember him? Didn’t think so.
This is what I wrote about Kilgore: “I might be overrating him because he sounds so good compared to the rest of the station’s sports staff. He has the Midwest sound that TV stations love.”
(For those who wondered, John Murphy was rated No. 1. He worked for WBEN-AM and Channel 7 at the time).
Now that sounds pretty reasonable, doesn’t it?
Kilgore more likely was upset at a column I wrote that ranked the local sportscasters about four years ago – Sept. 22, 2007 to be exact – when he said I was unfair to him.
I ranked him No. 7 out of 10 local sportscasters, behind Murphy, Channel 2’s Adam Benigni, Channel 4’s Paul Peck, Channel 7’s Jeff Russo, Channel 2’s Matt Pearl (who has since left) and Channel 4’s Dennis Williams (who also has left).
Benigni, Peck, Russo and Pearl were all backups at the time. Kilgore was ahead of former Empire Sports anchor Ginger Geoffery (now a Channel 7 news anchor), Channel 2 backup Stu Boyar and former Channel 4 backup Robin Adams (who has since left and never was replaced).
This is what I wrote about Kilgore: “The longest-tenured employee at Channel 2, he is a comforting figure who seems determined to avoid saying anything remotely controversial or interesting. His suggestion that the Sabres management might be able to find a way to keep both Daniel Briere and Chris Drury (see above) highlighted how closely attached he is to Sabres management. He also pretty much follows the Bills company line. After all his years, you wish he had an original controversial opinion.”
As you know, the Sabres didn’t find a way to keep Briere or Drury.

My comments and ranking of Kilgore proved so controversial that I followed up two days later with this comment about the reaction to my ratings. “The most notable and in person responses so far are disputing my ranking Kilgore as No. 7. The respondents feel I have him rated too high. Ouch.”
“In other words, I’m being criticized for being too kind. That doesn’t happen too often.”
From that followup, I can see why Kilgore isn’t my biggest fan and didn’t want to talk to last week when I called about his leaving the 11 p.m. sports anchor post. However, four years is still a little long to hold a grudge. If I were him, I probably would have told me that I didn’t appreciate what you wrote four years ago before doing a brief interview to get my (in this case, his) side of the story out.
I asked my researcher if he thought the Kilgore columns were “unfair,” as the sports director told me last week.
“You killed him with the one in which a reader said you were being too kind,” said my researcher. “But you weren’t unfair. And you weren’t wrong.”
* My spies are telling me that Channel 2 is the next local station to carry its newscasts in high definition. The station presently uses something called upconverted HD. The move to so-called “real” HD is expected before the November sweeps.

* According to a Tampa Bay newspaper, Sal Capaccio — who is known as Coach Sal in the Sarasota, Fla.  area — will be coming back to his Buffalo home to host a Saturday afternoon show and Bills post-game wrapup on Sundays for WGR-AM. The Tampa Bay Media Examiner report also said Capaccio will host a weekly show on Time Warner Cable. The Examiner added that Coach Sal also has a show called Buffalo Bills Now on Justin.tv.

pergament@msn.com

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