Yunji de Nies will become one of a handful of local newscasters who present three shows each weekday, effective Sept. 8.
De Nies will join Paula Akana as co-anchor of KITV’s 5 p.m. weekday newscast, in addition to their co-anchoring duties at 6 p.m.
"Paula Akana and Yunji de Nies offer something no other Hawaii anchor team does," said Andrew Jackson, KITV president and general manager. "They have the unique combination of deep local knowledge and roots, coupled with national and international experience," he said. "We’ve been so impressed with the on-set chemistry and viewer response to our hour-long 6 p.m. newscast, that we want to build on that success at 5 p.m."
De Nies also anchors the 10 p.m. weekday newscast with Kenny Choi.
The "big dog" among Honolulu newscasters, Joe Moore, hosts the 5:30, 6 and 10 p.m. news on KHON-TV.
At Hawaii News Now, Keahi Tucker co-anchors on KGMB-TV and/or KHNL-TV at 6, 6:30 and 10 p.m., and Stephanie Lum anchors four shows each weekday across KGMB, KHNL and KFVE-TV, at 5, 5:30, 9 and 10 p.m.
Morning crews at Hawaii News Now and KHON work on-camera for 41⁄2 and 31⁄2 hours daily, respectively.
The change for "KITV 4 News at 5" comes the same day the station will change its lead-in programming line-up, with Steve Harvey’s show to air at 2 p.m., "The Dr. Oz Show" moves to 3 p.m. and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," to 4 p.m.
That also is the same day Howard Dashefsky and Marisa Yamane will debut as KHON’s 5 p.m. co-anchors and also will premiere the station’s 9 p.m. newscast.
The next Nielsen ratings is in November.
Yippee for Ippy
A huge honor and an even bigger opportunity await Hawaii island chef and restaurateur Philip "Ippy" Aiona, who gained national fame competing on "Food Network Star" in 2012.
He and eight other chefs along with two dessert specialists will compete for the "America’s Best Young Chef" crown at the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Philadelphia Oct. 19 through 22.
"This is probably the biggest thing to happen to my career," Aiona said of the exclusive event. Competitors were culled from the Forbes magazine 30 Under 30 list, on which he was included two years ago.
Aiona, who is in his mid-20s, grew up in restaurants owned by his parents on the Big Island and now owns two of his own in the Waikoloa Resort: The Three Fat Pigs, a gastro pub in the King’s Shops, and Ippy’s Hawaiian Barbecue, a sort of plate lunch place, in the Queen’s Shops.
The Philadelphia Forbes summit will include days of presentations by up-and-coming movers-and-shakers, and Aiona will do his competition-cooking at the Tuesday night block party that wraps up the whole event.
He will highlight Big Island-grown ingredients.
It’s possible his ingredients may include Ka‘u white grapefruit, Waimea tangerines and Kona oranges.
He also mentioned something about pig ears.
Aiona said "I’m up for it. I’m really excited to be doing this, to do something that represents Hawaii. In everything I’ve ever done, I’m always representing Hawaii. I was born and raised here, my family’s from here, and I want to represent this state more than anything."
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
