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After four decades in Twin Cities television news, Randy Shaver is retiring. At 6 p.m. Friday, he’ll anchor his last newscast at KARE-11 — and he said his last week has been surprisingly unsentimental.
“I’m excited because I won the race, right? I got to the end, I got to the end on my terms. And I can walk away on Friday feeling really good about what I’ve done and how I’ve done it,” Shaver told MPR News.
The beloved broadcaster started his 43-year career at KAAL-TV in Rochester, Minnesota, where “high school sports is king,” and quickly launched a prep athlete of the week recognition segment. While the small-town market cared about the Gophers, Twins and Vikings, the statewide teams fell second to hyperlocal athletics, according to Shaver.
“When you get right down to it, they care about what's happening in their communities. And I’ve always thought that that’s the best way to get people to watch what you’re doing is to give them something that, you know, they care about, that they’re passionate about and that they can’t get anywhere else.”
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Within a couple of years, he left the small market, moving up to the big leagues at then-WTCN-TV — now KARE — at 24 years old.
“I started New Year's Day of 1983 as the weekend sports anchor,” Shaver said. “I look back now and think ‘how crazy is this?’ It was a Saturday. And they never trained me in… But they just threw me in they just said ‘go.’”
Since then, he’s created and fronted Prep Sports Extra, become sports director and found a seat at the anchor desk. But local TV news now looks far different than it did 40, 30, 10, even five years ago.
“We had incredible budgets and we covered everything everywhere and there was no cable there was no cell phones, there was no internet. You were the show,” which meant Shaver could chase future Olympians, cover multiple World Series and report on the Stanley Cup Finals without a leash and with the expectation of a big viewership.
He was once buoyed by KARE’s growth from number four in the market to top 10 p.m. newscast in the nation, riding the wave alongside greats like Paul Magers, Diana Pierce, Pat Miles, Paul Douglas and Boyd Huppert.
“The audience just isn’t there anymore. The budgets aren’t there anymore. And it’s frustrating,” Shaver said.
Continued and constant coverage of emotion-ridden stories like the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd, Shaver says, beat him down mentally. Citing his co-anchor Julie Nelson, Shaver stressed while the viewer can turn off the television, those working in news can’t. And for 43 years, Shaver has gone to work at 2 p.m. and worked until 10:30 p.m.
“I keep telling myself, I got in at the right time. And I’m getting out at the right time,” Shaver said.
And it’s time that’s now the two-time cancer survivor’s priority.
“I have a granddaughter who is going to be two years old in September. She doesn’t care that I’m on TV, she doesn’t care what I do … all she cares about is if I’m going to come over and play, if Papa is going to be there to sneak in some ice cream. That’s what she cares about. And I look at my life right now. And that’s all I really care about right now, too.”
Shaver’s on-air goodbye Friday won’t be off the cuff — because he wrote it three months ago. He’s already cleaned out his desk. He’s already done all the last-day checklist items, all to preserve the integrity of one last good shift, focused on conversations with his people and doing his job well.
When the mic is open for the final time, Shaver plans to share his gratitude to the community for their support of both his on-camera career and cancer research & community fund.
There “probably won't be very many tears for me — maybe from Julie,” Shaver said, chuckling. “It’s a happy day. And I want it to be that and I don’t want it to be a sad day. And I just want to say thank you.”
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