DENVER — After an illustrious 4 a long time in tv news, Denver7 news director Holly Gauntt has introduced her plans to retire.
Gauntt has spent the final five-and-a-half years on the helm of Denver7’s news operation, the place she leaves behind a legacy of feat and repair to Colorado.
Denver7 gained back-to-back nationwide Edward R. Murrow Awards for general excellence throughout Gauntt’s tenure. In 2022, she was named to the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Heartland Emmy chapter’s (*41*) Circle, an honor given to those that have made vital contributions to tv throughout a profession spanning no less than 25 years.
Also the recipient of a number of particular person Emmy and Murrow awards for news excellence, Gauntt says her proudest achievements have been the group awards.
“Those are the most gratifying because everyone plays a role,” she stated.
Gauntt, a graduate of CU Boulder, will finish her profession in news in the identical place it started – her dwelling metropolis of Denver. She has labored for every of the 4 community stations in city, beginning in 1983 with half time work at KUSA, the place she put collectively anchor Ed Sardella’s opinion ballot and later wrote for the station’s 1984 elections protection. She would then spend two years working as a producer for KCNC.
She left Denver in 1987 for what she thought would solely be a few years, however her profession would take her to newsrooms in New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Seattle earlier than returning to Colorado to look after her brother, who has since handed away.
In her return to Denver, Gauntt spent almost three years because the news director at KDVR and KWGN earlier than transferring throughout Speer Boulevard to Denver7 in 2017.
Gauntt has led protection of a number of main, nationwide news occasions throughout her profession. She was the managing editor KOCO in Oklahoma City in 1995 when the federal constructing was attacked, and was the assistant news director at WTTG in Washington, D.C. throughout the 9/11 terrorist assaults, amongst others.
“The seminal moments for me have been the big stories, not just because of the scope but because people put aside their differences and support their neighbors,” she stated. “That was so clear after the Oklahoma City bombing. It was a horrific moment in history perpetrated by two men but galvanized the thousands that came together to help.”
“It’s when I really learned how much we can and should use our powers for good.”
That’s the mantra of Denver7 Gives, the station’s 501(c)(3) in partnership with the Scripps Howard Fund, the launch of which Gauntt oversaw in June of 2019. In the almost 4 years since, Denver7 Gives has raised almost $2 million for Coloradans in want, together with greater than $700,000 for victims of the 2021 Marshall Fire in Boulder County.
Gauntt led an analogous fund throughout her time at KOMO-TV in Seattle.
“I’m so incredibly proud of the good we’ve done through our journalism and just as importantly through our community projects,” she stated. “We’ve used every penny of Denver7 Gives donations to change the lives of people victimized by disasters, scams and misfortune.”
Gauntt will retire to South Carolina together with her spouse, Glinda, the place she says she’ll take pleasure in a slower pace for some time. She admits, although, that she doesn’t plan to give up the TV enterprise chilly turkey and will at some point contribute to a news operation by way of freelance work.
Gauntt’s final day at Denver7 can be April 28. The station has begun its seek for her successor.
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