Star Tribune, Minneapolis, C.J. column: Trompeter going home to California

C.J.
Nov 11, 2009 (Star Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --

Former WCCO-TV anchor Jeanette Trompeter is returning to the California station where she started, KSBY-TV in San Luis Obispo.

She was a casualty in March to CBS budget cuts at WCCO, and the announcement of her new main anchor job happened suddenly. "I just flew into California last night [Tuesday] and I didn't think we'd get this thing done and we surely wouldn't announce for a while," she told me today. "I thought holy [crap], I haven't even told my brother yet!" She'll be the station's main female anchor at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.

Trompeter's parents and her only sibling live within a 30-minute radius of San Luis Obispo. "This is the station I started at, very small market. It's a total lifestyle choice."

Trompeter said she attended a reunion with KSBY colleagues a couple of months ago at which she verbalized: "I'd love to come back here someday."

She said, "It's so beautiful. I didn't think it would work out, because they didn't have a position and I didn't think they could swing the money. As I got some more nibbles and offers, it's like, 'I didn't want to start over in a new place.' I didn't see anything breaking in Minneapolis for a year, and I needed a paycheck. Why not come home and have a paycheck and insurance, live simply? So that's what I am doing."

Trompeter recently went to London to clear her head and also wrap her mind around the possibility that she might be moving.

She said she's always overcome with nostalgia whenever she flies into Central California for family visits. On Tuesday, she found herself feeling thrilled about living there again. Of course, there is the matter of her real estate boyfriend, David Azbill. "We will try a long-distance relationship for the time being," she said.

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. E-mailers, please state a subject -- "Hello" doesn't count. Attachments are not opened, so don't even try. More of her attitude can be seen on FOX 9 Thursday mornings.

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