Unforgettable: The Kari Lake Story

It’s not nice to kick someone when they’re down, but friends, lets all pull on our boots and make an exception for failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate and Trump acolyte Kari Lake.

Those of you in the Albany area may remember that Lake spent some time here as a news anchor in the late 1990s. I certainly remember it, because it was my job to create the advertising that introduced her to WNYT’s viewers.

Lake came to town to replace Chris Kapostasy (Jansing) in the anchor chair next to Ed Dague. Chris Kapostasy was very popular and people loved her. After some NBC news exec swooped in and took her away to the bigs, we somehow ended up with Kari Lake.

Chris Kapostasy left some big pumps to fill — and it didn’t go well.

Lake never hit her stride and was often visibly uncomfortable in the anchor chair. Viewers didn’t warm up to her, and it was reflected in the research done by our consultants. Behind the scenes it was even worse. Lake didn’t fit in and swiftly managed to alienate her coworkers. Her husband, the videographer who tagged along behind her to work at the station, was said to be deeply unhappy with Albany and her career move.

Before long, Lake negotiated her way out of her contract and headed back to Arizona. Nobody in the building missed her, least of all WNYT’s powerful union, NABET, which represented on air and technical staff. Why? Because Lake had refused to join.

Now, about my personal experience. In a business full of big egos and powerful personalities, she was the most difficult news talent I ever dealt with. She was never happy with our work, and was particularly critical of the way we shot her and the lighting we used. She once told us that we made her, “look like a monster.”

Little did we know that behind that pretty face she really was a monster, as proven by the hateful nonsense spewing from her mouth during campaign season.

Arizona voters weren’t fooled by Kari Lake. They recognized her for what she is: an empty vessel who filled herself to the brim with a toxic brew of MAGA bullshit and unbridled ambition. Unfortunately, because of her excellent communication skills, you have someone who isn’t just a blowhard, but genuinely dangerous.

So farewell once more, Kari Lake. And this time I hope we never hear your name again.

7 thoughts on “Unforgettable: The Kari Lake Story

  1. 1) Chris Kapostasy doing morning workouts at Club East ima skin tight white body suit in the 90s. don’t get much better than that….
    2) how did Kari compare temperamental wise to Liz Bishop?.I heard she was a legendary terror back in the day

  2. I KNEW I’d recognized her, but could not remember where/why!! Thanks (?) for the reminder. Ugh.

    Living in Arizona now and for the past two years, this one is personal for me. Had she and her election-denying Secretary of State colleague won, we might have had to move again . . . which would have been a shame, as we live in lovely “Tiny Blue Isle” in the Northern part of the state . . .

    https://jericsmith.com/2022/11/13/tiny-blue-isle-2022/

  3. Saturday Night Live has joked about how Kari Lake is always shot through heavy filters and lit with ring lights. Seems spot on.

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