Faulkner puts rumor on ice; Former WDAF anchor is warm and happy in cold Minnesota

Not long ago Harris Faulkner told a friend - she didn't say who - that she hated the winter weather in her new home of Minneapolis-St. Paul. That friend told two friends, and so on, and soon the message had been shortened to: Harris Faulkner hates Minneapolis-St. Paul! Thus set off one of the best-circulated rumors of the new year, as newsies here and in the Twin Cities started buzzing about the former WDAF, Channel 4, anchor's imminent return to Cowtown. And in one of those serendipitous bits of timing we would all wish on our careers, there just happened to be a fat juicy job opening in Kansas City when Tracy Townsend left KCTV, Channel 5, for Chicago. It was the perfect scenario. It was reported in newspapers here and in Minnesota. And it was in your dreams. In a phone interview this week, Faulkner, who has been doing the news at 5 and 9 p.m. on KSTP-TV for the last year, said flatly that she has no intention of ending her three-year deal there. Faulkner said she didn't respond sooner to the rumors because (a) she was on vacation and (b) what would be the point? But when the published reports only fueled further speculation, she decided enough was enough. "Phil Witt called me on the phone and - he believed it!" Faulkner said. "Now this man has known me practically my entire broadcast career. That flabbergasted me. He's known me since the time I was Bambi in the headlights. I told him, 'You of all people! If I was coming to compete against you, I would've called you!' " Faulkner, 35, spent nearly eight years at WDAF. She also gives motivational speeches around the country and just sold the rights to her book, Breaking News, to Telepictures, a division of AOL Time Warner. She kept her Kansas City residence through 2000 (for tax reasons, she said) but recently put it up for sale. "What really hurts about (the rumors) is that people here have given me so much support," Faulkner said. "This is the kind of thing where they acknowledge you're an outsider and you don't know Chanhassen from Mankato, but they support you. I have blessings here and this is the place where I feel I should be." And now that she has warm winter clothing - sent to her by relatives in the South - she even finds the weather tolerable. "I went snowshoeing a couple of weeks ago and I had a blast!" Faulkner said. Former KSHB anchor-reporter Harold Fisher has landed a morning gig in Baltimore. He's co-anchor on a new morning show on Fox affiliate WBFF-TV. Fisher, a native of Washington, wanted to be closer to his family. He also told the Baltimore Sun he prefers working mornings to evenings. You can reach Aaron Barnhart through the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:Harris Faulkner @ART:Photo (color) >>>