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By Joe Arney

As much as she was ready for a new professional challenge, leaving the Front Range where she鈥檇 lived her whole life was hard for Keely Walker. So she made a promise to herself鈥攚herever she wound up, she鈥檇 still have her view of the mountains.

But not all mountains are created equal, as she learned when she interviewed for a producer position with KOMO, in Seattle.听

鈥淭he news director asked me how I liked the mountains out there, and I told him they were beautiful,鈥� said Walker (Jour鈥�06), now nightside executive producer at KING 5 Media Group. 鈥淭hen he told me, 鈥榃ell, what鈥檚 better is that ours explode.鈥�

鈥淚 was like, no, no, that鈥檚 not a selling point!鈥� Walker said, laughing.

Maybe backyard volcanoes aren鈥檛 quite her thing, but it鈥檚 no question Walker has hit her stride since arriving in the Pacific Northwest. Since joining KING, a Tegna-owned, NBC-affiliated station, the self-described 鈥淐olorado girl, through and through鈥� has rapidly climbed the ranks while producing journalism that鈥檚 both award winning and thought provoking.

Climbing the ranks听

Moving to Seattle, she said, was a chance to challenge herself professionally without sacrificing those mountain views.
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鈥淚 knew the Denver market inside and out after eight years,鈥� she said. 鈥淎 lot of people talk about Seattle news being smart news. People don鈥檛 want the surface story鈥攜ou need to really dig into the news, which was a new challenge.鈥澨�

It meant learning about things like salmon and orcas that don鈥檛 typically enter the conversation in Colorado, but what hasn鈥檛 changed are the fundamental skills she built studying broadcast journalism at CU and being a trusted leader in the media space.听

鈥淚 have such pride in being a CU alumna,鈥� Walker said. 鈥淭he campus is beautiful and the academics are great, but it鈥檚 more than that鈥攊t鈥檚 like, hey, we have astronauts, we have Nobel Prize winners. There鈥檚 a lot to brag about.鈥澨�

Including, for the first time in a while, the football team. Walker remains a longtime Buffs season-ticket holder whose earliest visits to Boulder involved playing on the turf at Folsom Field during a family weekend game.听

More recently, she was on the field in the fall, after the Buffaloes defeated Nebraska in an early-season rivalry game.听

鈥淪ome of my co-workers have been like, 鈥楽o are you going to rush the field after every game now?鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淵ou know, it鈥檚 been a hard few years, OK? Just let us appreciate this and do what we want to do.鈥�

Hands on with the news

That鈥檚 also the motto that鈥檚 guided her career in news. In her current role, Walker is responsible for the nightside newscast. Early each day, she works with reporters to identify the most promising stories, coaching them as the news moves from pitch to production. She also leads a team of producers who make each broadcast come together.听

鈥淚鈥檓 a teacher, when it comes down to it,鈥� Walker said. 鈥淚 love teaching young producers, sharing my knowledge with them and then watching them succeed.鈥澨�

Joyce Taylor, an anchor at KING 5 who鈥檚 been covering Seattle for decades, said Walker鈥檚 enthusiasm and positivity make her a strong mentor, whose hands-on involvement in sourcing and scripting help reporters become better at their craft.

鈥淜eely is a great listener and communicator,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淚n a newsroom, you find all different types of personalities. Having someone in a leadership role who can work with all those kinds of personalities is a huge asset for us.鈥�

Walker鈥檚 work has been recognized with multiple Emmys, as well as awards from Peabody and Scripps Howard, but more important to her than hardware is impact. She鈥檚 extremely proud of a project she worked on as a producer shortly after joining KING 5 that investigated racial inequality, racism and racial privilege, especially in the Seattle metro area.听

Facing Race was proposed in the wake of George Floyd鈥檚 murder and the resulting uprising around the country; the 13-part series was impressive for both how it handled sensitive material and the relative skeleton crew that produced it during the pandemic.

鈥淚t was hard鈥擨 had to find a new comfort zone of talking about race, equity and inclusion, because we hadn鈥檛 seen this kind of a discussion on TV before,鈥� said Walker, who produced the show on top of her daily broadcasts; Taylor hosted each edition. 鈥淏ut I look back at these episodes, and it鈥檚 like鈥攄ang, we really made people think.听

鈥淚t鈥檚 the shining accomplishment of my career, and I think will be until it鈥檚 over.鈥澨�

Following that award-winning series, the station created a dedicated unit鈥攊ncluding a reporter, executive producer, photographer and support staff鈥攆or , which Walker said have consistently been supported by leadership. The show ran after the station鈥檚 Seahawks coverage ended, giving a controversial topic substantial coverage.

鈥楧oing the work because she loves the work鈥櫶�

Part of what makes her successful is that, even though there can be hard days in the news business, Walker finds ways to make work fun; her colleagues praised her sense of humor in the face of a demanding job.听

鈥淲e鈥檙e here to seek the truth and solve problems,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淭here is no task where Keely can鈥檛 find a way to get the job done, get the best information and meet the challenge, whatever it is.听

鈥淚n these times, journalism has never been more important, and Keely sets a great example as somebody who鈥檚 doing the work because she loves the work and really sees the importance of journalism and its role in our democracy.鈥澨�

Walker said she enjoys the challenge to be a little better every day, and to make the workplace more fun.

鈥淚f you talk to anyone in my newsroom, they know my laugh, because I laugh all day鈥擨 crack jokes and things like that,鈥� she said. 鈥淧eople work better when they鈥檙e having a good time.鈥�

In a recent visit to a CMCI class, she tried to share some of that perspective with a group of students.听

鈥淵ou need to find a way to unplug after those days when it feels like you鈥檝e been hit by a truck,鈥� Walker said. 鈥淒o that and the next day, you find you can laugh at work, you can find things to look forward to in the news world.鈥�

She reinforces her own positive attitude by exploring her new home state, kayaking, and through a mix of reading 鈥渁nd really trashy reality TV. That鈥檚 how I escape the news,鈥� she said, laughing.听

Each fall, though, escape comes from one of her first loves.听

鈥淭here鈥檚 a great alumni group in Seattle that gets together to watch football鈥攁nd there鈥檚 more people showing up this year, which is fun,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd I usually make it back to Colorado for a couple of games, too. Some of my best memories from CU are just from being on that beautiful campus, and so much comes back to me when I鈥檓 walking through the quad or seeing the buildings where I took classes.鈥澨�