After spending the majority of his career at the NBC affiliate in San Luis Obispo, KSBY, Tony Cipolla has been hired as an anchor at the market’s CBS affiliate, KCOY. He will anchor the morning broadcast alongside Sara Cole.
Cipolla left KSBY after 20 years last spring, claiming station management had offered to renew his contract only if he accepted a 40 percent pay cut. When he left KSBY, he said he was in talks with KCOY; when asked by the San Luis Obispo Tribune, station general manager Kevin Harlan said negotiations have been going on “for a while,” but refused to be more specific.
Cipolla has been teaching journalism at the California Polytechnic State University for the past year. He told the San Luis Obispo Tribune he intends to take advantage of his free afternoons by continuing to teach.
“I love the opportunity to mentor young minds, and I really thrive on seeing the next generation of journalists coming through,” Cipolla said. “It’s so neat to have a classroom of students; you can tell the ones who, wow, get it.”