Tracy Rowlett's Finally Leaving KTVT -- To Shill for the Shale

Big Boss Mark Donald and I were just marveling at the summer ish of The Barnett Shale: The Official Magazine of Thriving on the Shale, which has paper stock thicker than most apartment walls, when we got this press release announcing that longtime legendary local newsman Tracy Rowlett is likewise being swallowed up by the Shale. Chesapeake Energy Corporation is getting into the online video business this fall, when it launches www.shale.tv, and leading the "news" operation will be Rowlett, who retired from KTVT-Channel 11 in February '07, then decided last November to re-up with the CBS affiliate till at least July 2010.

Looks like he's changed his mind again, because as anchor and managing editor of this endeavor -- where, says Chesapeake, he'll be joined by "seasoned network television journalists," which will include longtime local TV news producer John Sparks and former Dallas Morning News reporter and Dateline producer Olive Talley -- he'll have to give up his gig at Channel 11, where he's anchoring the 5 p.m. newscast. Rowlett's done at KTVT by month's end. --Robert Wilonsky