Dallas / Fort Worth Local News

DALLAS/FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ― CBS 11 anchor Tracy Rowlett will join Shale.TV, a new Chesapeake Energy Corporation news and information Website focusing on the development of the Barnett Shale, as anchor and managing editor.

His last broadcast will be on July 11, when CBS 11 will air a special look back at Rowlett's 45-year career in television news.

The retrospective will air during Rowlett's final appearance as the co-anchor of the CBS 11 News at 5, with encore airings during the CBS 11 News at 6 and 10 p.m.

"Tracy is a consummate professional and a good friend," said CBS 11 President and General Manager Steve Mauldin. "We will miss working with him, but we wish him all the best as he embarks on this new chapter of his life and career."

In their release, Chesapeake explained www.shale.tv will initially run Monday through Friday evenings and will include a live talk show featuring guests and industry experts to discuss a variety of topics about the production of natural gas in the Barnett Shale.

"This is not a corporate promotion or public relations initiative,'' said Julie H. Wilson, Vice President of Corporate Development at Chesapeake. "We have heard repeatedly and consistently from residents, critics, supporters, lessors, city staff, government officials, and civic leaders about the lack of consumer-friendly educational information available to the public about issues and opportunities related to natural gas drilling, production, and pipelines, particularly as they relate to an urban environment.''


"We have listened and now we are responding by providing a forum for in-depth, independent discussions and analyses of these complex issues and opportunities,'' Wilson continued. "We will focus initially on the Barnett Shale and later add content on other emerging shale plays throughout the U.S. We approached Tracy Rowlett to be the anchor due to his high level of viewer trust and credibility as a respected journalist."

"What's happening in the Barnett Shale is the biggest story in North Texas right now,'' Rowlett said in the Chesapeake release. "Whether you embrace it or not, natural gas drilling is impacting the lives of all of us in North Texas, if not the whole country. It's huge and North Texans deserve a place where they can turn for focused and informative coverage of what is happening in the Barnett Shale.

"When the opportunity arose for me to serve as managing editor of a new dedicated online channel and host a show that helps lead a public discussion about the largest economic phenomenon in North Texas, I got excited and jumped onboard.

"For you skeptics out there, I understand these are just words. The proof will be in what we put on the air, so I hope you'll watch,'' he concluded. (Read the complete release here.)

Rowlett joined CBS 11 in 1999 when he left WFAA-TV, where he started as an investigative reporter in April 1974. A year later, he became the 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. anchor and continued in that role through April 1999.

His distinguished career includes two duPont-Columbia awards (considered the Pulitzer Prize for broadcast journalism), several Edward R. Murrow awards, two silver gavel awards from the National Bar Association, several Emmy Awards, Headliners, various Associated Press and United Press International awards, a dozen Dallas Press Club Katie awards, for a total of more than 100 awards in all. He has been honored by the TCU journalism department with its Ethics Award, and is a recipient of the Press Club of Dallas' Buck Marryatt award for a lifetime dedicated to the best in journalism. In 2006, he was inducted into the prestigious Emmy "Silver Circle."

Tracy received a B.A. in broadcasting and journalism from Wichita State University and an M.A. from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Along with his wife, Jill, Tracy is deeply involved in community activities in Dallas/Fort Worth, serving such organizations as The Autism Treatment Center, Children's Medical Center, Easter Seals, The Heart Association, The Kidney Foundation, The Arthritis Foundation, The March of Dimes, United Way, The Epilepsy Foundation, and many others. He has received numerous community awards for his charity work, and was twice named "Father of the Year."

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