The question is so obvious that Laure Quinlivan doesn't let me ask it. “I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here,” says the investigative reporter who has won two prestigious George Foster Peabody Awards in three years for WCPO-TV (Channel 9), most recently for her one-hour Visions of Vine Street documentary.

        “I know you can do great work in Cincinnati — the Peabody awards prove it,” says Ms. Quinlivan, 42.

Laure Quinlivan and photographer-editor Rod Griola stand on Vine Street near 12th. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        Channel 9 was the only North American commercial TV station this year to win a Peabody, TV's gold standard for broadcast excellence. The station has won four Peabodys since 1980. That's four more than the other TV stations in town.

        “It's extremely rare for a commercial station in a large market to do what WCPO-TV has done in recent years. I don't know of any repeat winners in my seven years on the board,” says David Roland, Peabody Awards chairman.

        Channel 9's commitment to investigative journalism was what brought Ms. Quinlivan to Cincinnati in 1995. She had an infant daughter, and didn't want to raise her in Washington.

        “I chose a place where I wanted to live. I'm from Toledo; I still have family there. I wanted to be close to them and work at a place where I'll be proud of the work,” says Ms. Quinlivan, who will update Vine Street conditions on Building the Future (8 p.m., Channel 9), a look at changes since the riots a year ago.

Reputation earned

        Channel 9 earned its hard-news reputation under anchor Al Schottelkotte in the 1960s and '70s. The station won its first Peabody during his tenure — for reporter Elaine Greene's gun-point interview with James Hoskins, who in 1980 had taken over the station.

        In 1988, the station was awarded a Peabody for Pat Minarcin's 1987 investigation of Drake Hospital serial killer Donald Harvey. A few months later, Channel 9 created an investigative team.

QUINLIVAN FILE

Born: Toledo, the oldest of six children.   Education: Communications degree, Miami University, 1981.   Before TV: Worked for a New York advertising and public relations company representing L'Eggs and the Wool Bureau (1981-85).   TV experience: Reporter at WAGM-TV, Presque Isle, Maine (1985-86); entertainment and general assignment reporter at WECT-TV, Wilmington, N.C. (1986-87); reporter and anchor at WKRN-TV, Nashville, Tenn. (1998-93); investigative reporter at WJLA-TV, Washington D.C. (1992-93); freelance celebrity interviewer for the Nashville Network (1993-95); freelance producer for America's Most Wanted (1993-95); WCPO-TV I-Team reporter since May, 1995.   Personal: Lives in Mount Lookout with her daughter, Larkin, 7, and two dogs.

FUN FACTS

Five things you probably don't know about Laure Quinlivan:   • Was doing public relations work for L'Eggs and the Wool Bureau in New York in 1984 when she sought advice on making a TV resume tape from Matt Lauer, then a local WOR-TV host and brother of her co-worker.   • Appeared in two movies, Dracula's Widow and Bedroom Window, while an entertainment reporter at WECT-TV in Wilmington, N.C.   • Her best friend is U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), her Miami University roommate in 1980-81.   • Named her daughter, Larkin, 7, for CBS soap star Larkin Malloy from P&G's The Guiding Light.   • Watches Survivor every week with her daughter.

        The “I-Team” won accolades in the 1990s for stories about city street crews and building inspectors not doing their jobs, rebuilt wrecked cars being sold to unsuspecting new owners, and the lack of metal detectors and security checks for airline cleaning crews. Ms. Quinlivan also has won a Peabody, an Alfred I. duPont Award and a national award from the Society of Professional Journalists for her investigation into Paul Brown Stadium construction problems.

        “There is a history and legacy of doing good investigative journalism (at Channel 9),” she says.

        But the I-Team had never done a one-hour, commercial-free, prime-time program before Visions of Vine Street aired Dec. 13. It didn't start out that way.

        In July, News Director Bob Morford asked Ms. Quinlivan to find out why so many buildings are dilapidated or abandoned on Vine Street, the artery connecting Fountain Square to the University of Cincinnati.

        “We thought it would be a regular I-Team report on who owns the buildings on Vine Street, as a reaction to the riot,” she says.

        The more she and photographer-editor Rod Griola dug into the story, and Over-the-Rhine history, the more stories she wanted to tell. She repeatedly asked Mr. Morford if the report could grow into a two- or three-night November news series. Finally he told her: “This is a documentary. You've now got 55 minutes,” Mr. Morford recalls saying.

        “At first I was a little bit hesitant, but he convinced me. As I started to write it, it made sense to write it as a documentary,” she says.

Main Street contrast

        In the program, Ms. Quinlivan contrasted the thriving Main Street entertainment district, developed by private investors, with the blight of Vine Street, where a nonprofit low-income advocacy group, ReSTOC, controls many empty buildings. She also revealed that the local Baptist Ministers Conference owns one of the eyesores, a vacant lot next to the Guild Haus commerce center.

        Peabody judges called it “a model investigative documentary that informs citizens and contributes to improved community life.”

        Ms. Quinlivan, a 1981 Miami University graduate, admits she had some personal safety concerns when assigned to the story.

        “Last summer, it was a pretty scary place,” she says. “One day, Rod and I had rocks and bottles thrown at us when we were standing in front of Tucker's Restaurant. We got out of there.”

        But she blames herself for the incident. It was Sept. 26, just hours after Cincinnati Police Officer Stephen Roach was acquitted on charges related to the fatal shooting of Timothy Thomas, which had sparked Over-the-Rhine unrest last April.

        “It was probably silly of me to set up interviews on the day of the Roach verdict,” she says.

        Visions of Vine Street touched a nerve unlike any I-Team story. Channel 9 received “literally hundreds and hundreds of letters, e-mails and phone calls,” Mr. Morford says.

        Ms. Quinlivan and Mr. Morford attribute the strong response to the power of prime-time, which has more viewers than local news. Viewers could see the entire story at once, instead of it being chopped up into segments on the nightly news.

        She's also proud that Vine Street is a uniquely Cincinnati story, not an idea recycled from another city by TV news consultants, like WLWT-TV's “What's in the Lettuce?” salad bar report a few years ago.

        Unlike other I-Team reports, Visions of Vine Street offered 10 solutions, ranging from limiting low-income housing to consolidating city services into a single “neighborhood pride center.”

        “The response from the public has been overwhelming on the fact that we did offer solutions. People want us to follow this story now,” she says.

"Constructive journalism'

        Bill Fee, Channel 9 vice president and general manager, says the documentary signals an expansion of the I-Team's mission from investigative journalism into “constructive journalism,” another element of the station's new “9 On Your Side” branding.

        “There will always be stories with a "gotcha.' But the I-Team will be used to do things to help the community too,” he says.

        However, Ms. Quinlivan disagrees: “Don't believe for a second that this is about branding. It's not. Although we offered solutions on Visions of Vine Street, we also hold people accountable,” such as ReSTOC and Kroger, which has a small Over-the-Rhine store.

        Channel 9's commitment to the I-Team also is impressive at a time when stations are faced with declining revenues from a soft advertising market. It could have disbanded the unit when I-Team bosses Jim Zarchin, Stuart Zanger or Mark Shafer left the station over the past five years.

        “We not only really admire the work, but also the extraordinary commitment of the station to see that this type of work gets done,” says Mr. Roland, a former newsman who owns a media production company in Reston, Va. He's impressed that, despite lean economic times, “there are still places like WCPO-TV that feel strongly about putting great programs on the air to serve the community.”

        Not only does Channel 9 have the largest investigative TV unit here, it's adding a second photographer-editor-producer to work with Ms. Quinlivan, Mr. Griola and reporters Hagit Limor and Stephen Hill.

        And they're doing it knowing that Peabodys and du Pont awards don't necessarily translate into bigger profits or higher ratings. In fact, Channel 9 lost money by airing Vine Street without commercials in prime time.

        “We're not graded on how many Peabody's we win. We're graded on the (Nielsen) meters every day,” Mr. Fee says. And Tristate meters have shown Channel 9 in third place since November sweeps.

        Instead of ratings, a “Peabody translates into a reservoir of goodwill for the station,” Mr. Morford says. “When breaking news or breaking weather happens, people turn to us. They come to us for the effort that's seldom made. They expect it from this station — and we try to deliver on that.”

        That's what keeps Ms. Quinlivan here. Plus, she's got a big story to follow: How to fix Over-the-Rhine.

        E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/kiese

Peabody Awards in perspective

Ch. 9 reporter focused on Over-the-Rhine
Gorilla expert opens zoo lecture series
Exotic animal support part of zoo's mission
Ask A Stupid Question
Online chat on vegetarian eating
Get to it
Scofield connects with fourth decade of fans
Spanish pianist sparkles
'Sweeney' blends stage, symphony
Cross-train for balance
Weight lifting, right diet can pad your seat
Fit Bits
'Mulvaneys' challenge to Blanchard
Tristaters enjoy talent, recognize service
For car dealers, bias is not an option