After remodeling the master bathroom for his new bride at their Indian Hill home or drywalling around a hall skylight, Dennis Janson is ready to go to work.

Dennis Janson scrapes paint at his home in Indian Hill. (Glenn Hartong photos) | ZOOM |

        He walks around his old red Ford pick-up, climbs into his Jeep Cherokee with the “Just Married” sticker on the rear window and zips into work at WCPO-TV. He arrives with a smile on his face, a bounce in his step.

        “I go into work at 2:30, and people ask me why I'm so happy,” says Mr. Janson, 51, who has anchored sports for 25 years on Channels 9 and 12 (WKRC-TV).

        “And I'll tell them: "I shoveled three tons of gravel this morning. I'm real glad to be here, in an air-conditioned office. This isn't that bad, folks.' ”

        That's pure DJ. Always giving his 2-cents' worth. Always down-to-earth. A big-money TV anchor devoid of ego and petty jealousies rampant in the business.

        “I think I've done enough other things to give me an appreciation for my place in the universe,” the 1968 Elder High School graduate says, “and an appreciation of how hard some people have to work at a job that's not fulfilling in the least, just to make ends meet.”

        Says Bill Fee, Channel 9 vice president and general manager: “When anyone sees Denny Janson in the hall, and says, "Denny, how are you doing?' he always says the same thing: "I'm living a dream!' ”

        For most of the past quarter century, “DJ” has been Cincinnati TV's undisputed sports authority. He's also the longest tenured primary anchor.

        Sports fans first saw him as part of Channel 12's top-rated anchor team, with Nick Clooney and backwards-writing weatherman Ira Joe Fisher, from 1977-84.

        At Channel 12, he was first to report that the Bengals' Cris Collinsworth had signed a contract with the upstart U.S. Football League in June 1983.

        He broke the news that Johnny Bench would retire from the Reds in 1983. (The Hall of Fame catcher remains a close personal friend.)

        In 1984, after Mr. Clooney had left for Los Angeles and Mr. Fisher headed to New York, Mr. Janson jumped to Channel 9. There he broke the news that Bob Huggins would not leave the University of Cincinnati for the NBA Los Angeles Clippers two years ago.

        And when Channel 12 reported the “definitive word” in March that Mr. Huggins was leaving UC for West Virginia, the coach called DJ at Channel 9 to say the report was wrong.

In April, DJ married Sara Carruthers. | ZOOM |

        Even after 25 years, getting a scoop like that gets him “geeked,” says his wife, Sara.

        “There's nothing like it,” DJ says. The call from Mr. Huggins was the result of staying in touch with the coach and his wife for years — one of the journalism fundamentals he learned from mentors like Mr. Clooney and radio newsmen Don Webb and Doug Anthony.

        “Denny talks on the phone more than anyone else I know. He does it to say hello, not just when he needs a favor,” says John Popovich, the Channel 9 sports director who has worked against him (1979-84) and with him (1984-present). “When a story needs confirmation, he has a great list of people to call.”

        “DJ's a great reporter,” says Jim Zarchin, the former Channel 9 news director who is president of Scripps' Do It Yourself (DIY) cable channel. “He's hometown without being a homer. He's Cincinnati, but he can look at things objectively.”

        Mr. Fee, who spent five years at WLWT-TV (Channel 5), had great respect for DJ long before he became his boss.

        “Competing with Denny is tough because Denny knows everybody in sports,” the former Channel 5 sales manager says.

        And viewers trust DJ to get it right, says Bob Morford, the Channel 9 news director who also worked at Channel 5 in the late 1990s.

        “When Denny says he's got something nailed, he's got it nailed,” Mr. Morford says. “He's just radiates confidence.”

        DJ's Price Hill roots have shaped his news instincts. He knows the huge interest in high school sports here. He also knows where high school students and their fans will be celebrating after a big game, Mr. Zarchin says.

        “We both believe that if it's a local story, it's a better story,” Mr. Popovich says. “Every (new sports anchor) who comes into town wants to do it like ESPN SportsCenter. But Denny knows if it's a West Side story, it's a bigger deal here than the NBA playoffs.”

        Says Mr. Morford: “While the other guys talk loud, and fast, and cute, to get attention, Denny delivers the facts. That's what I hated about him as a competitor. That's what I love about him as his boss.”

        If it wasn't for a phone call, early on the morning after the 1977 Beverly Hills Supper Club fire, Dennis Janson might not be the city's top sports anchor.

        On that Memorial Day weekend 25 years ago, DJ was the managing partner of Chapter 13, a bar in Mount Adams. He had been out of broadcasting three years, after stints at Channel 12, WKRC-AM, WSAI-AM and a couple of Dayton stations.

THE JANSON FILE

Born: Aug. 30, 1950.     Married: Sara Carruthers of Hamilton on April 20.     Education: Graduated from Elder High School in 1968 with perfect attendance and with letters in track, band and football (as manager). Attended the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music.     Radio: Newsman for WSAI-AM (1969-72); WKRC-AM (1972-73); and Dayton's WONE-FM and WTUE-FM (1974). Was Cincinnati Bengals color analyst for two seasons with Phil Samp on WKRC-AM (1982-83).     TV: WKRC-TV (Channel 12) entertainment editor and movie critic (1973-74); Channel 12 sports anchor (1977-84); Channel 9 sports anchor (1984-present).

        Pal Fred Wymore, a Channel 12 sports anchor, called DJ that Sunday and asked if he remembered how to edit news film. DJ said he could do it.

        “OK, then ABC News just hired you. Get over here,” Mr. Wymore said.

        He spent the day editing film at Channel 12 for ABC's national TV bulletins about the Northern Kentucky tragedy. He discovered how much he missed broadcasting. Before long he was back at WKRC-AM down the hall, and in six months he was Channel 12's weekend sports anchor.

        “I always wondered (as a bar owner) what might have happened if I had stayed in broadcasting. But I was prepared to be in the entertainment hospitality industry,” he says with a laugh.

        He had started in radio in 1969 a part-time newsman for WSAI-AM while attending the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He later worked part-time at WKRC-AM and WKRC-TV.

        A brief stint as Channel 12's emergency substitute weatherman in 1973 led to his first full-time TV job — as Channel 12's entertainment editor. He was 23, and 23 hours short of his UC degree.

        “I quit college for $75 a week to work for Channel 12,” he says.

        Now he's the highest paid sports anchor in town. He's living a dream. Did he ever imagine he'd be doing sports for 25 years?

        “I didn't know what to expect,” he says. “I just love doing this job, and I've just wanted to do it another day. I didn't really make any long-range plans.”

        Long-range plans?

        Suddenly they're very important now that DJ has a co-anchor at home. On April 20, he married the former Sara Carruthers, a producer for the TV Hamilton public access channel and daughter of Hamilton's Fitton Center benefactors.

        The two met in 1979, when she was an intern at Channel 12's P.M. Magazine. They went out for a while (their first date included a stop at Channel 12 to see all-night movie host Bob Shreve) and kept in touch through the years. Neither married.

        “We had 90 years of bachelorette and bachelorhood between the two of us,” he says.

        He reaches across the kitchen table and grabs Sara's hand.

DJ at one in his favorite places, his workshop. | ZOOM |

        “Can you imagine what force enabled this woman to be available to marry me after all these years? Isn't that just blind, dumb luck or what?” he says.

        Sara: “That's very sweet.”

        DJ: “It absolutely stuns me.”

        Sara: “We never lost touch. Not ever. Even through other relationships and everything else. I'd bounce a lot of ideas off of him. I had a couple of job offers, and I'd call him.”

        DJ has been surprised at how many people thought he'd never marry, because he hadn't ruled out the possibility.

        “I was not good at committing, and now I am. And sobriety has helped immensely, trust me,” says DJ, who hasn't consumed an alcoholic beverage for five years.

        “I hoped this day would come. And I hoped that it would feel this good, and natural, and appropriate . . . But I would not have wanted to do this any sooner than this, and I'm sure glad I didn't wait any longer. This was just the time when God sort of thrust us back together.”

        With marriage comes new priorities. Forget flying lessons. First is remodeling their 33-year-old two-story brick house on a5-acre lot.

        “I love doing work around here, and I own every power tool,” he says. “It's very therapeutic, then I go to work.”

        Next on the list: Classes at UC and piano lessons.

        “I have promised Sara that as soon as I finish the house — maybe by the end of summer — I will embark on a lot of the self-improvement projects I've been toying with for some years. Piano is one, and going back to finish my degree is another,” he says.

        He and Sara have other big plans too — starting a family.

        “We want to have children. Absolutely,” he says.

        To use a sports term, Channel 9 is in a rebuilding phase.

        In the past two years, the station has lost reporters Joe Webb, Jay Shatz and Deb Haas, and 15-year anchor Randy Little.

        The 11 p.m. weekday news ratings have dropped to third, behind Channels 12 and 5.

DJ TRIVIA

DJ in 1982     Five things you didn't know about Dennis Janson:     • Filled in as a Channel 12 weatherman in 1973.     • Was Channel 12's entertainment editor in 1973-74, his first full-time TV job. He interviewed Lucille Ball, Clint Eastwood and Kirk Douglas, and partied at Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion in Los Angeles.     • Managed the Chapter 13 bar in Mount Adams for three years before returning to Channel 12 as a sports anchor in 1977.     • His parents owned Trinity Church Supply, which sold religious items, at St. Lawrence corner in Price Hill.     • Bought the supplies, then supervised 20 Channel 9 staffers painting the newsroom one weekend last fall.

        To attract viewers, Channel 9 has added several late-news features: Carol Williams' “Healthy Living,” John Matarese's “Don't Waste Your Money” consumer reports, Michael Flannery's “9 On Your Kids Side” children's stories, and Dennis Janson's “My 2 Cents Worth” commentaries.

        The commentaries were suspended for DJ's honeymoon and May sweeps. Mr. Fee says he'll decide when — or if — they resume before July 11, the next ratings period. He needs to study results from a new marketing survey. He's considering three options: restoring it to the crowded 11 p.m. newscast; moving it to the 5-6:30 p.m. news; or killing it.

        Mr. Morford's predecessor, Scott Diener, came up with “My 2 Cents Worth” while brainstorming with anchor Clyde Gray and meteorologist Pete Delkus over Christmas 2000. DJ started them in February 2001, and the ratings increased by 22 percent for the second half of the 11 p.m. news the first month, he says.

        “Denny is a great writer. He has opinions about everything,” Mr. Diener explained last year.

        Before getting married, DJ would spend his mornings at home writing two or three commentaries instead of tinkering with his 1979 Volkswagen convertible, his “Price Hill Porsche,” or remodeling the house.

        “Frankly, I've enjoyed this sabbatical to spend time with my wife,” he says. But he's itching to do more.

        “I have never ceased to be amazed at how many people take note of this. It has tapped an entirely different viewer for me,” says DJ, who describes himself as a conservative with Republican leanings.

        “Some people don't think I'm entitled to offer opinion, being the "sports guy.' Some are absolutely flabbergasted that I do have views. And some find their faith in me as a "sports guy' enhanced because I do manage to flush out some observations that they may not agree with, or they may agree with, or they have never thought of before.”

        Viewers have noticed the extended hiatus for “My 2 Cents Worth,” he says.

        “People are e-mailing me. Somebody said, "Since Denny Janson got married, he doesn't have any opinions on anything any more. What happened?' And I told them: "No, no, no! Quite the contrary!' ”

        He's optimistic about doing more, though he says he'll understand if he doesn't.

        “Being anything but No. 1 stinks,” he says. “Whatever I've got to do for us to be No. 1, show me my oar and I'll pull it. But it's not about me. It's about whatever we have to do to get to the top.”

        The upstairs office at his home is filled with photos of DJ with celebrities he has interviewed through the years: Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Jon Voight, Jerry Ford.

        He has the tape of his 1974 interview with Clint Eastwood, which ends with the 24-year-old asking the actor for a movie job. DJ had just learned Channel 12 boss was canceling the entertainment beat to hire a “Trouble-Shooter” consumer reporter.

        “I knew I was getting bounced, so I'm saying to Clint Eastwood off camera: "This is my last assignment. You don't have anything happening in Hollywood, do you?' ” he recalls.

        The photos bring back memories — and concerns. He worries that, if he has children, they won't know the significance of these people, or the local broadcasting legends he has known.

        “The thing is, my kids won't know who Bob Hope is, or Sam Wyche or Paul Brown,” he says.

        That will keep him going for a long time.

        “I would love for our children to see what their mom and dad did,” he says. “I would like to do this long enough for my children to know what I did.”
       

DJ's living a dream
Jane Glover conveys the joys of Mozart
Braid extensions still hot for summer
DAUGHERTY: Everyday
KENDRICK: Alive and Well
Motor city in miniature
DEMALINE: The arts
Fest sets stage for community actors
Patrons talk the night away at opera gala
Singer, actress stars in 'Thunder Knocking on the Door'
Kid Rock channels Hank Jr. in concert
Nostalgia rock double bill not good company
'Romeo and Juliet' needs more chemistry
Trouble right here in 'Music Man'
Claddagh's Cobb closest to classic salad
Serve it this week: cucumbers
Get to it