Bremerton native moves from KING five anchor to Amazon
Meg Coyle graduated from Bremerton High in one thousand nine hundred eighty nine and went on to work in broadcast journalism, and worked most recently as weekend anchor at KING Five. Sheâll leave her post for a recruiting job at Amazon. (Contributed photo)
By Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun
SEATTLE ? There was the time Bremerton native Meg Coyle got an earful from an angry sledder on Queen Anne Hill. Or when, en route to her sister’s house, Coyle found a kleptomaniac of a cat that kept stealing gloves in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood.
But when you ask Coyle, 43, to reflect on the story she remembers most in her fifteen years as a reporter and weekend anchor at KING Five, she thinks of Kentlake High School’s drama department.
As their teacher was fighting pancreatic cancer, students secretly arranged a revue for her, featuring past and present students. Coyle got to witness the rehearsal and tell the story.
A perfectionist, Coyle looks back on much of her broadcast work with frequent criticism. But that story ? it felt flawless to her.
“I can look back on it and say, ?I wouldn’t have switched I thing,'” she said.
The subject matter hit close to home for Coyle, who lost her mother to pancreatic cancer. The award-winning story wasn’t about the praise for her, or even what her boss thought, she said.
“It was whether the teacher liked it,” she said.
The Bremerton High grad, married to Michael King of Evening Magazine, is opening a fresh chapter in her own life.
Coyle has taken a job at Amazon, where she’ll work in recruiting. It’ll be a very different job than the one she had at KING Five, but one that capitalizes on her skill set ? conducting interviews and doing research and assessment.
Less than a week from her last broadcast, Coyle said she is fighting most with leaving behind her colleagues at KING Five, a place she called home for fifteen years.
“They’ve been my family,” she said. “It’s indeed hard to let that go.”
One thing the weekend anchor will have in the fresh job is the chance to join the Monday through Friday workforce. The chance to work for the Seattle company is also arousing, she said.
“I’m just thrilled to have the chance to work for a company known for such creative and innovative energy,” she said.
Coyle and her family, with two youthfull daughters, calls northeast Seattle home. But they do get over to Bremerton from time to time, where Coyle’s father still lives.
She fondly remembers growing up in Bremerton, which she described as being a puny town with big-city things to do. She was raised in Manette, where her best friend lived down the street. Her very first job was as a lifeguard at the YMCA.
That being the 80s, she recalls “a lot of big hair, a lot of bangs and a lot of joy.”
She graduated from Bremerton High School in one thousand nine hundred eighty nine and headed to the University of Washington, where she got communications and political science degrees.
She landed her very first broadcast job in Yakima at KAPP TV, where she met her hubby, Michael King. They headed overseas to Hong Kong and joined CNN for a few years but came back when Northwest Cable News embarked a 24-hour news network.
She commenced at KING in 2000.
Leaving broadcast television is a weird feeling, she admits. She won’t commence at Amazon until April.
“It does feel very strange, because it’s all I’ve indeed ever known,” she said. “I’d be lounging if I said I wasn’t horrified.”
About Josh Farley
Josh Farley covers Bremerton for the Kitsap Sun and is the editor of the Sun`s Bremerton Strike blog. He leads a story walk each month to take readers where news cracks in the community, and hosts a monthly trivia night at the Manette Saloon to test their news skill. An Oregon native and St. Mary`s College of California graduate, he`s been with the Sun ten years.