Kirk Yuhnke anchors weekday mornings on FOX31 Morning News, he’s a father of three and self-admitted tech geek.
Born in Buffalo, Kirk moved with his family to the suburbs of Cleveland while in high school. Growing up in cold weather, he and his family loved spending time outdoors skiing and sledding until their fingers and faces starting going numb. It’s part of growing up in the Midwest.
Kirk has been interested in broadcasting since he drove his parents nuts with a Mr. Microphone, manned the PA for the morning announcements in high school and took to the stage performing in high school theater.
He’s a proud graduate of the Kent State University School of Journalism and Mass Communications with a degree in broadcast news. He spent his college years chasing the latest story, anchoring the student newscasts and “DJ”ing on the college radio station.
Kirk found his first few jobs out of college in Michigan, working on Lansing and Flint as an anchor and reporter. From there he moved on to Salt Lake City as a morning anchor/reporter. 3 years later he traded in his skis for sunscreen and moved to Phoenix to anchor the morning news. A few years in the blistering sun convinced Kirk and his family it was time to get back to 4 seasons. Kirk has covered countless news stories over the past 15 years but he’ll never forget the day the northeast went dark in 2003, when six miners got trapped in a mine in Utah or his trip to the East Coast to cover Hurricane Sandy.
Kirk has earned numerous awards including an Emmy for his work anchoring breaking news coverage in 2009 and an Emmy nomination for best anchor in Denver in 2012.
He may be a news anchor on TV, but he’s a technology geek at heart. You’ll always find him geeking it up with the latest gadgets, websites and apps. You can catch his “Tech Junkie” segment daily on FOX31 Morning News.
Kirk enjoys getting out into the community. As a father of three, the efforts of the American Heart Association and Children’s hospitals hit close to home. His daughter was born with a congenital heart defect in 2010. It was the doctors and nurses at the Children’s Hospital in Phoenix who patched the hole in her heart. He’s passionate about helping raise awareness about congenital heart defects.
Kirk and his family are thrilled to call the Rocky Mountains home. Kirk and his wife love to hike the endless trails of Colorado. These days they spend most of their time chasing their 9-year-old son, 6-year-old daughter and 1 ½-year-old baby around the neighborhood.
Kirk is always connected. Look for him on Facebook and Twitter. You can also e-mail Kirk directly with ideas for news stories, wild praise, intense criticism or pictures of baby pandas.
His e-mail address is Kirk.Yuhnke@KDVR.com.
