Denver7 Chief Investigator Tony Kovaleski will retire later this year, bringing to an end an illustrious 42-year broadcasting career that included a combined 20 years across two stints with Denver7.
Kovaleski’s reporting at Denver7 has won numerous national awards, including the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award – the highest honor in broadcast journalism – a National Edward R. Murrow Award, a Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and a National Headliner Award.
He’s also received roughly four dozen local and regional Emmy Awards over his 42 years in television, which have included 27 years of investigative reporting as well as other reporting and news management positions.
His career took him from Eureka, Calif.; to Reno, Nevada; to Phoenix and Houston before he landed in Denver. His two decades in the Mile High City were split by a five-year stint in the Bay Area.
Tony calls his work at Denver7 “the best job in the world” and says he still loves coming to the station’s downtown studios every day. Closing the television chapter of his life and career, he says, is about spending time with loved ones – his daughters, Jennifer, Brianna and Brooke, his grandchildren and his girlfriend, Katherine, and their dog, Lambeau – and traveling.
“This is a decision about closing one chapter and now going to enjoy the fruits of four decades of work,” he said. “You get to a point in life, as much as I love this job, it's time to put other priorities first.”
His last day on air at Denver7 is still yet to be determined but will be before the end of 2025.
‘Putting the bright light of a TV screen on an issue’
Tony received the duPont-Columbia Award for his investigation into dangerous ambulance delays at Denver’s airport. Mark Elgin, a 38-year-old father, died as paramedics tried to save him after an ambulance took 33 minutes to get to the airport. Another 33-minute ambulance delay put others at risk later that year when Continental Flight 1404 crashed at DIA with 115 people on board.
Thanks in part to Tony’s reporting, the airport has dedicated ambulances today.
- Watch Part 1 of the documentary in the video player below or at the top of this story:
More recently, Tony has uncovered pitfalls in Colorado law making EpiPens more affordable, held a Larimer County mental health facility accountable following years of claims of poor conditions, broke news of an air traffic control outage that impacted pilots flying into Denver, relentlessly covered federal immigration enforcement in Colorado and countless other high-profile investigations.
He has also been on the front lines of some of the biggest stories not just in Colorado but nationally, too. He reported for two weeks from Ground Zero in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, and has covered everything from the Kobe Bryant trial to wildfires and hurricanes.
“I think what I'm most proud of in this career is relationships,” Tony said. “People have trusted me for more than two decades in the Denver market to dive into a story, to hold people accountable, tell stories that have changed laws, stories that have brought new levels of accountability by putting that bright light of a TV screen on an issue.”
His legacy, though, lies as much in his mentorship as it does in his accolades.
“For as long as I’ve known Tony, he has worked to help teach and grow other journalists,” Denver7 Senior News Director Megan Jurgemeyer said. “Tony has traveled the country, training reporters on how to develop their skills digging into the facts. He’s done the same right inside our station. Tony’s legacy is the knowledge he’s handed down to the team who will remain when he leaves.”
‘I’ve worked with some of the best’
Tony credits the likes of Wayne Dolcefino, a colleague from his days in Houston, and John Ferrugia, a Denver7 Investigates colleague for more than a decade, as people who have influenced him over the years.
“I have been honored to work with some of the best investigative reporters, producers and news managers throughout my career,” he said.
One of his greatest memories, though, he says, was working as colleagues with his daughter, Jennifer, who reported at Denver7 from 2013-2023 and joined Tony on the investigative unit for the final four years of her time at the station. She now reports for ABC15 in Phoenix, a station that is also part of the Scripps News Group.
What’s next for Denver7 Investigates?
The Denver7 Investigates team also includes consumer investigator Jaclyn Allen and investigative reporter Natalie Chuck, along with producer Joe Vaccarelli and photojournalists Mike Erickson and Cameron Duckworth – an “incredible” team Tony says he will continue to mentor.
“I will be committed to helping the next chapter of the Denver7 Investigates team,” he said. “We have a legacy of investigative journalism at Denver7 that goes back decades, and the people I've worked with have helped build a reputation in this marketplace that we do important stories.”
