Business reporter Chris Otts leaving WDRB for Wall Street Journal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- WDRB is saying goodbye to one of its most versatile and talented journalists.

Business reporter Chris Otts is leaving after more than 10 years to join the Detroit-based staff of the Wall Street Journal, where he will cover the automotive industry.

Otts came to WDRB in 2013 after seven years at The Courier-Journal, part of a push to increase the station’s digital coverage alongside former C-J sports columnists Rick Bozich and Eric Crawford and news reporters Jason Riley and Marcus Green.

Otts focused on local business and economic issues, covering the evolution of Humana and its presence in downtown Louisville, Ford Motor Co.'s entry into the electric vehicle market, and Churchill Downs Inc.’s growth as a gambling company, to name just a few.

He doggedly covered troubles at the University of Louisville Foundation and closely monitored how taxpayer funds were being spent on a speculative aluminum mill planned by the now-defunct Braidy Industries in eastern Kentucky.

“Chris has been an invaluable part of WDRB’s success and growth over the past decade,” said Jennifer Keeney, WDRB’s news director. “He not only led business coverage in the Louisville community, but often brought local stories to a national audience.

“We will miss him but are thrilled for him. Working at the Wall Street Journal is the opportunity of a lifetime. We know he’ll continue to do great things in Detroit.”

Otts spent 2021-22 as a Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia Business School. He was a frequent guest on KET’s Comment on Kentucky, founded and produced WDRB’s “Uncovered” podcast and frequently hyped to anyone in earshot the football team at his alma mater, the University of Alabama, which should go over well in Michigan.

His last day at WDRB is June 14.