Ex-CNN anchor reinvents herself

By David Bauder

For the most part, the story ideas come from readers of her Web site.

NEW YORK — In a competitive and youth-obsessed business, most everyone gets The Call sometime. For ex-CNN daytime anchor Daryn Kagan, it came in January 2006.

She was brought into an office and told that CNN would not renew her contract when it expired at the end of the year. Kagan was lucky in one sense — she wasn’t escorted out that day by security — but by the first of September, she was gone.

Left with a personal crisis sadly familiar to many, Kagan reinvented herself with a Web site devoted to telling inspirational stories. With a book that went on sale Tuesday, two TV documentaries and a planned show for broadcast, she’s trying to build an empire.

“I don’t have a Web site,” she says now. “I have a media company.”

DarynKagan.com explodes onto the screen in a sunburst of orange, yellow and red.

She has a centerpiece story of the day and an archive of dozens more: a man with two amputated legs who competed in an Ironman triathlon; a woman who sends donated breast milk to Africa; a man who rehabilitated Michael Vick’s pit bulls; a coffee shop worker who donated a kidney to a regular customer.

They’re the kinds of stories she loved doing for television. They didn’t have the import of war and peace but, she said, were “the ones that made my heart go zing.”

Kagan was initially inspired by former NBC correspondent Kevin Sites’ Web site about war zones. At first, she wanted to sell the idea to Yahoo!. After the company passed, Kagan decided to do it herself from her Atlanta home.

Most of the story ideas for DarynKagan.com (“show the world what’s possible” is the motto) come from readers, who are encouraged to write in.

The site is not religious, although Kagan, who is Jewish, said she believes the mainstream media does a poor job of covering spiritual matters that are an important part of many people’s lives.

They’re the type of stories many hard-bitten journalists roll their eyes at. Kagan said it’s an important part of the media mix.

“If you’re really invested in feeling bad about the world, there are a lot of media outlets out there that you can turn to,” she said.

There were certain serendipities along the way to launch. When she went to register the domain name DarynKagan.com, she found it had already been claimed by a cybersquatter, a person who registers names for Web sites in the hope that someone will eventually pay big money to acquire the rights. Kagan called the Florida man who had bought it, and after they talked, he volunteered to give it to her. For free.

An old friend from elementary school signed up as her publicist.

She’s also taken advantage of new technology, such as Voxant.com, a Web site that distributes her stories elsewhere online.

A company that sells advertising to many Web sites also does it for her, meaning she doesn’t have to hunt for that support herself.