When word came down from on high last February that KSTP-TV wouldn't renew main news anchor Randy Meier's contract, our heads were still reeling from KSTP's botched attempt to re-sign his popular co-anchor, Julie Nelson, who's now making twice as much money over at KARE. We couldn't fathom what the problem might have been. We'd always thought Meier was talented enough to pack up any time he wanted. He's a first-class broadcaster with a string of awards shoring up his journalistic bona fides, including a fistful of Emmys. Word on the street is he's not much of a careerist, though--the fact that he put in 13 years with Hubbard Broadcasting is proof of that--and stayed in town because his wife and five daughters loved it here. It was bittersweet, then, when he turned up in New York last August in the dayside anchor seat at MSNBC, and shortly thereafter was spotted doing fill-in anchoring for the weekend edition of NBC's Today. Sometimes nice guys do indeed finish first.