wabceyewitness

Yes, anchoring the 11pm news was a prime factor in Roz leaving for Ch. 2. What’s sad is that after it didn’t work out, they shifted her to Noon and 5pm and then just pulled her off the air and paid out her contract. Her only real farewell to viewers came from her Ch. 7 send off a few years prior. Bill Beutel started showing symptoms of his illness in his finals years at the anchor desk, though, I’m unsure when it was officially diagnosed. He passed only a few years after retiring. WABC did not see Greg or Robb as their future newsroom leaders so let them go elsewhere. For Robb, they actually let him out of his contract early. I always enjoyed when Lori filled in at 5pm with Diana. They made an excellent team and she was excellent filling in at 11pm also. I understand Ch. 7 wanting to keep ratings steady in the mornings but they missed several opportunities to keep Lori. I’m glad she’s doing well at Ch. 5.

Sad news from WABC-TV News Director Rehan Aslam — he announced publicly today doctors recently removed a tumor from his head. The pathology report determined that is a glioblastoma, a very aggressive type of brain cancer. He continues treatment later this week at Sloan Kettering. Aslam just joined WABC-TV in May of this year as VP & News Director after six years in management positions at sister station KTRK-TV in Houston.

Really enjoyed the Matt and Meredith combo…. And what a shock (and a relief) to learn years later that it was Meredith who encouraged a victim of Matt to get a lawyer and go straight to NBC HR.

My personal favorite version of CBSEN was when Bob Scheiffer was interim anchor from spring 2005 thru summer 2006. I think Norah is a solid journalist but I haven’t been thrilled with her version of CBSEN.

that’s odd and unlike Bill. What was the context of your message to him?

Ryan Field, fully vaccinated, was off air recently after testing positive for the COVID-19 Delta variant and needing to isolate for 10 days. For 48 hours, he experienced all the symptoms, according to his Facebook post, and credits being vaccinated with preventing his symptoms from becoming much worse. https://www.facebook.com/100057991483165/posts/231987635410951/?d=n

The shades are back up… and the distancing at the desk isn’t station-mandated. Kelly & Ryan have been sitting alongside each other for over a month now. had the same thought — rush order from network.

IF there are indeed anchors not yet vaccinated, there could be various reasons. An individual may have had a severe allergic reaction to previous vaccines and their primary care physician has advised against this vaccine. An individual may have an autoimmune condition that their doctor feels the vaccine will trigger or enhance. The individual may be pregnant and has either chosen or has been advised to wait until giving birth before receiving the vaccine. The individual may be on medications that would require pausing while the body responds to the vaccine and the individual or their doctor feel it is best to stay the course of the medication right now. There are plenty more. Most people are fine getting the vaccine and most of us are lucky to have been able to receive it, but not everyone is able to and they are unfortunately usually in a vulnerable group.

It’s possible not all of their anchors are vaccinated just yet so they may not want do it for just some shows and not others.

he does have that schedule but it’s because he has the ability to ask for and receive it after decades of experience and work at ABC plus being able to bring in / keep viewers watching after Bill Evans left. Similar to how Robin Roberts is now able to work Good Morning America just 4 days per week.

you’ll be a great manager one day. That’s not how “full-time”/part-time status works with television news talent. There is no counting of hours as there is with regular 9-5 jobs. Somebody could work 10 hours a week and anchor an hour show weekly and get paid a handsome salary.

Do you think it is possible that Sam Champion is human just like us and might have a variety of reasons why he could not or did not want to be available to work on his scheduled day off? We have had storms classified as tropical storms hit the area before — twice last summer — and storms hit that have done far worse. There has been much talk of how early in the season Elsa is for a hurricane/tropical storm, yet, just last year we had a tropical storm affect NYC on July 10. While it was a news event that warranted additional coverage and some special reports, there was nothing unique or extraordinary about it that warranted a mandatory all hands on deck.

… isn’t it also possible that either Jeff or Amy plan to leave, or that Sam plans to retire (again) at the end of this contract ?

Exactly — and it seems the most noticeable it will be is at the local level where many affiliates will need to modify their co-logos to make the ABC portion larger.

Lori was offered a contract renewal at WABC at a lower salary. That, and some unsettling conversations between her and the GM at the time, made her request and receive an early release from her contract. No. Jeff Smith briefly mentioned that Bill was no longer with the station in response to a question on a Facebook Live.

WABC dumped the last six minutes of their morning show the day she signed off from EWN to announce she was leaving, air a package about her and have her back at the desk to say farewell live... and the network gave her a shout out about an hour later on Good Morning America.

If this awful “rebrand” of the ABC logo and Circle 7 co-logos is forced on stations, will they also change the signage inside and outside the WABC studios that are connected to ABC HQ? And what about all the O&Os and affiliates with signage on their sets and buildings?

What a waste of time and money ... and what horrible Circle 7 co-logos they are forcing on their station group and affiliates. Hopefully this leaked branding kit is just a draft and not the final mandate for stations.

Well that day arrived sooner than we all thought. NBC’s TODAY has their anchors back to normal seating this morning. Let’s see how quickly the other networks and local stations can do it. Some of it will depend on readjusting the technical set up of the last 14 months; most of it will have to do with who’s vaccinated at each station and network.

The Gayle King connection didn’t hurt but, ultimately, it was CBS outbidding ABC and NBC and being willing to pay the most for the rights to the Harpo-produced special. I’m glad CBS This Morning is gaining some exposure. The better the competition is for GMA and Today, the more each show will fine tune and improve.

Congrats to Chad! Great to see a veteran of the station, and someone with a news background, reach the top spot.

The modified desk has made its first weekday appearance.

Nothing on the set matches. Even their promo department hates the new set — all the promos use footage from the previous set.

More from Variety on Tom Llamas going to NBC: https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/tom-llanas-nbc-news-abc-news-tv-1234892905/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

I suggested replacing Strahan just as a possibility, but 100% agree there are many more better fits already on the ABC bench (Amy Robach, TJ Holmes, Whit Johnson) that deserve Strahan’s seat. I do wonder what he’ll be doing at NBC News. He was with NBC for 14 years — his entire career — prior to moving to ABC in 2014, so an offer to return already has the “homecoming” incentive. Maybe he’ll be part of MSNBC with some airtime on NBC as well.