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Ken did the noon news one time last year while Lisa Rayam was away and they couldn't get anybody (occasional fill-in Joanne Feldman apparently left for the day); it was a bore. What's next, WSB's sports guy Zach Klein subbing for Craig Lucie (or Justin Farmer, for that matter)? As for 4:00? Fox 5 sure as hell ain't going to give up their beloved "Judge Judy" for news, considering she's still the #1 show in all of syndication (and beating Ellen DeGeneres locally). Since the expansion to midnight, News Edge's audience has continued to grow as most of us wanted a serious alternative to Fallon, Colbert, and Kimmel before calling it a night. Of course, the only two people who'll end this speculation once and for all regarding Stephany Fisher joining Fox 5 are News Director Mike McClain and Vice President/GM Bill Schnieder.

Meanwhile, over at Fox 5... Portia Bruner has succeeded Gurvir Dhindsa on Good Day Atlanta and is groomed to replace Lisa Rayam at noon; also, they've been remodeling their newsroom and temporarily operating from another area in the studio. In other words...they really want to get everything ready for Stephany Fisher (which will probably be by the fall)!

Y'all remember the tabloid TV guilty pleasure Hard Copy, right? Well, when the show ended in 1999, they went out in style by putting together a "farewell tape": (Here's hoping we see any Entertainment Tonight Christmas tapes from the Mary Hart/John Tesh/Bob Goen/Mark Steines era...)

Has KNBC established one yet (they wouldn't have had any room at their old Burbank facilities)?

Looks like Fox 5 is really starting to make way for the arrival of Stephany Fisher (after being unemployed for almost a year)! Could their loss be 11 Alive's gain, or will Lisa take the Monica Pearson route and try her hand at radio (hopefully public station WABE)? By the way...Lisa's imminent departure doesn't mean I'm heading to WSB; with the exception of Craig Lucie, former Fox 5er Richard Belcher, Brad Nitz, and cutie pie Jodie Fleischer, they annoy the shit out of me (especially Justin Farmer; he's Charles Fedullo -- Fairbanks and Anchorage news anchor turned journalism professor turned PR guy -- from 20 years ago)!

Stephany Fisher on Good Day?! That would be an even slap in the face! My guess is that Karen Graham will be doing the 7-9 with Lisa Rayam at 9:00 (she'll still do noon); Stephany will be saved for the 6:00 pm with Russ Spencer and of course News Edge with Tom Haynes. By the way...I remember first watching Gurvir as a weekend anchor/reporter on WLOX some 25-plus years ago. And I brought this up at work this week, but Fisher's near year-long hiatus from Atlanta TV has already outlasted Maria Stephanos's five-month break in between WFXT and WCVB.

http://www.11alive.com/news/local/11alives-lost-on-the-line-investigation-wins-peabody/143107488 Now each of Atlanta's Big Three have Peabodys; WAGA won theirs in 1982 (for their "Paradise Saved" documentary) and 1999 (for "Singled Out" (absolutely no relation to the MTV game show)) and WSB's was in 1986 ("The Boy King" TV movie).

Of all those people, Shirek is the only one at 11 Alive who joined while it was still an ABC station (for at least one more year)?! WAGA has Morse Diggs, Randy Travis, and Dale Russell who've all been there since its CBS days. Could "Fox 5 News Weekend with Deidra Dukes and Keith Whitney" be far behind?

While we're sticking with Tegna... http://www.11alive.com/news/11alive-names-jeff-hullinger-primary-co-anchor/128718194 Meanwhile, Tom Haynes is back at the Fox 5 anchor desk after being sidelined for a few weeks due to surgery, and just in time because pretty soon, they may make some sort of announcement regarding Stephany Fisher (they already got fellow ex-CBS 46er Annalee Penny).

UPDATE: As of January, an ex-CBS46er has joined Fox 5; that's the good news. The bad news (at least for now)? It's Annalee Penny; however, Stephany Fisher may still join her as she was reportedly in contacts with David Chandley and other Fox 5 talent on Twitter. My guess is they'll make some sort of official announcement by May sweeps, meaning the new "News Edge at 11" with her and Tom Haynes will still not be far behind. As for Penny? Fox 5 needed their own version of WSB's Heather Catlin, and that they may be developing a "Hot Topics"-like show around her on the weekends. Stay tuned!

Noon: Lisa Rayam 5pm: Tom Haynes/Cynne Simpson 6pm: Rayam/Russ Spencer 10pm: Spencer/Simpson 11pm (News Edge): Haynes

It seems that Stephany Fisher's (longtime WGCL anchor who unceremoniously got the boot this past summer) six-month hiatus will soon be over, and it won't be long before WAGA makes it absolutely, positively, 100% official. Fisher is of course expected to join Tom Haynes for News Edge, but Fox 5 will have to make a couple sacrifices. Kaitlyn Pratt could be promoted from Good Day Atlanta to general assignment reporter, with Lisa Rayam in her place. Rayam will still do noon, but should relinquish her 6:00 spot (alongside Russ Spencer) to Stephany. But since WXIA is without a lead male anchor after DeMarco Morgan left for CBS News, Fox 5 may send Ron Gant packing, meaning he'll have wait six months before joining Brenda Wood on 11 Alive. Who knows what will happen in the coming weeks?

OR (even worse)...they could sack Haynes (so he would jump to 11)! Either way, Fox 5 will soon be rolling out the welcoming mat for Stephany Fisher in a couple months.

As for Tom Haynes, he could relinquish the 5:00 and still do News Edge with Stephany (when she joins, but nothing is made official without Mike McClain's declaration). Meanwhile, over at "Station X"...http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/wsb-tv-names-misti-turnbull-news-director/nn2SJ/

http://radiotvtalk.blog.ajc.com/2015/10/13/11-alives-demarco-morgan-becomes-cbs-news-correspondent/ Unless they pair her with Brenda Wood, I can't see Stephany Fisher at 11 Alive (if the rumors are indeed true, she's still Fox 5-bound)

Scott Light (who got the pink slip at WGCL shortly after he won an Emmy) is taking his talents to Columbus...Ohio: http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/scott-light-to-join-columbus-cbs-affiliate/153217 As for WAGA expanding their late news to midnight? I think this is part of their plan to snag Stephany Fisher; last year at this time, Fox 5 debuted their new news set while David Chandley was in his six-month hiatus.

It's now 100% official!!! [yt]0Xi6tH5OpIs[/yt]

The six-month wait is finally over, Atlanta, and it'll soon be official: http://atlantatvtalk.weebly.com/latest-news/new-david-chandley-releases-tease-with-a-fox-5-mention

WSB reporter Kerry Kavanaugh is headed to new sister station WFXT in Boston: http://www.newenglandone.com/news/local-news/item/801-kerry-kavanaugh-joining-fox-25-as-investigative-reporter.html Meanwhile, over at WAGA...they're probably going to wait till after Christmas to make anything official as far as David Chandley's concerned.

There was/is also: Dave Moore at WCCO Ann Bishop at WPLG Bill Elder at WWL Dennis Richmond at KTVU Joe Moore at KHON And here in Atlanta: Jim Axel at WAGA John Pruitt at WSB/WXIA Monica Pearson (or Kaufman for you old-schoolers) at WSB

BUT...when it came to overall viewers, NBC Nightly News is still the champ.

Chandley at WAGA is already locked in; now we're waiting for the promos to start running during the holidays (something like, "David Chandley joins the Fox 5 Storm Team...coming in January!"). And besides, after years and years of being only second banana to Glenn Burns, he's better off at the #2 station in Atlanta (actually #1 in the 18-49s) rather than #4.

What do you mean "for now"? Nightly News will remain on top (at least in overall viewers) because Brian Williams is more relatable. And ABC boasting that they're "proud to put on the best broadcast every night with first rate journalism and information that helps our viewers better understand the world"? Yeah...during the Peter Jennings era!

Radioman1968's been on an uploading spree lately, posting a lot of rare Atlanta TV gems! WSB: (briefly had the "It's 11:00 p.m.; do you know where your children are?" made famous by WNYW) WAGA: (WSB brought it back sometime in the '80s) (yes, WAGA did beat WSB in the ratings for the first time ever!) Managers tapes from and WXIA: And many others...

Boy, radioman1968 these last couple of weeks has been unearthing a lot of Atlanta TV gems, including this one from WAGA in 1980 detailing that in light of the WSB/WXIA network swap, they stayed put with CBS...well, for at least 14 more years: [yt]BPYyZextqTM[/yt] And while we're at it... The channel has some stuff from the other two stations as well.