mountainave

Vaccination aside, could be a talent decision. Based on recent Facebook posts, would not be surprised if Bill Ritter, who is vaccinated, decided he is not willing to sit side by side yet.

He doesn't take Fridays off as though they're vacation days. He's employed to work four days a week.

I don't believe WABC has in-house weather producers, no. They basically outsource the function of a weather producer to AccuWeather. Sometimes (or more than sometimes?) Jeff or Amy work during the week behind the scenes while Sam or Lee are on the air.

The problem, unfortunately, is that what you were hoping for doesn't attract eyeballs. The latter does.

You’re right. I stand corrected.

Right. I don't think you will see most stations return to having anchors sit shoulder to shoulder until the CDC says it's okay for vaccinated people of different households to be indoors, unmasked, within 6 feet from each other. They only just last week said vaccinated people could be unmasked if outdoors and 6 ft apart, so I imagine it will be some time.

Stephanopoulos and Roberts will both serve as Jeopardy guest hosts, announced today.

Was surprised by this, too. She was one of the best (read: newsmaking) White House correspondents in the last year; certainly at CBS. CBS's loss; CNN's gain. https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/paula-reid-cnn-legal-affairs-cbs-news-1234938932/

Gone is the orange, replaced with red.

That's okay. I will point it out for you. You claimed that Elizabeth Vargas got her job because of her race ("...[Simpson was] unfairly latinolized by the terrible Elizabeth Vargas") And you then claimed Tom Llamas got his job because of his race ("...you know that 'hermano' connection...") Has the thought crossed your mind that perhaps they got their jobs because they are both qualified and talented? I will grant you the benefit of the doubt and assume it was unintentional, but it is otherwise suggestive of either casual or overt racism.

Do I need to actually spell this out, or does putting these two posts together speak for itself?

In terms of career progression, one would not go from anchoring a broadcast at WABC to anchoring World News Now. It pays less and the hours are worse. If anything, you sometimes see the opposite - Liz Cho and Rob Nelson, for example, both anchored WNN before coming to WABC. For most, anchoring a broadcast at WABC would be the apex of a career.

I don't think it's a demotion; it's probably a promotion. He retains a significant title as chief domestic correspondent, and is given a show to anchor. He was a WH correspondent for eight years and Chief for three. It's not a job people hold (or want) forever, especially as they get older. It involves long hours and lots of travel. Now, he gets to do a lot of his work while sitting behind a desk.

Chad Matthews has been promoted from VP/News Director to President & GM of WABC-TV. You'll recall he was promoted from Asst. ND to ND when Camille Edwards left the station. The GM spot was left open when Debra O'Connell received a major promotion of her own to head all of Disney's networks. O'Connell was brought in to run WABC-TV after Dave Davis left the station. https://abc7ny.com/chad-matthews-wabc-wabctv-eyewitness-news/10348180/

Well, that was fast. Good for them. If memory serves me correctly from last time around, Tom Llamas and Cecilia Vega were initially chosen to split the weekend until Vega was promoted to the White House beat and Llamas took over both days.