Roadrunner

Not as daytime or US-centric, but Natalie Allen bid goodbye to CNN on Sunday after 20 years to begin reporting on climate change on her new venture. The timing seems so odd. Politics are clearly at the center of conversation at this time, but it'd really be amazing to have more CNN International-style Newsroom and programming return/increase. Not that the network has really done better with its polarizing nature, but the days of when Isha and Errol were regulars, which weren't even that long ago, already feel like last century. At this point, I'm just wondering when John Vause, Rosemary Church, or even George Howell are exiting. I really don't understand Brooke's demotion. She's been pretty much a staple at this point, and she explicitly said in an Instagram comment that her hiatus was not her choice, so I'm wondering if she might actually choose to leave as we move into the next year(s). I doubt Zucker is really this genuinely charitable, but I can understand wanting to nurture Brianna and Kate's profiles more, especially if they've recently been viral here and there with some of their moments on their shows.

I mentioned this position opening in the WPVI thread because Melissa Magee was leaving to come home to LA (I want to think she is a possible candidate, but it wouldn't make sense for the position to appear just as she's leaving), but I really don't understand why Rick isn't a shoo-in for the position, considering how passionate he is for meteorology and how he's been doing the weekday evenings pretty consistently since Stu came onboard. I get that he might not want it either because of other commitments in his private life, but other than that, nothing suggests he doesn't deserve it.

Seems like the Phil Lipof thread and this thread never included his own tweet, so -- here it is.

https://www.fox29.com/news/police-investigating-attempted-break-in-at-fox-29-thursday-morning Attempted break-in at Fox 29 at around 5AM - no injuries reported and a man is in custody.

"That's just the noise, and we need to cut through it." - Shep about getting straight to it without a traditional open on the first day. See more below: Keeping these touches that made Shep what he was at his old home and using graphics that strongly resemble Fox's own graphics are definitely done with intention. Here's hoping Shep can really build on his new place and settle in and avoid the cancellation bear (Greta) / making stupid gaffes (Megyn).

Several meteorologists have left at all big 4 LA stations this year (e.g. Garth, Fritz, Kimi, Pablo) -- there is a possibility she could step into an empty spot if a station is looking to fill it and she's interested in working (namely KTTV, which has an open "chief" role).

Announced earlier today by Feder, Nate Rodgers comes home to Chicago as a GA reporter. He comes from WWOR/WNYW.

There's....(still) no KTLA thread (nothing substantial going on there ATM) so here's an update for Gene here. He's moving on to KTLA and is also becoming a West Coast correspondent for France24; both are likely part-time to allow time for each other but still add up to be pretty substantial gigs.

Good to finally hear where he's heading! Here's to hoping Phil can finally find his "forever" home. He's really been out and about a lot as a big-market talent. Kind of glad to see there probably wasn't bad blood between him and NBC corporate in his exit from Boston, though I did kind of also hold out a little on the possibility WABC and Phil might reunite -- guess it wasn't meant to be.

Yeah I agree. It's a problem replicated nationwide due to NBC's weak primetime programming.

Now for a different topic: I shared some 2020 ratings trivia for the Philly area courtesy of Broadcasting & Cable and initially posted it in the Channel 6 thread since it shows WPVI's dominance. But I think it's actually more meaningful in this thread, because it reveals WCAU is actually lagging behind KYW at 11PM in households and just barely beating it in 25-54, and we don't know the breakdown in the other slots either, which...might suggest other surprises. I admit it this could be calling alarm to something that's probably not the biggest deal ever, but....it's still TV. Anyways, I like Jim and Jacqueline, but in the end, I wouldn't put it past NBC to possibly make some changes down the road.

I watched their debut on Friday and I also have some thoughts. I was wrong to suggest it would be a "tegna-izing," because it really doesn't even come close to that and it still retains a lot of NBC 10 familiarity, so fear not people (FTVLive definitely fanned some flames when he talked about the new format IMO). In terms of "increased social media interaction," there was probably an hourly "virtual wall" segment for like 2 minutes and I think that was it. The one thing they have a lot more is standing (like basically ~90% of the entire newscast it seems). Seems kind of exhausting if you ask me. They've also integrated a new small-ish, cheap-looking, and plastic-looking desk slightly reminiscent of the one currently used at WNBC because of social distancing protocols. But since they rarely sit at it (like 5-10 minutes in the entire hour), I can see why the new desk is so uninspired. And of course, they also have lots of usage of the monitors/displays/screens all around them to emphasize the vast space they have. In terms of who's in studio, Keith/Erin/Sheila are in and Bill is still at home. The camera zooms into the board behind Keith and Erin at every open when they toss to Bill. ~ large ~ screen (they basically nuked the desk and then use the screen most of the time as an aid to what they're saying) the desk -- it's an interesting choice what it looks like when one of them reads the prompter while sitting down

A bit of 2020 ratings trivia for the Philly area, courtesy of Broadcasting & Cable, which basically checked up on what the Philly stations have been doing recently. I'm posting this in the "channel 6" thread because the station is, as it says, the "ratings beast," winning basically every key timeslot.

No, nothing changed on that front. I think the conversation in this thread had a slight bit of a diversion of speculations without re-specifying what the existing arrangement was and what the new arrangement would be. I think the gist is that some of us opined if they were insistent on having solo anchors, then the 6 would be a better option for that (like the 11AM), instead of having a solo anchor for an hour-long newscast (AKA the 5).

I tried thinking of hypothetical pairings, but I couldn't really think of one without uprooting something already established or introducing a "new face" (whether a new hire or a reporter promotion). But also, knowing the trend toward solo anchoring because of budget constraints or just choosing to emphasize more distinct personalities (instead of trying to form chemistry between two people), I don't think even a station like WNBC will look into prioritizing duo anchor pairs in the long run, especially as I think CBSN-style news will likely become more dominant through the decade.

I wholeheartedly agree here and NBC 10 is really showing how to send someone off, with interviews and segments for Vai and gradually easing the viewers into his transition out. [totally not thinking of WTTG or anything...] As for channel 6, I think they run a tight ship there -- the people who are loyal to Tamala and Matt probably would never leave, and Karen and David are also an institution themselves -- simply put, that's a family I don't think anyone wants to see broken up. But I think NBC has sensed that there's an opportunity to liven up the 4-7 morning newscast and maybe bring a tiny bit of the Good Day Philly Alex & Mike vibe into their thing (I mean Alex did go viral earlier this summer), and it will come down to how people will receive these new, likely less-traditional/more youthful changes and if that really makes a good impact....or if they'll be forced to change right back into the traditional format after sweeps, and then compete in a different way.

If you check this article out, Erin and Keith are also anchoring the 11AM news. I was also sensing a little bit of this in their Facebook Live, but after reading the article, it really confirmed the vibe I was getting that the morning program was going to resemble a (for a lack of a better word) Tegna-izing (but maybe don't panic by this...?) Key features include more stand-up shots, more social media integration, and new AR, so it's clear that the station is trying to capitalize on E & K's youth and make the newscast more attractive to younger viewers. Here, in this article, Tracy will be "joining Jacqueline London and Jim Rosenfield at 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively," which means 4: Tracy and Jacqueline 5: Tracy and Jim Lucy was passively mentioned somewhere (in the Live or the announcement) that her role continues as is right now. Perhaps in the future she will get some larger role. So, from my understanding: 4-7AM: Erin and Keith 11AM: Erin and Keith 4PM: Tracy and Jacqueline 5PM: Tracy and Jim 6PM: Jim and Jacqueline 7PM: Jim and Jacqueline 11PM: Jim and Jacqueline --solo anchoring entirely possible with any of these slots thanks to COVID---

Wow, yes. I don't know why I thought Vai was actually leaving the desk on Friday, but I was wrong lol. It seems so shocking because Erin and Keith are literally starting tomorrow and there weren't really any announcements to get people excited, but it's also still nice to hear Vai will continue to be around in some way. According to the live they did on the NBC 10 Facebook page, they've really been working towards this change and are even tweaking the set and the show's format to better align with the new change, like switching the desk out and having slightly new spaces for them to do their thing. But if anything, E&K have great chemistry so I'll be interested in seeing how they'll do on mornings! Announcement is also here:

Have they been able to establish a replacement for Denise yet, or is Rosemary holding down the weekend evening front in addition to her weekday midday? And I believe you mean this post from Tracy. Yeah, she confirms Vai is literally leaving his position this upcoming week, which I wasn't expecting. I guess I assumed he was actually leaving the anchor chair in November because the articles literally state his retirement doesn't happen until November....but I guess not. It probably means he's going to be doing a few smaller things until then, or that he was just able to move up his retirement to now. Is it also fair to speculate who they'll eventually name permanent morning co-anchor? (And hopefully not do some crazy anchor musical chairs like they've done at WMAQ?) My bet's on Lucy Bustamante, but I have nothing to source my speculation from. As an aside, someone commented on Tracy's post that Vai and Tracy had been the best duo since Terry and Aditi and I thought that was a nice dose of nostalgia for a Sunday morning -- Bill's still the only one left from that team.

I kind of agree about having a solo at 6; the likes of Dana Tyler and Jim Gardner have been doing it for a fair bit now and it should fit Chuck just fine. Natalie and Adam should make for great rapport -- let's see if the honchos will commit to that pairing.

It sucks to have two people who've pretty much become family just leave in such an unpredictable way. I empathize with the pain. WRC is the indisputable ratings leader in the market, but for mornings, do you think people (or anyone channel surfing besides 5) in general have been more drawn to News4 Today or WUSA's Get Up DC! instead? (especially with Annie & Tony jumping ship over there) ------------------------------------------------- Edited to add: If what FTVLive is saying is true, then Gary McGrady (ALSO from Fox 5) will be leaving come next week. He's a 16-year veteran meteorologist currently doing weekend mornings. The team keeps getting decimated over there.

uh wow. Shawn leaving was largely (ish) considered to be the last straw for many of the commenters throughout Fox 5's social media after Allison's departure. I felt like this was probably coming sooner or later, but didn't expect it this soon. And it's also another pretty unceremonious departure for a veteran anchor -- really questioning what kind of gameplay the GM has been going for as of late, and if they're intentionally trying to alienate a core part of their viewing area.

Call me a pessimist, but I'm not sure if bringing Michaela, who's been gone from local LA TV for 7 years now, will really swing the needle at the embattled station. I do think this will mean some heads at the morning team will roll, but we just don't know who yet. The new anchor arrangement also makes no sense to me -- it reminds me of the recent changes made at WMAQ, but they can likely adjust that over there. Here, it almost feels like they're squeezing Rita out of a job, making Vanessa redundant, and...well, why not mention anything about Dan if they want to make it known that they at least value his place on the morning team?

Another MAJOR shift at Good Day LA -- https://tvnewscheck.com/article/more-news/253378/michaela-pereira-joins-kttvs-good-day-la/ Former HLN anchor (MichaeLA!) and KTLA anchor Michaela Pereira joins Fox 11 and will anchor from 7-10AM WITH Tony and Araksya Araksya also becomes anchor from 5-7AM (Presumably with Dan? The article doesn't mention.) Rita becomes solo anchor from 4-5AM and will do live features throughout the rest So thoughts: I don't get the part about Araksya now joining the 7-10 hour, along with the new 5-7 responsibility This is a demotion for Rita Still not sure if Dan is staying or out They let Julie Chang go earlier this year and if Rita becomes the "live segments" reporter, where does this really leave Vanessa?

Based on the comments from the IG post and tweet below, it seems to have happened live, but we probably wouldn't have been able to tell, since Joe and Shirleen reportedly remained composure, albeit having been initially startled (would appreciate any videos if possible). I've kind of always been a little scared for studios operating streetside because they're so vulnerable. =============================== Edited to add: It seems like that the person who attacked PIX 11's Kirstin Cole might be the same person responsible for this.