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The Definitive ABC 7 Thread


24994J

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Congrats to Rob and Ravi. While I agree Ravi should have been given the 10P given his longevity at WLS; in all likelihood, I could see him retiring in 8 yrs. (his 25th Anniversary). Rob on the other hand is (or will be) 49-years old and probably could work at least 15-16 yrs. before considering retirement.

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Weird weather schedule today. Tracy did her the morning and 11 am newscasts as usual. Then Greg did 4pm, Cheryl did 5pm and will do the 10pm, Larry(who had been off for a long weekend since friday) did the 6pm, and Jaisol did the 7pm. All 5 meteorologists on different broadcasts.

 

Fun Fact, Tracy is the only meteorologist at the station who's been there before the year 2000. 1994 to be exact.

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From Rob's twitter header. They're promoting Ravi with the rest of the 10pm team like when Cheryl Burton had from 2003 to 2018. Rob was never officially given contributor anchor from 2018 to 2022. When Cheryl Burton is off, will Ravi fill in and make it a 2 male anchor team or will Judy still be Cheryl Burton's main fill in. Image

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1 hour ago, WeatherandTraffic said:

From Rob's twitter header. They're promoting Ravi with the rest of the 10pm team like when Cheryl Burton had from 2003 to 2018. Rob was never officially given contributor anchor from 2018 to 2022. When Cheryl Burton is off, will Ravi fill in and make it a 2 male anchor team or will Judy still be Cheryl Burton's main fill in. Image

 

Alan backed up Ron 9 times out of 10, and not Cheryl, so I'd bet my life savings that you don't see an all-male pairing. That said, Ravi just punched his ticket to being Rob's undisputed fill-in, just as Judy is for Cheryl. Either way, glad to see Ravi apparently get this slot. I was hoping for this move, even if I had predicted the guys in the other's role.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Mark Rivera solo filled in for Karen Jordan, both nights, this past weekend.  Thoughts on whether they might be considering him to move up to weekend nights (to take Ravi's old spot) like they recently did with Greg Dutra being promoted to Phil's spot.

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28 minutes ago, cpet228 said:

Mark Rivera solo filled in for Karen Jordan, both nights, this past weekend.  Thoughts on whether they might be considering him to move up to weekend nights (to take Ravi's old spot) like they recently did with Greg Dutra being promoted to Phil's spot.

 

I was just telling a friend yesterday that I think Ravi's slot either goes to Mark, or an outsider. No in-between.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Have you guys notice the quality of the 10pm newscast has gone down recently? They rush through the weather, especially Cheryl has too much slides at 10pm and they give WAY TOO MUCH time to Cheryl Burton and her ditzy childish comments. Plus, if Jim Rose retires this year, who gets the lead sports position, Ryan or Dionne? 

 

Plus, Christian Piekos filled in for Mark Rivera this past Saturday and has the same mannerisms and charisma as Mark. He can easily slide in there and Mark gets paired with Karen Jordan(who should have a weekday spot) on weekend evenings.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Weird weather schedule today, Jaisol did the morning and 5pm shows and now Larry Mowry is doing the 10pm. Greg Dutra must have needed off last minute because the usual weekend fill in Mark McGinnis would have done it. I feel like Greg Dutra gets more days off than Tracy Butler, who has been there for almost 30 years and Greg almost 4. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Mark Rivera is co-anchoring with Karen Jordan tonight, it's not official according to Mark's social media posts. Most likely a test to see if he will do well on weekend nights and get more weeknight fill in time. As for this morning, Christian Piekos filled in for Mark and Cate C filled in for Samantha Chatman with Mark McGinnis filling in for Jaisol. Christian seems most likely to succeed Mark Rivera if he moves to weekend nights.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It was the same arrangement (pretty much) this past weekend too.  Mark as with Karen, Greg & Dionne on the evening newscasts & Christian was with Jaisol & Samantha in the morning.  Seems like it could work.

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7 minutes ago, cpet228 said:

It was the same arrangement (pretty much) this past weekend too.  Mark as with Karen, Greg & Dionne on the evening newscasts & Christian was with Jaisol & Samantha in the morning.  Seems like it could work.

 

In that initial social media post, Mark had said he'd be doing evenings for several weeks. In addition to an obvious tryout, I'm guessing it aligns with some of Karen's vacation time (she was off Saturday, for example). As for Christian, again, they might as well give someone consistent hours, instead of a downright silly rotation of characters, like the interim period between Ben Bradley and Rivera.

 

I'd bet that this is the eventual permanent line-up, though I still would not rule out an outside hire for either slot. Mark to nights does almost seem like a lock, at this point.

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On 6/12/2023 at 5:30 PM, 24994J said:

 

In that initial social media post, Mark had said he'd be doing evenings for several weeks. In addition to an obvious tryout, I'm guessing it aligns with some of Karen's vacation time (she was off Saturday, for example). As for Christian, again, they might as well give someone consistent hours, instead of a downright silly rotation of characters, like the interim period between Ben Bradley and Rivera.

 

I'd bet that this is the eventual permanent line-up, though I still would not rule out an outside hire for either slot. Mark to nights does almost seem like a lock, at this point.

Mark went back to weekend mornings this past weekend with Karen Jordan anchoring in the evenings. If he doesn't get the weekend evening job, I can see him bolting later this year as when Ravi is off, Mark only does the 5pm and Rob takes the rest of the newscasts.

 

Also, as of this morning, Val is officially the third full time anchor of the 6am hour with Tanja and Terrell. She will likely be the main fill-in for Tanja and Terrell on the other shows as well, which also another reason Mark Rivera might bolt.

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That would make Channel 7 really thin in male fill-in anchors should Mark Rivera leave at some point.  Not really sure why they are taking so much time to move him to weekend nights.  It just seems like a logical progression.

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59 minutes ago, cpet228 said:

That would make Channel 7 really thin in male fill-in anchors should Mark Rivera leave at some point.  Not really sure why they are taking so much time to move him to weekend nights.  It just seems like a logical progression.

 

It took like 4 months for Ravi to debut after Rob Johnson left,14 months to hire Mark to replace Ben Bradley, about 5 months to name Samantha Chatman for Stacey Baca's slot, and Elgas & Baichwal weren't named to succeed Alan for more than 4 months. The last example is a freaking eternity to leave your flagship shows without an anchor, despite it being "a logical progression."

 

Ravi's only been off weekends for 3 months. Hiring practices (yes, even if they promote from within) have slowed, and budgets have tightened. If they can roll with a solo weekend anchor for upwards of 3-6 months, I'm sure corporate would be pretty happy, for salary's sake. When it comes time to name who'll join Karen, I'm beyond confident that it'll be Mark.

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On 6/19/2023 at 12:33 PM, WeatherandTraffic said:

Mark went back to weekend mornings this past weekend with Karen Jordan anchoring in the evenings. If he doesn't get the weekend evening job, I can see him bolting later this year as when Ravi is off, Mark only does the 5pm and Rob takes the rest of the newscasts.

 

Also, as of this morning, Val is officially the third full time anchor of the 6am hour with Tanja and Terrell. She will likely be the main fill-in for Tanja and Terrell on the other shows as well, which also another reason Mark Rivera might bolt.

 

On 6/19/2023 at 9:12 PM, cpet228 said:

That would make Channel 7 really thin in male fill-in anchors should Mark Rivera leave at some point.  Not really sure why they are taking so much time to move him to weekend nights.  It just seems like a logical progression.

 

Mark has been in his position less than 6 years and I doubt he is angling for weekend evenings nor do I think WLS wants to add yet another new person to the weekend morning team after adding both Chatman and Martinez.  It's possible he's happy where he is.

 

If he gets the evening slot, great... but if not, I seriously doubt he would up and leave his hometown and the top news station in the market.

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  • 2 weeks later...

With most of the weather team off this week. Phil Schwarz returned to fill in at 5pm and will do the 7pm and the 10pm. It's nice to see Phil return to fill in. While Mark McGinnis has been filling in for Tracy since Monday. Jaisol Martinez did last night by herself and will probably fill in for Tracy Thursday and Friday. 

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What year is this? What were the chances that his first show back would be alongside the old weekend team? 😂

"Phil, great to see you. You're like the Tom Brady of meteorologists. Retire for 3 weeks, and you're back!"

"Yeah, for three days. Don't get carried away with it."

 

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They finished out the week with Mark on mornings, Jaisol & Phil on the afternoon/evening newscasts.  Be interesting to see what the weekend will look like.  Jaisol has been on since Tuesday & Mark did all the M-F morning news.

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3 minutes ago, cpet228 said:

They finished out the week with Mark on mornings, Jaisol & Phil on the afternoon/evening newscasts.  Be interesting to see what the weekend will look like.  Jaisol has been on since Tuesday & Mark did all the M-F morning news.

 

I would guess Phil does the 7 tonight, with Jaisol doing her normal shift tomorrow. Greg will probably be back tomorrow night, with Sunday morning being the variable.

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