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Bill Evans Out at WABC


RealNews18

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5 hours ago, RealNews18 said:

Anybody know what’s going on with Bill Evans? He’s been off the air for a few weeks now.. hasn’t been on social media either 

I wonder if it has to do with he and his wife taking over WLNG radio. I know they made some format changes that were not beloved and got some social media blowback. Might explain his social media absence.

 

or...you know...vacation,

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2 minutes ago, Roadgeek Adam said:

Yeah I'm confused at this point. I don't get how this works this point.

 

His Twitter still lists ABC and he's retweeted something on January 30. I'm unilaterally baffled. 

The only thing I can think of is if he’s just using up anytime he has at WABC and is planning on leaving? I would hope not. Or he’s just using any earned time and helping get the station up and going? The whole thing just seems weird. Maybe it’s me 

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Yeah very bizarre, he's such an awesome meteorologist and has been there for a very long time. If I read it correctly, Bill Evans started at WABC in December 1989. By the end of the year, Bill will have been with ABC & WABC-TV for exactly 30 years. Bill is usually transparent and open during these situations too because he knows he has a lot of loyal viewers and fans. Personally, I hope it's nothing too drastic. My optimistic guess is, he's taking an extended time off to help the staff adjust to he and his wife's take over of the radio station, out on the east end of Long Island and then will return once the transition has been completed.


According to this NorthEast Radio article, he is full time there now, they were not clear is to what that means for his current job at WABC...

https://www.fybush.com/nerw-20190108/#NY

 

As for the future, maybe, (in speculation) Bill will start to slowly lower his responsibilities at WABC, he has been there for nearly 30 years at this point. So I can see him either retiring to a simpler job, or reducing his role responsibilities there to some extent. Or, maybe he's just there temporarily overseeing the operation at his newly owned radio station, and then he'll return back to WABC once he feels like the transition is good. These are my educated guesses. From a geographical standpoint, Sag Harbor is at the Eastern end of Long Island and WABC is in the Upper West Side in NYC. Completely understandable that he took time off as the commute would be rather insane from the east end to the city every morning!

 

 

 

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All I’m saying is if I remember correctly.. in the weeks before Lori Stokes left for channel 5 she was on vacation for about 2-3 weeks.. then came back on air at the end of the newscast to say goodbye. I really hope this isn’t the case this time. While Amy and Jeff are great I really can’t imagine mornings without Bill Evans 

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13 minutes ago, 24994J said:

Start imagining mornings without him. Bill Evans' bio is off the station website.

 

Its reality, not really imagining at this point, as it is reality.

 

Wow that’s very surprising, incredibly shocking. But he’s doing what his heart desires and at the end of the day he has to be happy. Bill really brought a good dynamic to the morning team. I don’t know who could replace him. While Jeff and Amy are incredible, Bill was unique and one of a kind. He had a quirkiness that really made that broadcast so fun to watch. 

 

Such a shame they did not do a proper send off or anything for him considering how long he’s been at WABC. Maybe Ken will mention it tomorrow morning. Ugh still stunned. The Eyewitness News This Morning  will never be the same without him.. 

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Wow. Just wow. I hope they invite him on air just one last time.. like they did with Lori Stokes. It’s really the end of an era at Eyewitness News. Best of luck to Bill.

 

Now.. does Jeff Smith get the spot because he’s been there longer? Or do they give it to Amy Freeze? They’re both deserving and if recent history shows it doesn’t always matter who’s been there longer. 

 

Oooorrrrrrr how bout this? They bring Sam Champion to do mornings. (I know not happening) lol but just a thought 

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10 minutes ago, RealNews18 said:

Wow. Just wow. I hope they invite him on air just one last time.. like they did with Lori Stokes. It’s really the end of an era at Eyewitness News. Best of luck to Bill.

 

this has all the makings... of one huuuuuuge contract dispute... he wont be on WABC again any time soon...

 

wonder what a dispute would be over... kind of hard to say you don't have enough money when you go buy a radio station... noncompete maybe??? a unique situation for sure...

 

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16 minutes ago, RealNews18 said:

 

 Oooorrrrrrr how bout this? They bring Sam Champion to do mornings. (I know not happening) lol but just a thought 

 

He's not coming back. There's a better chance WABC grabbed John Marshall or John Bolaris off the free agent market over getting Sam back. (Other than Marshall, it's unlikely. I'd love Veronica Johnson back, but that's not happening either.) 

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Yeah very bizarre, he's such an awesome meteorologist and has been there longer than all of them. Bill is usually transparent during these situations too. Hopefully it's nothing too drastic. The last time I remembered he was gone this long was when he had surgery in his shoulder. 

 

I wonder if this topic of Bill Evans leaving, warrants a seperate thread on the New York News Forum since it's pretty major.. 

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Mysterious for a number of reasons:

 

1) No formal sign-off/farewell on the air.  Did he leave on bad terms or are they waiting for some point in the near future to air a goodbye?

 

2) His social media posts end with: "I look forward to returning to television and being with all of you again in the near future."  Does he have something lined up, or is he being optimistic that a TV station will pick up up in the future?

 

3) Have raised those two questions, is he actually leaving WABC or is he taking some sort of leave of absence?

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1 hour ago, Weeters said:

It's February sweeps. If they wanted to give him a "formal goodbye", they'd have said something by now.

 

I'm in the camp that says this was a contract dispute, and he left on less than good terms.

 

 

Agreed. Purely speculation - but I am thinking that with him taking over the radio station, perhaps he wanted not necessarily more money but more time off or move to some sort of part-time schedule so that he could give time to WLNG.... WABC likely didn't want to set a precedent with offering people part time schedules to work a second broadcasting job outside of the Disney/ABC family, so they said 'sorry, we only have this position available and the required days/hours are...'

 

It's too bad a formal on air good bye, or acknowledgement, hasn't been done. 

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