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The announcement was cut off on the stream. Here it is in it's entirety:

A sad day today in the Today household... Gene Shalit has passed away. The longtime film critic was 100. He spent 40 years on the program, the first three part-time in 1970 before spending the next 37 years full time before retiring in 2010. https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/gene-shalit-today-show-movie-critic-dies-100-rcna103405

Hopefully she gets a better send off than the one she got at ABC7. Edit: Oops it looks like she did and its posted on YouTube.

This is awful. It had become abundantly clear that Bill’s performance was fading. He’s a legend, I remember enjoying his stint on GMA decades before I moved to NYC. His history of work speaks for itself and it’s admirable that he’s continuing his work at WABC to help the next generation. A lasting legacy in this great city. Thank you for everything Bill.

I saw parts of the 6pm newscast and Liz was on the verge of tears at the beginning of the newscast and right before the last commercial break. This must of happened this week and Bill wanted to say goodbye to the viewers while he still could. It make sense now that Liz has joined him on Up-close and Sandra has filled in for Liz at 6pm for the last few months. I wish Bill the best from Chicago and as he said, hopeful for a cure for Alzheimer's/dementia.

Wow this came sooner than expected. Bill was a household name and while I wasn’t his biggest fan this is still very sad. To compare the “weight” of his name to the earlier anchors I don’t think is fair because times were a little different then, like now you can’t really compare names tho those in the 90s. I wonder if this is why the station decided to starting putting “fill in” anchors at 6. I assume it will be David or Sandra to fill the spot.

RIP Gene and that mustache https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/gene-shalit-today-show-movie-critic-dies-100-rcna103405?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwdGRjcASZbedleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEe0awzPJjHOXzJzxEbXPM6mR_SCv_oEZ1_cQit2rNqb6QjabhMn-vxoZ7S6F4_aem_dpYqTp3XSgd-C1lXLUvcaQ

You know Bill Ritter may be the last anchor WABC has in a big caliber I haven’t seen Mike Marza enough to accurately say he’ll fill his shoes. But this is a great loss for them. What’s your thoughts on Mike Marza? Could he fill his shoes.

Sorry I couldn’t give an exact date last week - but the day has come. We all saw Bill fading - and we knew about the struggle - and those of us around long enough saw the similarities to Bill Beutel. Just as his predecessor - he is a journalistic giant. Ritter may not be from the same era as the storied NY anchors - but he has earned the respect of his colleagues at WABC and the network. The truth is that he kept viewers watching when the opportunity was there for them to stray - and he has steered what is the channel 7 ship for 25 years.

This very much reminds see I have some family in NYC I’d watch Bill all the time always engaged energetic newsman. I reminded me where I live locally where an anchor had a similar situation he stepped down and announced he had ALS. That station was WABC sister station WTVD it was another prominent anchor announcing he stepping down due to an essential slow death sentence. I wish bill very well is there a survival rate.

Here's one... https://au.variety.com/2026/tv/news/network-10-unveils-new-channel-101-broadcasting-entire-schedule-one-hour-later-37521/

And this will also be reported on the national WNT this evening as well.

Posted this in the WABC thread, but thought I'd post here too knowing he's done nat'l work in the past for ABC, but Bill Ritter is stepping down as Eyewitness News anchor tonight after the 6pm news citing health. https://nypost.com/2026/06/12/media/abc-new-york-anchor-bill-ritter-to-retire-due-to-health-issue-sources/

After 40+ years in the business, Sylvia Perez has decided to step down as a anchor/reporter at Fox 32.

Sad day for WABC as Bill Ritter is expected to announce today he'll step down from the anchor chair at Eyewitness News citing health. Filled the big shoes of the legendary Bill Beutel (RIP) well & pretty much the last of the well-known guard amongst NYC news anchors as pretty much elsewhere on the dial, hardly much notoriety or gravitas amongst what's out there. All the best, Bill!! https://nypost.com/2026/06/12/media/abc-new-york-anchor-bill-ritter-to-retire-due-to-health-issue-sources/

Link's broken. Try again, this time with the actual link, not the routed-through-LinkedIn-for-data-collection-purposes version.

Don't give them any ideas.

Just today, I came across a rare WCMH commercial block from November 1982 and at the beginning is a portion of a promo that WCMH used featuring meteorologist Jym Ganahl who was at the station during this time. But, here is something fascinating I came across. WCMH's slogan at the time was "That's What Friends Are For" which leads me to believe that this must have been the name of WCMH's 1983 news theme. However, I do not know who composed the theme package. You can view the video below the text to check it out. Also, you can go at 20:22 to view the Larry Roberts promo that is in this video.

Are they now?

After six years, today was Sam Jacques' last day at WZZM 13. Its also her last day in the TV business.

Louis Bolden made his official debut at WHBQ last night during the 5pm newscast (Well, technically, he showed up on Good Morning Memphis first).

Well, yesterday he worked the 6pm, 8pm, and 9pm shifts alongside Laura Diaz. Today he will be at 5pm and 10pm.

Wait a minute -- didn't Karen Hensel work for WISH and got pushed out by Circle City??

At that point, I don't think anyone is taking a CBS presidential debate tender seriously.

If Rogan joins CBS News, he needs to get a presidential debate and do it Fear Factor style.