Lots of changes at WMC... first, as @NCFLMedia reported on his Changing Newscasts Blog, beginning today the noon newscast is back to one hour long, with Right This Minute moving to 3PM replace Crime Watch Daily... and a brand new newscast debuting at 3:30PM, something new for Memphis. Weekend news is expanding as well, with a two hour block from 5-7AM on both Saturdays and Sundays, followed by the existing 9AM hour on Saturdays and 8AM on Sundays. This adds an extra eight hours (!) to their news output every week.
While you'd think all this expansion would require new hires, several people are actually LEAVING the station, including evening reporter Jerry Asking, morning reporter Tiffany Neely, and morning anchor Felicia Bolton. It will be interesting to see not only who staffs the new newscasts, but also who replaces these personalities, particularly Felicia since she was only fairly recently promoted to that position. Jerry is headed to WKMG/Orlando as a reporter; Felicia to WNCN/Raleigh as morning anchor/investigative reporter; and Tiffany to a position in Jonesboro, likely at Raycom sister station KAIT if I had to guess. Their new journeys begin on Friday.
Oh, and this may not amount to anything, but I thought it was interesting that the tweet comes from a WMC producer on the day of the newscast début... [MEDIA=twitter]968036168448299008[/MEDIA]
Joyce Peterson, wife of WMC Chief Meteorologist Ron Childers, has been off the air since departing WATN several years ago not long after that station's rebrand.