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And of course Kathie Lee Gifford returned to honor Hoda in the fourth hour, where she hosted originally before Jenna Bush Hager. Jenna does a nice job, but I still think I enjoyed the original pairing of KLG and Hoda the best. I kind of thought they might have Tom Llamas take over for Hoda on Today but perhaps they are saving him for when Lester retires from Nightly News. I wonder if he or someone else will show up as a supporting 3rd host as Craig Melvin has done previously.

Wow, time flies. Completely forgot about that one when I wrote this. Definitely ranks as the worst.

C'mon now... NBC can't do worse than the goodbye for Ann Curry's 15 years on the show... Tom's busy with "Top Story" on the streamer while he waits for Lester to retire. No way he left his gig at ABC to not eventually get the Nightly News chair.

That one of WIXT of Syracuse is very interesting in two facets-- one, Bud Hedinger did both main news and the weather report (at least, it seems here), and two, there was no off-screen announcer billing the broadcast as Eyewitness News, or even having a daypart or time name (Hedinger simply did a cold open at the top here).

Just curious- if anyone has insight- on how gathering info via helicopter is being worked out... There was the story earlier this week that a drone interfered with a copter working on putting out the fires, and I see this morning that KTLA is making use of "Sky 5" as a split screen during morning press briefings. Are stations sharing a helicopter to reduce interference with the firefighting effort? Are news stations keeping well away and zoomed in like all hell? You can see it on the faces and hear it in their voices that anchors and reporters are all getting fatigued (also- camera operators and producers!) All of the reporting and news gathering I have watched this week has been an all-star effort from all the news teams.

I can’t help but wonder if people are taking too big a risk of not wearing a mask at all times. Just because you may not be directly near a fire doesn’t mean the air is safe to breathe in. It would be a different story if it rained at some point to cleanse the air. Plus, I saw a reporter from KTLA touching burnt debris with his bare hands. I can understand getting caught up in the moment, if you will, but people really need to be careful.

Pardon my OCD, but if the shot is going to be that wide she might as well be centered at the desk. Also, the L3 ribbon does not align with the Local 33 logo bug. The Louisiana First News branding feels very Gray Television. Studio loks great though.

Hoda’s farewell today might one of the more lowkey ones the show has done decades.

After 35 years, RTV6 Chief Meteorologist Kevin Gregory is retiring. His last day will be at the end of February. Once he leaves, this will mark the first time since 1972 that a Gregory has not been one Indianapolis TV. His dad Bob Gregory was the long time chief meteorologist at WTHR. https://www.wrtv.com/wrtvs-kevin-gregory-announces-his-retirement-after-35-years-on-air

WMGC First News 34 1988 WENY Eyewitness News 1991 WIXT Eyewitness News 1982

2.2 isn’t even TBD anymore, it’s a full-power KUNP simulcast, filling in coverage gaps in areas that can’t receive the LPTV translator on virtual channel 47. (TBD’s been moved to KUNP-DT4.)

Due to disputes between Optimum and Nexstar, WPIX is no longer available for Optimum subscribers. It seems the basic reason was that Optimum did not want to have to carry NewsNation anymore. https://deadline.com/2025/01/nexstar-optimum-carriage-dispute-tv-stations-wpix-newsnation-1236254076/

2025 is pulling out all the punches just 7 days into the new year!!