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My point stands. WABC's was a nice set-up, but not pioneering a new concept.

GMA, Today, and The Early Show had been streetside for 12+ years by the time WABC debuted their corner set. At a local level, 3 stations in Chicago were in streetside space before WABC. Fox29 in Philly also comes to mind, predating New York. Revolutionary? Hardly.

Glad I’m not the only one feeling a bit sad about this. I took the long walk home today from work to go by there and it’s crazy to see it gone! Walking by the old GMA studios in TS is also stark. One of my favorite photos from outside of Peter Jennings Way.

Yeah it’s clear that Toni herself isn’t interested in the role. She’s the station’s New Jersey reporter and has been the primary fill-in for weekend mornings for 10-15 years now. Michelle on the other hand responded to fan comments online that she wanted the weekday morning spot after filling in for an extended period when Ken Rosario was fired.

This is amazing information, thank you! It finally gives greater clarity as to why Toni is not on weekend mornings and its because she doesn't want to! But she is excellent with Michelle and I think she'll be more than happy to remain as a fill in there whenever she wants to.

This has been in the making for weeks. It was down to Perry and Ike Ejiochi. Part of moving everyone together into the same building, studios on 4 and newsroom on 6, was to combine resources and this is an example of that. I’m sure you have all seen the frequent appearances of ABC network talent on local since the move. Most notably would probably be Aaron Katersky and Darian Sutton. Conversely, the same with weather - Lee doing WNT W-F, and Dani or Jeff doing weekend evenings. It’s all part of creative cost savings - which we all need to do as the landscape changes. Perry will continue to contribute to network 3 days a week - but eventually his role at local will grow. Some 411 - Toni does not want a regular anchor slot. She enjoys her role in NJ and being close to home. She’s always happy to help wherever needed - but she likes her weekends to spend with her boys.

Bill Beutel and Roger Grimsby were a pair for almost 16 years. Your point? Just because management has gone with same-sex pairs in the past, doesn’t mean that that’s what they were looking for here. Also, the Diana Sade pairing didn’t exactly come about because there was an opening and they decided they wanted two females to anchor together. Diana decided she wanted to scale back her schedule so they moved her to the 5 PM, pairing her with the more senior anchor of Roz Abrams, and pushing aside the junior anchor of Rob Hanrahan, and then when Roz left, she was replaced by Sade who just prior was brought in without a show to anchor and displaced Lori at noon. Anyway, I didn’t say it was definitively the reason, just a possibility.

Current bosses' decisions in 2026 might differ from former bosses' decisions in 2003. Crazy thought, I know.

This might be going far. Maybe we should go and ask Toni if she wants to anchor weekend mornings. She was a anchor in Philly before New York so maybe she doesn’t want another run.

Do we possibly think Toni doesn’t want it? I mean yeah helping out when needed, but maybe doesn’t want to work weekends? I wouldn’t blame her. She def deserves it tho!

Yeah they should've put either Toni or Chantee there in my opinion. I just think they want a fresh face. Toni Yates has been with WABC since 2006 and she's been filling in on the weekends for I want to say at least 10 years now so she has the tenure. Which leads me to think that they just want someone else for the role.

Meh. I was really enjoying the Chantee/Toni rotation on Saturdays and Sundays.

I wish that they gave it to Toni Yates because she has always been a steady fill-in presence for years and is loved by many viewers but Perry Russom is more youthful and has a higher profile with him also being a national correspondent, so it makes sense. Russom has a stiff and serious personality at times, and being a network correspondent requires some toughness but he has been able to lighten up a bit when he filled in a few times on Eyewitness News This Morning, so he is still not a bad choice.

I worked for Waterman 20 years ago. My first job. I left after two years because it was such a toxic sweatshop (and I got better and moved on). But the Anchorman reference is spot on! It was an odd mix of young kids looking to move up and out, and old lifers with HUGE egos. The competition between BBH and WINK was obsessive to management. As for this weatherman.. it will blow over. Viewers love to say “Im never watching again!” and they do. And I agree.. a station doesn't just fire their most popular talent unless they have a reason. Its not money.. WINK has plenty of it. The whole.. he was taking long dinner breaks.. thats an excuse to fire him. Not a reason. If he was so valuable to them.. they wouldnt care how long he took.

That sax rendition of 'Good News' during the NBA scores at 1 hour in of the WEWS clip is pretty epic

WXFL, Tampa, 1984 late news open:

It was cool to see how the network looks, and it won't be a success... it'll be a massive success. Also, I'm seeing via FB posts that 1° Outside, the New England-based weather service created and run by the husband and wife meteorology duo of Matt and Danielle Noyes (loved them for years), has launched their own 24/7 streaming network of their own but its hidden for Patreon folks for now. It's a sign of the times, and I know that more networks like these are coming...

I'd love to see Alan Sealls as a part of this covering South Alabama, but he could probably start one on his own. It would be a great tool for the University of South Alabama to educate and train future meteorologists through their meteorology program which he is a part of.

Aw, I echo your sentiments @Action Newsroom. I remember the first time when I saw WABC's streetside studio, I had driven from my home out in Long Island and parked right next to it, sometime in 2013, to view the weekend evening newscast. In the more recent years of now living in the city i'd always get off the 1 to just stand by it. It's really breathtaking how in less than a year after its final broadcast, a building so rich and filled with history, now completely gutted. The streetside studio was nice, shame ABC no longer has any external facing studios anymore. (Times Square is also gone too) All in all, this is an end of an era. It's one of those moments in life when one doesn't realize how special something was until after its gone for good so yeah, its really heartbreaking indeed. .

As someone who went to tapings of Live (3 times) and The View (multiple times), and saw inside WABC's streetside studio each time (including once when I waved to two female anchors [and they waved back to me]), this really breaks my heart.

ABC7’s previous home is gone.