wabceyewitness

excellent point. It’s the right thing to do and good on Disney/ABC for being loyal to someone who has been loyal to them.

Meant to say first FEMALE solo 6pm anchor! Sorry! Edited my original post.

In the meantime, Liz Cho is currently the first solo 6pm female anchor in the station’s history.

someone cued the wrong file

In an eerily similar fashion, Bill Ritter’s predecessor, Bill Beutel, stepped away from the anchor desk — first from the 11pm, then from the 6pm — and then took on a special corespondent role until he fully retired. Though it wasn’t publicly disclosed, he had begun showing early signs of dementia, even on air, and died of Lewy Body Disease just three years after retiring. During his retirement tribute on WABC, you could see some confusion in his face and Diana Williams gently pointing out to him that all the people in the studio were there for him. Before he stepped away from anchoring, there were a few times where he would stop mid script and his co-anchor would jump in to continue the story. On a national level, Diane Sawyer (GMA, WNT), Meredith Vieira (Today), Barbara Walters (20/20, The View) and Tom Brokaw (NBC NN) left their anchor/host roles at their networks and transitioned into special corespondent / contributing anchor roles.

that’s great that you’re expressing your opinion. So was I, though, I didn’t feel the need to write a paragraph explaining how expressing opinions works. Back to Bill — he’s not “that bad already”. Watch last week’s newscasts leading up to the announcement. Watch his interview on Good Morning America. Not knowing there’s a health issue, he just comes off at times a guy in his 70s who’s likely nearing retirement and, like anyone in their 70s, not as sharp as they were 10, 20, 30 years ago. “Gracefully gone into the sunset” - think of the message that sends to millions of Americans and their families dealing with this disease. Diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer’s and still feeling great and able to work — doesn’t matter. Just go off into the sunset and give up doing what you love. It’s a great thing Bill is doing and it’s great that ABC is supporting him, in my opinion.

Why should they do anything but what he, his employer, his family, and his doctors agree is best for all involved?

Besides that it can sometimes get chilly in LA, areas of Southern California like Big Bear, Lake Arrowhead, and the rest of the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains often get snow — enough for ski and snowboarding.

Tim Fleischer and Dave Evans retired. That’s a lot different, and deserving of an on air goodbye, compared to leaving for another job.

A network correspondent based in New York City has a high cost of living and can make just as much, or sometimes more, being a weekday anchor in a market like Denver with a lower cost of living. From his post, it also seems like a very personal decision. Children are much older and in college or on their own, and the location is a place they’ve longed to live in.

The ceremony will be broadcast on Channel 7 and streamed on ABC7NY.

With Sam back in the mix with Robin, George and Lara, they have 4/5 of the team back the catapulted them to #1 in 2012.

No, the ratings fell during the premier week, typically a time when viewers would tune in make out of interest. After Woodruff’s injury, they dipped even further when Vargas became the de facto solo anchor. They fell to third place behind CBS just as the advertising upfronts season was beginning which forced ABC to give Charlie Gibson what he wanted from the start — the solo anchor job through the 2008 election and into the first year of the new presidency. He was originally offered the spot but told he would need to give up the anchor chair once the 2008 primary season began to let the younger team takeover. He balked and originally planned to stick to retiring in 2007.

she wasn’t laid off - that would imply budget cuts and her position eliminated. Her position — general assignment reporter— was recently listed as open, as was the position of weekend anchor/reporter. It sounds more like she and WABC couldn’t come to an agreement on a new contract and/or she was told the anchor position was not something she would be offered.

and ratings fell once that experiment started

Joe Torres anchored the Saturday 11pm-midnight newscast as he usually does.. and must have got maybe three hours of sleep because he’s filling in on the 6am and 9am newscasts this Sunday morning.

It boggles my mind why people — especially local anchors — continue accepting anchor jobs at CBS Evening News or CBS Mornings. I’m sure the pay bump and higher profile is nice but there’s zero stability on those shows.. unless you’re Gayle King.

correct. It’s just a timing issue. If they need to gain back a few seconds or have a packed show, the talent open gets cut. not a vacation thing. Aired again tonight even with both Sade and Mike off.

Disney leases the building. They are giving up the lease.

I found the whole 5pm send off /farewell really odd. For most of his career, he’s been known as the 6pm and 11pm guy… he’s been on at 5pm for a little less than 6 years (replacing Diana Williams in September 2019). It made sense to have a big announcement about the 11pm. They probably should’ve done the 5pm at the same time… or just made this a less over the top goodbye.

the light colors on the faux brick wall look better on UpClose.

the studios were all built with flexibility in mind — meaning they could easily be shared (like Tamron & The View) and used for other things besides a show that airs just an hour each weekday excluding holidays and hiatus… as opposed to EWN, which is on 7+ hours a day every day.

They began airing 5pm talent opens when the new graphics debuted last year in January 2024. It’s the first weekday 5pm talent opens to air since Diana Williams retired in September 2019.

Yup. Still not official as they haven’t added him to the morning promo shot just yet.

Just like when Beutel began his transition away from the anchor desk.. at the end of the 6pm news, he and Diana Williams would toss to Ritter in the newsroom for a look at what’s coming up at 11pm.