johnnya2k6

Here in Atlanta (and just speculating): WAGA will slot Sherri Shepherd at 11:00 am, and as I said on our Discord: Since they turned her down in favor of a local show with Portia Bruner at 1:00 pm, WXIA will likely take Jennifer Hudson at 3:00. Portia's show will be a half-hour, leaving 1:30 pm open; I can see Pictionary filling that slot while keeping You Bet Your Life at midnight. The other stations' statuses remain unknown for now.

From their archives: How WABC covered the crash that killed Yankees manager Billy Martin in 1989 (the other major story that Christmas was of course the execution of Romania’s dictator Nicolai Ceausescu and his wife):

First, they signed the OG queen of Atlanta, Monica Kaufman Pearson; now, they’re dropping The 700 Club and Dr. Oz for news at 9:00 am and another half hour at 3:00 pm? Whatever it takes for WGCL to beat Good Day Atlanta/Kelly and Ryan and Judge Judy/Tamron Hall/Dr. Phil, I’m all for it!

Fred Dinenage’s last newscast as ITV’s Meridian Reports anchor after 38 years (he was reporter and later anchor at predecessors Southern Television and TVS):

Inside Edition's now on WPCH at 10:00 pm; and besides, WXIA and WSB already had it some years ago (as well as WAGA and WGCL).

Gray's first order of business after acquiring WGCL/WPCH (among the other Meredith stations) was to get a legendary local name, and Monica Pearson was it. As for WSB? I think the recent death of their lead female anchor Jovita Moore (Don Farmer, Justin's dad who anchored alongside Monica in the '80s and '90s, died this past spring) in addition to the cost-cutting at Apollo is already hurting them, and that will be reflected in the ratings. Expect WAGA and WGCL to fight it out for #1, with WSB cutting their 6:00 news to a half-hour (so that Atlantans would be flipping between ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, and CBS Evening News at 6:30) and WSB Tonight becoming the Action News Nightbeat once again; in addition, I could see Richard Belcher finally hanging it up after nearly 50 years. If it already happened in New Orleans (with WWL relinquishing their longtime #1 status to WVUE, now WGCL's sister station), it could here.

Meanwhile...Former lead anchor Joe Vigil is now at KVVU in Las Vegas; Melissa Frey also joined from KTVA and is now KTUU/KAUU Chief Meteorologist (Jackie Purcell is still the Senior Met, but has reduced her role), while Megan Mazurek is still on the GCI payroll, now as Contributions and Senior Events Manager. I think Byron Allen should step in and buy KTVA and make it a news-intensive independent.

From WSB’s Mike Petchenik:

KTVF's Good Morning Fairbanks from mid-January 1989 (exact date unknown and opening missing): https://archive.org/details/tobacco_bky27a00

Former ABC News correspondent and CNN and later WSB-TV anchor Don Farmer dies at age 82.

And now that three of the four Atlanta stations will have news at 4:00, it’s safe to say that WXIA won’t be sacrificing Ellen DeGeneres ever (or even moving her to WATL), as she’s been doing very well despite the recent troubles. The expansion also means Judge Judy now at 3:00 and 3:30, with Divorce Court now at 2:30 am (after Access Hollywood).

Guess I was right all along about WAGA joining WSB and WGCL with news from 4:00 to 7:00 (now that Judge Judy will be ending after this season): https://www.nexttv.com/news/waga-atlanta-expands-430-pm-news

CityTV and the independents (CHCH, CHEK, etc.) will probably have regular programming (on CHCH, it’s the movie The Ides of March), though I’m sure they’ll have updates throughout the night followed by their local news, which may be extended to an hour for additional election coverage.

Here in the States, you should say that the British Columbia and Saskatchewan elections were just warmups for next Tuesday.

And while we’re sticking with WGCL: Chief Meteorologist Jennifer Valdez announced live on her Facebook Monday that she’s going to be working evenings and nights (4:00, 5:00, 6:00, 9:00 (WPCH), and 11:00) effective immediately rather than days and evenings. Burns, Chandley, and Holcomb better brace themselves!

Longtime WSB-TV reporter Don McClellan dies from Parkinson’s Disease at age 88: https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/longtime-wsb-reporter-don-mcclellan-dies-88-after-parkinsons-disease-battle

The March 17, 1998 edition of "E! News", which has been canceled after almost 30 years (and gone through many, many hosts from Steve Kmetko to Ryan Seacrest to Maria Menounos):

KTVA now independent after 66 years with CBS?! Maybe they could expand their news output, including the addition of a noon news and an hourlong 9:00 pm news (they would easily beat KTBY). In Fairbanks, I can see KTVF going back to CBS, KFXF taking NBC, and KXDF becoming MyNetwork TV.

KNXT (KCBS) Channel 2 News brief with Pat O'Brien (before he wore glasses) from October 22, 1980:

1998: KCOY anchor Don Strickland apparently had some problems with the stories not being cued up: (By the way...Strickland was lead anchor and news director at ABC Alaska in spring 1996; unfortunately, he failed to make any dent in the ratings against KTVA and of course the 800-pound gorilla that was (and still is) KTUU and by the fall, he was back in California)

As well as portions of ABC's and NBC's coverage.

After a few clips being posted over the years...finally, a full episode of CBS’ 30 Minutes (the Saturday morning spinoff of 60 Minutes which a few of us may remember) from March 21, 1981:

And the last time CBS This Morning used the Ed Sullivan Theater was in 1995 while David Letterman took his "Late Show" to London for a week; my friend Craig was in New York that very same time and he brought back with me some pics including a couple with Harry Smith and Paula Zahn (Mark McEwen was in London). Dave and his gang returned to the States to learn that Connie Chung got the boot at CBS.

Meet WAGA's new weeknight anchor Courtney Bryant (replacing Cynne Simpson; they've been going back and forth between Portia Bruner and Marissa Mitchell alongside Russ Spencer for months)

Boy, Tracye Hutchins has witnessed every coming and going at CBS 46 since 2007 and they’ll never let go of her (at her age, she may outlast Monica Pearson).