Jase

This had been rumored for awhile. He was going to step down last year I think, but decided to renew only for 1 year. The 5P/9P spot is likely going to be a choice between Scott and Rafer. They don't need to make any more changes (moving Corey) in the morning. Best to leave GDC as is for now to continue to build ratings and such.

Rafer Weigel could be coming back to Chicago as a news anchor at Fox 32. He's been auditioning off camera.

 

http://www.robertfeder.com/2017/08/09/robservations-csn-chicago-cuts-chris-boden/

Very Interesting...adding more people is always a plus. Corey is back on GDC today w/ Anita in studio anchoring (and doing Facebook Live).

I could see that, and I'm cool with it. Dick deserves any promotion after filling in like he has. That said, I think he's around 67 or 68, so I don't know if they're looking for a long-term option at 4, or if he even plans on staying around long enough.

DJ has been at WMAQ for 15 yrs., so sticking around for another 5 or so would be ideal (for them). This would give them some time to shore up/beef up both the anchor and reporter ranks. My guess is that people (Rob, Dick, Allison, Carol, etc...) may be looking to retire at some point in the next 5-7 yrs.

The line of random fill- in shifts might be over. According to Feder, Patrick Fazio starts today. He'll initially anchor for Dick alongside Michelle Relerford on the weekend, but all bets are off on an official assignment once Rob returns.

Don't be surprised if they leave the new guy on weekend nights with Michelle. I have a feeling they 'might' do something like this..

Weekdays

4A-7A: Zoraida, Alex, Andy and Kye

11A: Marion, Alex and Alicia | Kalee

4P: Marion, Dick and Brant

5P and 10P: Allison, Rob, Brant and Siafa

6P: Allison, Dick, Brant and Siafa (I'm thinking they may want to lessen Rob's workload initially, but who knows??)

Weekends

Mornings: Susan, Christian, Kalee and Marley

Evenings: Michelle, Patrick, Alicia and Jeff | Mike

OMG I wish I would have known! For the longest time I've wanted to see him in that chair. I think Phil Rogers has the makings of a great lead anchor and never understood why he wasn't doing so. So how was he? And this is the first time he's ever filled-in, right? Well hopefully this is the first of many so I get to catch him next time.

He hasn't anchored in years (I'm talking at least 15+), so this was a big surprise. His delivery was unique in large part because it's outside of what he normally does, but he was fine. He didn't do the 10P, so I'm guessing just the 4P, 5P and 6P. I wouldn't be surprised if they get Charlie to sub at some point as well.

It's Marion Brooks and Phil Rogers @ 5P today.

Did anyone catch it? I didn't have a chance to watch it.

I liked what little bit I saw, but I hate the overly animated/distorted graphics. It's hard to explain, but some of the graphic elements are very distracting because they are constantly moving/flashing. You have to watch to understand what I mean.

Posting this here since it's not related to the old set. But what is this camera for? Seems like it would be dangerous if this were used on air. From other images (of morons acting silly) it doesn't look like a pro camera.

I agree with 24994J...what's dangerous about it? Since they don't get (and never really have) large crowds, it not used vey often.

[MEDIA=instagram]BNLO7Ngh5-V[/MEDIA]

Also this space would make an interesting temp set:

This is the lobby, so..no this wouldn't work.

[MEDIA=instagram]BNZWGH5gALR[/MEDIA]

I'm going to guess it was an experiment to try to get some different anchor pairings at the desk. (and not have Dick on all four evening newscasts)

Looks like the 'experimenting' has made its way to the weekend. Emily Flores joined Susan this morning. I haven't seen Emily anchor in years.

Is that Jim Rosenfield?

Yes

Sally Schulte (sp?) made her debut on the 5P newscast today (at the Live Desk). I'm guessing she's per diem. At least they are adding more bodies over there at WFLD.

Right but are they really the same viewers?

No doubt a good chunk of Univision Chicago's viewers speak only Spanish, but it also stands to reason that some of their viewers are bilingual (meaning, they could also be viewers of English-language newscasts too). When you couple that together, Univision could easily come close to or beat WLS (or whomever else) at 10P. At the end of the day, viewers are viewers no matter how you look at it.

Today in unfair comparisons...

 

http://www.robertfeder.com/2017/07/05/robservations-univision-scores-10-p-m-news-victory/

 

Comparing English and Spanish language newscast ratings (which attract different audiences by default) seems fishy... my guess is that Feder mailed that in based on a press release Univision sent him...

I wouldn't say the comparison is unfair. It's more of a reflection of ever-changing viewership trends. Plus, the viewership pie at 10P is small (and tends to get even smaller during the summer.)

...and Dick Johnson finally took a day off. Allison is filling in, alongside Marion Brooks. Marion also worked the 11am show today, which usually means that she's not working the later evening shows, but we'll see.

 

EDIT: Marion continues at 5pm. I'm thinking she'll also do the 6pm, and Allison will probably do the 10pm solo.

He's back at work today.

Ugh every time I see Ari Melber I change the channel. Male version of Rachel Maddow. He does have good name recognition however, being a frequent prime time fill in for Rachel and Lawrence.

At least they didn't give it to Steve. I can stomach Ari much more than him.

Welp, that might explain why Lauren abruptly left NBC5.

Lauren got a raw deal from WMAQ. She was seen as one of their 'future stars,' but when it became clear that she wasn't going to get a weekday spot anytime soon (if ever), she moved on. It seems like no one wants to work weekends at WMAQ nor do they want to 'wait their turn.' Patience is not a virtue for them.

I still think when Jerry retires, that there should be a 3-way position change. It's risky, but the station has proven many times over that they can plug in anyone just about anywhere. Phil takes Jerry's shift, Tracy to weekend evenings, and Larry to mornings. Tracy's would seem like a demotion to some, but it would get her off the 2am wake-up call, give her some family time during the week, just as her girls are starting to get a little older, and it would open her up to getting some weeknight airtime.

 

Just a thought.

Makes sense. Didn't she and Mike Caplan switch roles early on in their careers @ WLS? I could swear that she did weekend nights and Caplan worked weekday AM, but I could be wrong.

It certainly appears that Diane's stock is dropping. Yes, she's on vacation, but it seems that Byrne will be permanent enough that she won't be needed to fill in anymore, in addition to her heavily reduced fill-in role alongside Stacey on the weekends.

 

Also, it might be important to address the rumor put forth by CRM, that Roz is possibly leaning toward/being forced into retirement. We just might be seeing a lot more of Kristin very soon.

Roz is closing in on 30 yrs @ WLS, so it's not surprising they are looking for someone new to take her place. Could Tracy be next??

WMAQ really seems to like the "budget" method of having their weekday crew comprised of people who also work the weekend. They kept Dick on the Monday-Wednesday 4pm show for eons, and now they're presumably going to do the same with the 11am show with Alicia and Kalee.

The 4/4:30P was to be split between Dick and Lauren, but at some point, they decided to just hand it all over to Dick (unofficially of course..), leaving Lauren to solo anchor weekends (which likely played a part in her deciding to leave WMAQ). When Kim left the weekend morning shift, Susan, Michelle, Lauren P. and Emily were expected to fill in until a replacement was named. Emily went on maternity leave and was never given the chance to fill-in once she came back. In fact, I don't think they gave her the chance to work with Anthony before she even went on maternity leave. I say this to say that their indecisiveness, for whatever reason, does more harm than good oftentimes.

Usually when a position like that is filled it means the money,beni's , etc are all ready to be a real fulltime employee, filling that job"classification".

 

Any and all work assignments, positions, duties or anchor pairings are all up to management UNLESS it's been worked out in a contract...arranged by his agent...who gets up to 15% (depending on the state) of the annual pay of said reporter. It's an old trick to delay hiring to keep the news budget numbers looking good. Even better to delay when the job involves a member of the "bargaining unit"...ie: The Union.

 

It's not like there is a shortage of qualified people out there...it's just a nice way to kiss the GM's ass by keeping those budget numbers within the yearly budget projections.

While I get your point, they are not really hurting for money at WMAQ. The amount of net loses (4 anchor/reporters, 1 weather anchor, 2 sports anchors, 1 investigative reporter) in recent years has outweigh the net gains (adding additional reporters mainly). Point is, it shouldn't take months/years to fill spots. Either promote from within (which they have done to a very, very, very small degree) or hire from the outside. I feel for Dick Johnson, who has been in this market for 30+ yrs (11 at WMAQ) and a consummate professional throughout, but they can't seem to be bothered to give him the 4/4:30P job much less a week off since like January. Just make a decision!!

Since the news anchor/reporter position @ WMAQ is no longer listed, does this mean the new guy will take Dick's spot weekend nights (anchoring with Michelle) and Dick is (by default, unofficially) the new 4P weekday anchor? Does this also mean they plan to leave Christian and Susan paired together on the weekend AM shift?

I can't for the life of me understand why they have such a tough time making decisions.

I wonder if Rick's done now or what...

Rick was on at Noon on Tuesday, so I don't think his time is up just yet.

Ana seems to be the clear #2 female for the morning news now that Erin is an evening reporter.

I hope not. She seems like a nice person, but her voice is like nails on a chalkboard.

I'm not sure what the solution should be at this point, but it's clear that what they've tried over the years has not, and will not work.

They need a new GM and ND for starters. It's time for some fresh faces behind the scenes to create a new vision for the station.

No, that was never a thing.

If I remember correctly, during Byron's 1st stint at WMAQ, both he and Brant shared the 4/4:30, as noted in their bios. This time around, that didn't happen and the bios were never corrected.

Good question. Has Dick taken any days off since Rob went on leave?

No I don't believe so.