Jase

I believe that it was WFLD needed, hire a Chicago veteran to "surge" its news operation. However that could backfire because Bob Sirott and Walter Jacobson didn't help the ratings there.

Firing people left and right every other month, constantly changing formats/news presentation and a hosts of other things is what hurt WFLD and not Bob and Walter per se. Bob's first stint at WFLD could be considered somewhat successful, but his ego got the best of him then (and always has). Walter had a pretty decent run too (12-14 yrs.?), but honesty, anchoring was never his strong point.

They are in dire need of more experienced people and the hiring of Perez is hopefully just the beginning of building a more solid team of anchors/reporters. And if one day she somehow ends up taking over Dawn's spot, then so be it. I doubt anyone would be up in arms over that scenario.

At some point, the suits will have to look at the Mattere/Suppelsa pairing. Maybe they should try and poach Karen Jordan from 7, and have her replace Micah.

I wouldn't sound the alarms just yet. There are a few things that have worked in WFLD's favor...

1. Stability. No on-air people have been fired or quit since the new ND started in April. He has simply found ways to better utilize the people he has which seems to be working.

2. Addition of the 5P newscast. I think this has rejuvenated morale and set them up to try harder to improve the product overall (whether it's at 5P, 9P, etc..).

3. Social media. They have really been pushing Facebook (probably harder than WMAQ pushes their app every 10 secs per newscast). Dawn live chats during the 9P, that Jake Hamilton kid is popular and the Fresco News app seems to be catching on.

One would imagine trying to produce 11 1\2 hrs of news daily (M-F) that's informative, engaging and original is a taxing endeavor and my guess is that it's starting to catch up to WGN.

Does anybody think they might stick with Jackie solo until she retires, and then they'd replace her with one or two other anchors? In my opinion, this would be a dangerous move, since they're lacking in ratings already; dropping down to a solo anchor format just seems to me like conceding to smaller viewership numbers and accepting that the operation is getting smaller and that nobody's really watching.

They could go the solo anchor route if they wanted to. WMAQ did and WFLD currently does (in the morning and at night). In both cases however it was/is due to budgetary constraints. As far as ratings on the weekends, WGN and WFLD have never really been too far apart from each other. If I'm not mistaken, things have always been very competitive between the two stations (particularly when it was Bob and Jackie on WGN vs. Byron and Nancy on WFLD).

Promotions...

 

Katie Kim to Investigative Reporter

Regina Waldroup to full time General Assignment Reporter

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/wmaq-promotes-2/177918

Solid moves. I thought Regina was already full-time.

Watched it over the weekend. They're in the studio now instead of the newsroom. Bionce Foxx is doing the traffic duties from (what I presume is) the CLTV traffic area. No humor bits, but I'm hoping they start doing those on the weekends as well.

 

Chemistry needs a bit of work. I am guessing that Sean has been used to anchoring that morning show solo, it would explain why at times it seemed that Sean forgot that Tonya was there and was talking only to Mike. On Sunday though, Sean and Tonya were starting to banter. Hoping these two hit it off, and become a solid C-team behind Dan/Lourdes (B) and Larry/Robin (A).

No need to have humor bits and the like. They should work on chemistry and allow things to come naturally first. Honestly, I would rather they do their own thing and not attempt to copy the weekday show in any way. Their main competition is GDC Weekends, so they really don't have to do much to beat them.

I'm stunned, though, that Elgas is already getting the same treatment at ABC that he got at NBC. On Monday and Tuesday nights when Alan is off, Rob will do all 4 broadcasts on the mothership. When Wednesday rolls around, Ravi will do the 5 and the flagship 10, with Rob continuing in his field reporting/Burton-backup contributor role (really, they might as well formally add him to the 10 o'clock line-up). That's exactly what happened to him at WMAQ when Dick Johnson would still get top priority behind Stafford. Perhaps it's a sweet incentive they gave Ravi for getting passed over, but I'm still surprised.

Elgas should have just stayed at WMAQ. If he really wanted to be a network correspondent some day, there was (is) no better place to be. Had he just put out feelers (or whatever) instead of quitting, NBC News, etc.. probably would have plucked him up at some point.

Instead, it appears he is in the same boat now that he was at WMAQ. And when NBC News came a calling for a national correspondent, Tammy Leitner got the job. Of course, she could have very well been picked regardless of if Elgas was still at WMAQ, but who knows what might have happened...

Looks like a six-person weather team is not enough for good ole' WMAQ. This was posted yesterday..

https://sjobs.brassring.com/TGWEbHost/jobdetails.aspx?partnerid=25354&siteid=5108&jobid=344394

I'm guessing someone is retiring/leaving in the next couple of weeks/months maybe.

Ever heard of a designated, in-depth, investigative sports reporter at a local station? Me, neither. Peggy Kusinski is shifting roles.

 

http://www.robertfeder.com/2016/08/22/sportscaster-peggy-kusinski-starting-new-chapter-for-nbc-5/

Now it's clear why they hired the 'new guy'. I'm sure the daily grind and constant traveling takes a toll after awhile. PK deserves a break and lucky for her, they found a way to keep her on board even though this new position is completely pointless/unnecessary.

I bet they wish they wouldn't have let all of those extra Cubs games go to WLS.

They didn't really have a choice. Keep in mind that it has only been a couple of years since Tribune (Media) emerged from bankruptcy, so they don't have a ton of money. Every decision they make has to be about increasing stock value and living within their means. Even though they can now air more sports programming uninterrupted, it's unclear whether they will 'go beyond' their current package(s) once renewal time comes around.

So they're getting rid of the 6am hour?

[MEDIA=twitter]766750450712322049[/MEDIA]

Using the word 'expanding' would suggest they're adding on to and not taking away the 6A hr. I guess we shall see once official word come down. Going head-to-head with Good Day makes sense, but I'm not sure how competitive either newscast will be. Trying to replicate the success of the weekday WGN morning show to the weekends is easier said than done.

Congrats to Bob on his amazing career at WGN. Hard to believe him and Jackie have been paired together for over 20 years. Had Roseanne Tellez stayed on weekends (and at WGN), her and Bob would have been pushing closer to/at 25 years together (if I remember correctly). And had WFLD not pushed Bryon Harlen and Nancy Pender out the door, they would have celebrated 20 yrs. together next year.

I can't say who should succeed Bob, but those are some big shoes to fill no doubt. Hopefully they just add a hr. to the weekend morning newscast (5-7A) and leave it at that. No need to go crazy.

WBBM has 2 male and 2 females Steve,Ed,Megan,Mary Kay

WFLD has 3 males now1 that just started this year and 1 female Bill Mark Mike(just started this year) and Tammie

Male 'News' Anchors:

WMAQ- Rob, Dick and Alex

WBBM- Rob, Jim and Lionel

WFLD- Jeff, Scott and Corey

Him Evan and a Lou?

We already know Lou is #1, but it's not clear however who is #2. Will George anchor @ Noon & report for 5P & 9P? Will he take over Friday/Saturday anchoring duties from Evan? Does Evan then focus almost exclusively on reporting? It's been quite some time since they have had 3 full-time sportscasters, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

I really do hope that the male anchor arrangement isn't the longterm plan, though. It would be disappointing considering they did actually have a job posting up (still do), unless that is to replace Ponce, knowing he was leaving.

It's difficult to understand their mindset when it comes to hiring. They continue to leave the 4/4:30P spot open, but yet hire another meteorologist and a sports anchor/reporter. ??? As it stands, they have 3 male anchors (which is the same amount that both WFLD & WBBM have). To me, that doesn't seem like the best boat to be in when you're trying to be #1.

Morning Anchor George Smith is moving to sports. Kristin Nicole will replace him on Good Day Chicago.

 

Not totally illogical as Smith was with ESPN when Sammy Sosa was with the Cubs so he might have some connections or something.

 

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/wfld-moves-morning-anchor-to-sports/175943

Good. He wasn't given much to do after 6A aside from reading the headlines at 9A. Hopefully this move works out for him and they don't drop him when his contract is up in 2018. It will be interesting to see how they use him and Evan going forward.

didn't larry give up his anchor chair due to him wanting to stay on the reporting beat more?

I think it may have been a mutual decision between him and management. At one point, he was the weekend anchor, legal analyst and a investigative reporter (with Dane). That's a lot for one person to do effectively.

If Herndon leaves, good for him. His talents will be appreciated elsewhere.

I agree. I don't understand why WFLD never fully utilizes the people (anchors in particular) that they have.

Looks like StormChaser 5 is getting a new friend...

'NBC-owned Television Stations is deploying a fleet of three mobile Doppler weather radar trucks for all of its NBC and Telemundo stations.'

http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/nbc-owned-stations-unveil-stormranger-mobile-radar-trucks/175419

I always thought he grew the beard after he knew he wasn't getting the job. Maybe I'm mistaken...

He was on paternity leave for several weeks and had the beard his first day back. I think most people figured he would get rid out it after awhile (being on TV and such). He looked somewhat disheveled in the WGN interview.

WMAQ's trend of dragging in meteorologists who are normally off continues. It's tag-team coverage with Andy Avalos and Pete Sack on a Saturday night! (Alicia is off tonight.)

They really need to stop this. There's no logical reason to bring in 2 (or 3) meteorologists pretty much any time it rains.

It's bad enough they haul out 'Storm' or (in most cases) 'Sprinkle Chaser 5' every chance they get, but Brant tends to spend too much time talking about their radar being the best there is. Save that crap for the promos please and stay on point.

I don't know. It seems all tongue-in-cheek. He *was* passed over for even younger eye candy. "Burning a bridge" seems a little harsh.

On second thought.. Maybe you're right (about this video being a little tongue-in-cheek). I think he could have just left out the part about 'being passed over' is all.

Is this some type of joke? Not sure why he would openly acknowledge one of the reasons he quit was because he was passed over for a job he was never going to get. Why burn the bridge of possibly returning to WMAQ some day?

I'm just not getting the overall point it seems.

Is there still talk of them ever moving out of that streetside studio, or is that talk dead in the water?

I haven't heard anything, so I would consider the issue/matter dead (for now). Maybe once they reach the 10 yr. mark, they will get a new set.

why would ratings slip if Ron is gone there is Alan who has paid his dues and is a descendant of Rons style's if they did massacre style changes at 190 then i would see ratings slip and 190 did this change as a gradual process regarding jerry and cheryl scott if they did a forced change onto the viewers i would see the ratings slip and pickets outside 190 and jerry is probably gonna retire soon

WLS has been able to hang on to their #1 spot despite the lost of Ron. As previously mentioned (in this thread & in others), WMAQ is thisclose to overtaking them at 10P and is #1 in some key demos over WLS, among others, in nearly every other newscast.

i've said this before why is it that rob goes through co anchors very frequently?

One would assume that management doesn't believe he's the problem which why he has outlasted 4 different co-anchors. They are willing to back him no matter what the reason behind their ratings woes are.