Jase

As much as WMAQ may have liked Holt, I guarantee you that he would have (at some point) left for either New York or LA. The opportunity came and he left (without much hesitation it would seem). WMAQ is a stepping stone type of station really. That may change the day they become #1 outright, but that's how I (and maybe others) see them.

Elgas wanted to be a network correspondent (I believe), but when that fell through, he signed with WLS. I'm not sure he's willing to wait some 15 years to succeed Alan (I could be wrong). I get the feeling that Alan may want to shoot for 50 years at WLS. Who wouldn't want to reach such a milestone? Had Elgas stayed at WMAQ, he probably would have succeeded Rob within 6-8 years. Stafford doesn't seem like he wants the job forever. I could be wrong here too. I forgot that Ravi is like 51 or something, so his window to be #1 somewhere may be closing, but again, he deserves be #2. Nothing against Elgas, but give the job to Ravi WLS.

I think the 4P has to go to Ravi. He put in his time and deserves the promotion. Once Linda retires, her spot should go to Karen. Like I have mentioned before, at some point, these two have to move up or WLS could lose them both.

Apparently, someone hasn't been keeping the bios up to date/fully accurate. Byron's bio lists him as the meteorologist for the 11A and 4:30P newscasts. Now before he left in the early '00s, he did appear on two newscasts, but I think the times were different back then (Noon/4:30P). Also, Brant's bio says he is the meteorologist for the 4P, 5P, 6P and 10P newscasts. Nevertheless, it's likely that Byron will in fact pick up the 4P in August.

I don't recall, but in all likelihood, she probably has filled in at least once (or more) before given she's been there since the 80s. Even though she plans on cutting back, she may fill in at 5P more often. An extra 30 mins. now and then wouldn't be asking too much.

Piacente is going to have his hands full when he starts next week. I could see him making this new newscast his pet project (which wouldn't be a bad idea). They really are going to have to offer up something drastically different to draw viewers in. Best of luck to them...

Schneider isn't as bad as when he first started. Given time, he'll hopefully get better. Same can be said of Nicole.

I think you're only missing one.. Amy Stone (WMAQ).

Jill Carlson and Kerry Sayers are pretty good imo. I guess it would depend on what you want/look for in a sportscaster. If someone can adequately articulate scores, plays, nuances/history of sports, pronounce names, etc..., then you're all good in my book.

There's also rumors out there that Ron won't retire (he's in the final year/months of his contract) and is currently in the mist of contract negotiations. That said, we will have a very interesting summer ahead of us it seems.

The posting for the morning/midday shift went up on 3/7. There's a general news anchor/reporter position that was posted yesterday, 3/23.

They are stuck at the moment. For some unknown reason, they thought viewers would be more welcoming to Scott, but that plan has backfired greatly and will only get worse once Jerry leaves. Moving Larry or anyone else in front of her would mean they are admitting a mistake, which they won't do EVER. Trust me, if she were to get/accept an offer somewhere else, they would happily let her go like WMAQ did.

I doubt these guys are full-time employees, so whatever associated cost there is, it wouldn't outweigh the benefit of having them on staff in the eyes of the station's owner imo. Plus, if Tribune Media were to sell any stations, WGN likely wouldn't be one of them. In regards to the promo, it's interesting to know who they have on their weather support staff, but it's doubtful the average viewer cares one way or another.

I'm thinking it's Tracy. Phil could be pushed out at some point too, but I'm guessing it will happen next year. If I was Jerry, I would say f this and retire. Why bother staying when it's clear they don't want you around.

But even with an automated system, there is a human being involved in prompting the actions that occur. What appears to be happening is that whomever is running the system isn't checking things along the way. They just say the hell with it and just keep pushing things through/pressing the button. Automation aside, there still some idiot in the graphics dept. that keeps making these kind of mistakes. I'm just surprised no one higher up the ladder hasn't taken more preventive action to stop these mistakes from occurring.

Something tells me there's something bigger going on here. This 'so-called' error and the Blackhawks one (instead of 'Blackhawks Win'..graphic read.. 'Blacks Win') from last year seem intensional. It's as if some person (or people) want to embarrass the station for some reason. I could be wrong, but something seems a little too fishy to me.

Everyone tends to go crazy when it comes to weather. However, WLS probably shouldn't have went with this backdrop for the simple fact that it was distracting. Giangreco was wrong in his rebuttal saying that another station would have done the same thing. The fact is, they (WMAQ or WFLD) didn't. Sometimes you have to own your mistakes, which this clearly was.

I think it all depends on what Anthony wants to do. I imagine that M-F, 4A-7A shift can get rough after awhile, so he may want to stay where he is (for now). With the weekday AM shift, 11A and 4:30P spots now open, hopefully WMAQ will stop dragging its feet and fill those positions.

I could see this.... 4: Ravi & Karen 5: Alan & Cheryl 6: Rob & Kathy 7: Hosea & Linda 10: Alan & Kathy I don't think they can keep both Ravi and Karen on weekends indefinitely without running the risk of losing one of them in the next 5 years. The 4:30P male anchor spot @ WMAQ is still open (has been for nearly a year) and I'm sure they would jump at the chance to steal Ravi away from WLS. I could easily see Linda being pushed toward retirement this year, so there's no reason to keep her at 4.

I caught a good bit of it on Saturday. It was just your standard weekend morning newscast. The biggest disappointment was the lack of promotion. They could have something here with proper promotion and resources, but they seem to not care whether the newscast succeeds or fails. It's going to be an uphill challenge for them to gain/keep viewers.

They unofficially announced that Strehl is fronting 'Good Day Chicago: Weekend Edition' which starts this Saturday. Not sure who (if anyone at all) will be joining him. I'm guessing that they could have Natalie and George working a Tues.-Sat. or Sun.-Thurs. shift in addition to this new news/weather/social media anchor serving as the third 'co-host' during the week (which is how things are set up from 7A-10A with Corey, Darlene and Richard). It's unclear as to why this new person would serve as a primary sub for Bill @ Noon/Nine unless everyone else is off, sick, etc... Who knows?

This is likely one of the many blank weather graphics templates that they (and every other station) have that allows someone to type/insert text. She (or someone else) probably was in a rush and this simply slipped past them. The graphic in question isn't your standard 7 day, Satellite/Radar, etc... one that requires little to no editing, so stuff like this happens.

Not sure it's fair to compare a locally-produced show to those shown on ABC, FOX, etc... They are nowhere near the same level resource-wise, etc... Honestly, they are years away from being a network level (worthy) broadcast and I think they are OK with that for now.

He was standing and she was sitting. He angrily whipped it off so fast that it nearly hit her in the face/head. Or so it appeared from my angle. He could have been having an off night, but there is clearly some tension between the two.

There is still some level of coldness between Cheryl and the rest of the 10P crew. A couple of weeks back, she was trying to make small talk (during the last break) & Ron wasn't having it. He didn't say a word or look in her direction (which is normal). Kathy tried, but wasn't really feeling it. Mark was on his phone. Ron nearly hit her when he was taking out his ifb after the newscast. That was hilarious!! In comparison, when Jerry is there, things are different. Again, during the last break, he, Ron and Kathy are talking, smiling and whatnot (Mark is again on his phone). With that said, everyone is professional on camera, but it's a different story off camera that only a few see, but you never hear about.