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Stefan must be high up with management, because Dick filled in at 4:30 today (as was planned when Elgas jumped ship), but Holt was on at 5 and 6, and probably 10.

I know Allison Rosati was on with Stefan at 10.

Yes they can. It's the media business. Veterans and legends get screwed all the time.

Yeah, that's pretty regular, though I frequently forget about it. WLS and WMAQ only do prerecorded teases.

The 5 o'clock news crashed and burned during the A-block this evening. First, the flipper on the bug started malfunctioning, with nothing but a blank space except during the website cycle. John Garcia's live shot ended badly, with the video cutting to colored bars after they left him on the screen too long. At that point, all on-screen graphics bit the dust, and it remained that way for the remaining 5-7 minutes til the break. Everything went smoothly, though, as even the transition to break included the bumper music, so all was not lost. Coming back from the talent rejoin, everything but the OTS worked, but the operational bug was quickly replaced with the time/temp-less model. As of the C-block, EVERYTHING is back to normal.

Okay, seriously, the bi-weekly Giangreco radio appearance is now the best half-hour of radio since Ron Magers on Roe Conn's show ended. "Ron, Jerry and I are buds. We golf, watch the Super Bowl, go on vacations. Three guys in the hot tub, clogging up the drain. Jerry's like a Border Collie." And then Mark took his shirt off on the radio show...in their street-front studio next to ABC 7. He also talked about the time he needed 500 stitches in his back, having drunk football players on the air, and how Carol Marin used to get really pissed off at him at NBC 5.

It's filmed here and/or takes place here. That likely has something to do with it.

There isn't a sports report in the 4 o'clock half hour, only once around 4:50.

"I'm doing the 6, the 7, and the 10 after already doing the 4, 4:30, and 5. [...] I think we have a 9 o'clock on MeToo, now, too." -Mark Giangreco

Man, I hope you're right. Remember how we all thought there were dead ends for Cheryl Scott, and then seasoned veterans at ABC 7 got superseded and one got the boot.

Even if it is a little odd, I guess it makes some sense. Cheryl already works at 4, 5, and 7, and it only makes sense that the marquee broadcast would use the "next man up" mentality (figure of speech, so sue me), leaving only the 6 o'clock show with a vacancy. If Jerry hadn't handed over the 5, I'd bet Phil would do that, too. More importantly, this shows me that Cheryl might not inherit everything when Taft hangs it up, and even more shuffling might be done when that time comes.

Funny that we should be having this conversation. Phil was off this morning, and announced online that he'll be back tonight, and with Jerry off this week, he fill in at 6 Monday through Wednesday. I'd assume Cheryl will take everything else.

I don't know, but Rich King has been doing Instant Replay most weeks over the last several months. Heck, even when Dan was just at Spring Training, he didn't host, even after doing so in previous years.

After 13 years, 4:30PM anchor Rob Elgas' last day on the air is going to be March 13th. He's leaving for on his own, but his next career move is not yet known. Weekend anchors Dick Johnson and Lauren Jiggetts will fill his chair alongside Marion Brooks until a replacement is announced. http://www.robertfeder.com/2015/03/06/rob-elgas-hauls-anchor-from-nbc-5/

No, she came back tonight.

She hadn't been off since before sweeps, possibly even before the WCIU-cast debuted, so a few days off is less than surprising. I am a little surprised that Jerry's doing all 5 broadcasts, though. I wonder if he'd be willing to maintain that for an entire week, versus just a few days.

One thing, especially among the ABC stations, since they maintain a mostly individual look, I do appreciate is WPVI's color scheme. They've been using the blue, red, and yellow/gold motif for several packages, and I hope they'd keep that. Same thing with WABC and their use of red. Heck, I was initially hesitant when WLS dumped all purple and most gold accents upon their rebrand a year and a half ago.

To be fair, the graphics were very nice fresh out of the box, but the new elements and additions over the years have made most of it very clunky and overbearing.

At this point, they really need to blow up the whole package and start fresh.

Joan was on weekends at WLS until '85 when she moved to the 5pm desk with John Drury. She left 4 or 5 years later (being replaced both times by Diann Burns), and took on a similar early evening role at WMAQ.

Also on Instagram and Twitter. And here's the cleaned up link... https://www.facebook.com/CScottWX/posts/10153154339674626

Apparently Sharpie has hired an attorney to try and calm these rumors that, without confirmation, are just rumors and nothing more. If this really starts to get out of control and/or the rumors are true, then that's a bridge that the Blackhawks and ABC 7 (separately) will have to be prepared to cross. ------------------------------------------------------ Anyway, I was surprised to see Terrell anchoring for Ben and Stacey this morning. I wouldn't think they'd grab someone from the weekdays to fill a weekend morning shift, but rather grab a Garcia, Gallardo, Holmes, or a Babich to pinch hit.

The declaration PROBABLY could have been worded better. Probably.

The back-up plan is a little muddy for the 7 o'clock show, from what I've noticed. The only constant is that Alan fills in for Hosea, and seemingly vice versa at 4. It seems to me that when Linda is off, Kathy will do the 4 and Cheryl will do the 7, but Stacey will randomly pop up from time to time. Cheryl and Linda were off last Friday, so Baca did both shows. When she anchored at 7 another time last week was when Linda left halfway through the 4 o'clock show and Cheryl checked in early. Another scenario I've noticed a few times is Karen doing the 4 and 7 when Linda and Kathy are off. Nothing's really consistent. I'm still curious to see how this is going to shape up when it's a holiday and if a single anchor team will do all five shows, what will it take for Ron and Kathy to show up at 7, and will Phil (or Tracy, who knows) come in to fill in for Cheryl so Jerry doesn't have to pull and "all-nighter"?

I just put this together, if anyone was curious...