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Feder maintains that he will. http://www.robertfeder.com/2017/01/04/ben-bradley-joins-wgn-investigative-reporter/

When did that happen?

The biggest problem with ABC's production is that Seacrest isn't the show's biggest problem. At best, he's consistent and inoffensive, at worst, he's bland and boring. Whether or not I watch that particular program really doesn't depend on him, as much is it's what they surround him with for co-hosts and entertainment. That's where the show consistently disappoints, especially this year.

Your edit is the correct answer, just for a second opinion.

No, at one point after midnight she donned a beekeeper-like suit to ward off his advances, and then they settled for a friendly kiss and a selfie. As for the ratings, ABC 7 and NBC 5's combined ratings were down from last year, but initial curiosity last year wasn't enough for "Chi-Town Rising" to stay on top, with "Countdown Chicago" returning to first place. WLS scored a 12.7 (31 share) at the stroke of midnight to WMAQ's 9.7 (25 share). ABC 7 was also on top for the total broadcast, doubling NBC 5's 6.0 with a 12.1, and also claiming victory in the demos. Feder: http://www.robertfeder.com/2017/01/01/abc-7-rings-new-year-back-top/

Bingo. Merge the two, and boom- you're back to having two investigative reporters, without having to hire anybody.

Heck, I had always thought the "rings" debuted in '98. Looking back, it's kind of hilarious how often they changed graphics in the 90's, knowing later on they'd let a package go mostly untouched for more than 8 years.

I dunno. As much crap as they've put out, this seems fairly harmless, especially since it's a weekend morning and a holiday. I'm more surprised that they gave him so much time.

Two-thirds of WLS 6pm newscast, January 1999. With how rare late-90's stuff is from the station, it's a shame the open is incomplete:

Coleman left WLS around 1979/80 on bad terms, having been phased off of each newscast over the previous years. He was succeeded by Steve Deshler, who then left for a year to go to CBS. Some schlub moved to #1, and then I think pretty much left when Steve came back. Taft came aboard as #2 in '84 when the 1-hour 4:30 news was expanded and broken into the separate 4 and 5. As for Coleman, while he did start at WMAQ in 1984, he had been off doing the Weather Channel (and I think another stop or two, I think), so it wasn't really a trade or direct switch. At that point, Coleman had been out of town for almost half a decade.

Last year the poinsettias were across the whole deskfront, but they cut back this year so the logo isn't blocked. As for the old set, I can't recall a year where they didn't decorate, but they spent more some years for than others. Early in the old set's run they also put garland on the edge of the desk, covering the gold lit area.

Hey, if you're gonna have a few flubs, might as well let all the shit hit the fan and totally go down in flames.

No real surprise, but Tahman Bradley officially gets the weekend anchor spot. He also becomes a/the political reporter. http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/news/8649-wgn-tv-names-tahman-bradley-as-weekend-evening-news-anchor-political-reporter

While NBC 5 debuted their new school closing ticker last night, ABC 7 rolled out their updated ticker this morning. The dark blue and gold are out, replaced by another white-washed look with the same layout as before.

You beat me to it. Such a clean package made to look like garbage when you let the affiliate take creative liberties. Two main gripes... All that text squished into that small black space? There's enough room below the single line that they could've added a second line. As much as they experimented with that silly info bar on the top of the screen at launch, why was it not designed to accommodate this type of info. It would seem like a perfect use for it. (2 and a half) Related to #2, it's 2016, figure out a way to not squish the main video. Shrink it or something, but disproportionately condensing it looks like crap.

Not gonna lie, it crossed my mind. It would certainly fit the trend, but a 5-day a week job in television might get in the way of his podcast. But really, he left channel 5 because he was blocked from moving up. At 7, he'd replace a guy that left the same timeslot for the exact same reason, so his hiring would be a surprise. (This whole ramble was me talking myself out of this possibility.)

Follow-Up: For you-know-whats and giggles, I decided to check and see how another year adds up (aka, I randomly stumbled upon this post). I listed last year's final results, in addition to 2016's. 2015: WLS- 8.1, WMAQ- 6.7, WBBM- 3.0, WGN- 2.7, Combined- 20.5 / 34.7 Share 2016: WLS- 6.6, WMAQ- 5.3, WBBM- 2.5, WGN- 2.2, Combined- 16.6 / 28.0 Share How fall did they fall? WLS- 1.5 (-19.5%), WMAQ- 1.4 (-20.9%), WBBM- 0.5 (-16.7%), WGN- 0.5 (-19.5%) Interestingly, the losses were essentially proportionate, so no one station really suffered more than another, percentage-wise. I'll maintain that the Cubs likely had an affect during the first week, but NOW they all can definitely look with worrying eyes at the numbers, especially if said team strings a few good years together. For what it's worth, simple math says only about 8,000 more households were tuned in overall this year in that time slot compared to last year.

With Liz Nagy's official hiring, the general assignment reporter job listing was taken down from the station's website, but the bosses are apparently not done. While she wasn't quickly named successor, I thought Diane Pathieu was all but a sure thing to succeed Ben Bradley, especially considering ABC supposedly set a hiring freeze at the O&O's. I was wrong... http://abc7chicago.com/careers/job-weekend-morning-anchor---general-assignment-reporter/1647834/

I misunderstood the message before. It was Phil who couldn't come in tonight, so they traded shifts. Talk about odd shifts, though, Karen Jordan will be on the air for an 8th day in a row tomorrow, her 6th straight weekday in for Tanja, while still doing the 5 but not the 10 this weekend. Definitely putting in the hours before maternity leave.

And Larry's doing midday work today. He might've had this morning as a scheduled off day, and came in when he could. They made it seem like he'll be in with Phil through the evening.

Yeah, they should just stick with the area map like the pic I posted for warnings and radar. That close-up should only be for small supercell storms.

They redid the in-news weather ticker. It's not as nice as the last one, but at least they don't add the social media line underneath like in the mornings.

Are you suggesting that it's okay to only save one buck when you could possibly save two? Scripps would fire you for such an atrocious statement.

No, that's pretty bad.

Cheaters, of course.