Mrknowitall526

Will Butler is filling in for Jaciel at noon today - not sure if he was on in the morning or not. I think he is okay, but could be better ... he doesn't seem to speak with a "flow" but rather you can tell he is reading one word at time...if that makes any sense!

 

Have you guys notice that there's a new reporter in the fray?

Her name is Trish Hartman. She previously worked at WJCL/WTGS, WLVT, WNEP and WFMZ.

She's also Update Anchor for The Intelligencer.

I'm not sure if she's a freelancer or an official reporter yet...but She's really good.

 

I saw her do a report last night at 11 pm. Didn't know she worked at WFMZ - I don't really recall that. But they get so many transient reporters sometimes it's hard to keep track of.

 

Chris Sowers has re-signed with WPVI. He's the weekend morning meteorologist.

 

He's already the weekend morning meteorologist!

 

I thought you meant "resigned" not re-signing as in renewing!

This article was in my local newspaper today (even though it apparently was written June 1st?!):

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-abcs-world-news-tonight-became-a-ratings-winner/2015/06/01/e88ea494-04af-11e5-a428-c984eb077d4e_story.html

 

I think I saw Jamie Stover anchoring with Jaciel a few of those days. I did not see her this morning, though.

 

Oh, good for her! I missed that

Only in Allentown does an anchor have to do a 4-hour morning show solo for 5 days. Eve has been off since last Wednesday and Jaciel has gone solo from 5-9AM!

 

Lisa Thomas-Laury has just revealed that she has been off the air for the past several months undergoing a second bone marrow transplant.

https://www.facebook.com/6abcLisaThomasLaury?fref=photo

 

When she made her second return from her illness in 2006, she became the primary backup up at 5pm, for Jim Gardner at 6/11pm, and for Rob Jennings on the weekends. I was disappointed to less of her on the air in recent times, but I guess that's because of her health situation. Wishing her the very best!

 

I just saw that yesterday, too! Just watched a video of her son shaving her head. Apparently she (they) saved bone marrow from her first transplant and are giving it to her again.

 

I actually hadn't noticed her absence, but I've been busy lately and haven't gotten to watch that often.

I still haven't really warmed up to Sharrie a whole lot. When she talks she places emphasis on words in a strange way ... I can't quite explain it.

 

Whoever said that would be a long day for Monica ... she's been doing a lot of special reports at 11 pm lately, so maybe she wouldn't be that opposed to it? But her doing 4, 5, and 10 is a lot.

 

Sarah is one of their strongest reporters, for both serious and light-hearted stories ... but she's a great anchor, too!

 

As for Nydia, anchoring every day would probably take away from her doing consumer stories.

 

Speaking of consumer/investigative stories, you would think Wendy Saltzmann would do a lot more of those? Or are they really that time-consuming?

 

Rob & Wendy filled in for Jim & Melanie today at 4pm.

 

They did a couple of days ago, too. Wendy was off yesterday.

 

Erin O'Hearn for the 4 o'clock slot!

 

Interesting. Her kids must have gotten old enough that she has finally decided to "come back" more fully.

 

Sharrie was in for Monica at 5.

Cecily Tynan posted the following picture to her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/6abcCecilyTynan/photos/pcb.10155651291410094/10155651274840094/?type=1&theater

 

Gets that's the closest we'll get to seeing ratings.

 

If you don't feel like clicking, A25-54 share for 11pm news in Philly: 6 - 49%, 10 - 28%, 3 - 23%

 

I haven't seen them use it at all since they made such a fuss about it.

 

Same! In fact I forgot it existed!

 

Sad to see her go but hope it goes well anyway! Shirleen had the potential to be a good anchor here in Philly.

 

As for her replacement, first name is definitely Sharrie Williams. Keep in mind though that 6 has a 4, 5, and 10 PM newscasts where I imagine Sharrie fills in regularly whenever the anchors for those newscasts (Rick, Monica, Brian, and Shirleen) are either out, on assignment, or subbing for Jim.

 

She doesn't always fill in for them, though. It's really bizarre. I think I can recall times when she still just did reports and it was, like, Monica & Brian or Rick & Shirleen. Maybe something to do with Brian's & Shirleen's contracts?

 

I wish Sarah Bloomquist would fill in more often on the 5 pm, but she is really a great reporter as well, and I think they would really miss her reports. She's one of the few reporters I can recall that makes such an easy transition between anchoring & reporting. Matt O'Donnell obviously also was an exception! David Henry used to be a substitute anchor but I haven't seen him in a chair in probably at least a decade.

 

Here is her message on Facebook:

Leaving one extremely amazing and respected station for another.

I wish her all the very best.

 

I wonder if Sharrie Williams will take over the 4 pm slot with Brian Taff? She still really doesn't seem to have a definite purpose.

 

I don't watch the 4pm very often or the 10pm on PHL17, so I don't have much of an opinion, aside from the time I saw her in a breaking news situation and she wasn't the best ... but that is hard to do on the fly and a skill that comes with time.

Monica Malpass has been reporting at 11 pm a lot lately - wonder why the sudden change?

A few weeks ago they debuted "Drone 6" on the news...but I haven't seen it used for anything yet.

I've had some time off this week, and find it really irritating that at least 3 times this week they have aired the exact same packaged report on a story that aired at 10 pm the night before, at noon the next day. They must feel that their respective audiences are too mutually exclusive to notice/care.

The owners are very religious (name is "Marantha Broadcasting Company" which if you don't know is a rough translation of "Come, O Lord") so I bet that might dictate some of what they air. On the weekends they definitely air a lot of religious shows.

 

At 8 PM every night they show Dr. Phil, and 9 PM Steve Harvey. But the Dr. Phil episode they air at 8 PM is from the previous day, almost like it's a 2nd run?? Possibly because a Philly station also airs Dr. Phil? And this week's Steve Harvey episodes (just checked) are from 2 weeks ago. Odd.

 

I often thought it would be a neat idea for them to branch out into original, local programming - like LOCAL dramas or comedies, starring local people, about local things. I think it would be interesting, especially since there are so many artsy-type programs (at Muhlenburg College or Moravian College, for instance). Probably expensive though.

Just what 69 needs is MORE judge and court shows! They show at least 4 episodes of Judge Judy in a day.

Was the verdict really a surprise to anyone? George was probably gone for the day already, and David hadn't arrived yet? It wasn't a "developing" story that would require updates, so maybe Dan was the first person who was available?

 

The late news last night suffered quite a bit of technical snafus- the big curved in-wall monitors kept going to partial static, so they had to bring in a plasma screen on wheels for side shots, which Mark then delivered his forecast on after the sports (apparently the chroma-key was down too); the sport report had Dave looking at his script a lot, so there may have been prompter issues as well. Chandi apologized for the snafus, but didn't specify a cause of all the glitches.

 

I remember one time they had some BIG technical issues for the 10 pm news and just re-broadcast the 6 pm show with a crawl at the bottom stating why!

 

I've also noticed two things: one, there's now one of those overhead cameras on a track in the South Mountain set, like WABC, and the Traffic Center still has wall decor matching the graphics from 2005-ish, when the set debuted; you'd think they would've changed that by now.

 

I'm waiting for the time when the traffic report is done in front of the green screen and not the way it is now. The traffic reports they have a really high quality and interactive, I love the traffic flow maps and the drive times - which actually update in real time.

The voiceover for the noon show now says "69 News at Noon, live from the PPL Center"

That is odd - why have anyone at all fill in for Walter and not just Sarah??

 

How do you know it's not, because it sure looks like it to me. It's plastered all over the website (http://www.discoverphl.com/). If it isn't, there is some major trademark issues.

 

Yeah, it's definitely that, just in a different color.