NYNewsCoverage

I'm definitely surprised that the studio is expected to be ready in just a few weeks (I also haven't seen a source confirm this but I'm guessing Mary mentioned it?). Seems like a minor refresh compared to a complete overhaul (for instance WPIX's new studio took nearly 9 months to complete but that involved major construction). Also agree with some others who don't think that this is really necessary, considering WCBS had one of the nicest studios in the NYC market (I'd personally now give WPIX an edge), although the bar is pretty low with WNBC and WABC. WABC's studio is starting to look very dated, but noticed they used a liveshot behind the anchor during the haze episode, and that actually looked better than their normal background. But back to WCBS, I'm guessing this will look like a compromise between KCAL and KYW. I could see the green screen being retired as well in favor of a video wall for weather.

Just found this article from Pagesix, saying Mike Marza is the likely candidate to replace Ken, but would not put much stock into this: https://pagesix.com/2023/05/23/mike-marza-poised-to-replace-fired-anchor-ken-rosato-at-wabc-7/ Either way I do think this will resolve with putting Mike in some weekday slot. Jim Rosenfield would be great in any timeslot. I could see Jim doing one or a few of the evening slots also if they wanted to put David Navarro onto mornings?

Just caught a morning promo saying to wake up to Shirleen Allicott, Sam Champion, and Heather O'Rourke. Not sure if its newly shot or they simply removed Ken from it.

This definitely doesn't seem good for WABC in any way. It is good they took action for Ken, but this is suddenly now giving a lot of attention to Shirleen (again, its NYPost commenters, but it seems like most on the comments are actually defending Ken and blaming Shirleen). I suppose we will see what happens in the coming days and months with arrangements. There's still another longtime morning anchor (and more deserving) that should be in the weekday anchor chair, who's name starts with an M. It would be really cool for Phil Lipof to come back, and reunite with Michelle on weekdays! I feel like that would be quite the strong duo, and viewers have already come to know them. Purely wishcasting, of course.

Just a thought... Mornings and noon: David and Shirleen First at 4pm: Liz and Michelle 5pm: Sade and Michelle 6pm: Bill and Liz 11pm: Bill and Sade Weekend AM: Mike and Toni Yates Weekend PM: Sandra bookman, Joe Torres As much as I love Sandra and Joe, I feel like they are too iconically associated with weekends to promote to weekdays. Then again, Cindy Hsu recently got a weekday slot from weekends.

It's a page six exclusive: https://pagesix.com/2023/05/12/abc-7-anchor-ken-rosato-immediately-fired-over-hot-mic-remark/ I'd imagine this bad comment must've been heard over the air? Definitely not the first time we've seen versions of this in the NY market, but I suppose it was more than just accidental profanity?

For those wondering, Ken's bio has officially been scrapped off the website as of today. So I guess he gets no goodbye? Very sad if true, I suppose we'll see soon enough

Hmmm. I don't have access to this, but wonder who this could be and if its accurate? https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2023/5/10/anchor-is-out-at-the-no-1-station-in-the-no-1-market

I feel like WPIX and WNYW are in a much better place these days with Shirley and Natasha, compared to Tamsen and Dari. We still don't know the full story with Dari ,but I guess they just didn't renew her contract. I feel like its also not too often you see a street reporter get promoted to top anchor (or maybe it is), but in Shirley's case it was very well deserved. I'm glad they didn't entirely get rid of Tamsen, she was just miscast as 10pm anchor, and she'll do fine for the early evening shows. Tamsen moving to nights was one of the last moves of the Bill Carey era, come to think of it.

Yes, Shirley at 10pm is permanent now. I did tune in to see the early evening, and Tamsen is still with Kori for the other dayparts. But aside from promos there is no press release or social media posting on the change. Either way i'd argue there is no responsibility of a news anchor to have a strong social media presence (despite that Tamsen does). Neither Shirley or Kori seem to and that is perfectly okay, as long as they can read the news effectively.

I don't think it is bad for an anchor , after reading a story to go "just horrible" or show empathy for something (for instance) that we all agree is morally wrong; as long as it doesn't go too far beyond that and step into political bounds. Haven't watched in a while but it seems Bill steps into that political sphere he shouldn't be in. And I think we all too well remember the WPIX era where Lionel and Larry Mentde dominated the news. We all knew Larry's past, and after searching Lionel is now a leading q-anon promoter. Point of the story- if you don't want your news reputation to be hurt, don't delve into commentary.

I think others have mentioned, but Joe and Sandra are (and have always been) a great team, almost too good to be regulated to weekends. I'm also not a huge fan of Bill Ritter's delivery, I much prefer a calmer Maurice DuBois type.

David Ushery anchoring live tonight from the parking garage collapse scene.

Maurice DuBois anchoring live tonight from the parking garage collapse scene. I think they also pre-empted the 9pm 'Now' broadcast in favor of local coverage.

Yes

Agreed that John and Kala are probably currently the most underutilized talent at PIX. I find Kala a better anchor than Arrianee; and agreed that John has been moved around to every single slot and he's managed to comply. He must have a lot of patience; that is not quite how you should treat your groundbreaking veteran AM news anchor. And the same with Kaity on weekends. If anything put Kala as weekend anchor and have Kaity where she belongs-at 6pm weeknights! Either way back to real life, the current lineup seems to be 4-5pm :Tamsen and Arrianee (currently Kori since Vanessas on leave) 5/6/6:30: Tamsen and Kori 10pm: Kori and Shirley

There's no confirmation, so please note pure speculation at this point. But there's reason to believe Tamsen is out as 10pm anchor (replaced by Shirley Chan). Thats mainly since Shirley has been anchoring last couple of nights and no longer says 'in for Tamsen' at 10pm but still does at 4/5/6 from what I saw last few days. Either way hopefully this is true- Shirley and Kori are great and bring the program the closest to the Jim and Kaity days, at least in my opinion. Also Shirley oozes professionalism in a way Tamsen never did. Either way if this is true- major step forward for PIX.

Didn't get to watch, but viewers on social media were noting of a pretty big tech failure during last nights 10pm newscast, where apparently they couldn't air any video or still pictures. Most were noting (as expected) Kaity did a great job handling everything.

According to this video, they still used the Enforcer cut as a close:

Appears the new graphics launched at noon today. Lots of changes in NY news as WPIX debuted their look only 3 days ago!

Yes, Chris is permanently on nights for now. Also new is that Justin Walters has joined the AM team as morning sports anchor (similar to Duke Castiglione); making room for the nexstar CEOs son Perry Sook to be main field sports reporter

On another note, I believe Ojinika Obiekwe is out as entertainment reporter (her bio is no longer on the website). I believe Dan and Hazel have been handling entertainment reports. Marysol or Ben would probably be the best replacement?

Had to look back- but it looks like John started weekend AMs in September 2022. And thats true- during his entire PIX run John has anchored the main AM (with Suki, Lynne), 5pm, 6pm, 10pm, early AM , and now weekend AM slot. I must say him and Kirstin work really well together.

Here's a full link to the story: https://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/doug-geed-danielle-campbell-news-12-nt71t5wb With that, Doug and Danielle might be the last surviving true veterans of News12. I also found this part interesting. I'm guessing this clause wasn't in place for the people who were let go earlier (Eileen Lehpamer wound up a PIX pretty quickly after):

I believe this has been airing for a few months now; but I haven't been able to catch the broadcast. I wonder if they still use the WLNY bug on the TV airing or just the CBS News New York bug. It seems like they started this in response to the 9pm being taken away from local control ( and I think they were streaming 7-8am anyways).