Roadgeek Adam

Andy didn't report last Christmas season which caught my attention. But good for her. 

Jim's new place is the Lititz Shirt Factory. It hasn't opened yet, but they are restoring a place to be the new brewery. 

As for going with 1 investigator, they seem to be pretty content with replacing in kind rather than eliminating any positions. The only one that's a little unusual is Mike Marza, whose role seems extra. (As retirements go up, that will probably change.) Sam Champion replaced Bill Evans, Sam Ryan replaced Laura Benkhe, Derick Waller replaced Dray Clark, so on and so forth. 

Dan Krauth, formerly of WPTV and NBC News, has joined Channel 7 as Jim Hoffer's replacement for 7 Investigates/On Your Side. He made his Channel 7 debut today during the 5 pm broadcast. 

I never liked Steve. I always got this aura of discomfort listening to him do the news. I don't get to watch Ken as often as I'd like, but he was a better choice by leaps and bounds. 

I wasn't trying to refer to Beutel as flashy. I meant, everyone he worked with were professionals, even if they were acerbic and deadpan [Grimsby]. 

I mean, Susan Roesgen is definitely a bit more flashy than the previous list I made. 

5 hours ago, Bill from Maspeth said:

 

Beutel didn't like her, and he had a lot of power as the lead anchor.  No chemistry.  The specifics never came out.  Probably internal behind the scenes office politics.  

They just never got along and unfortunately that kind of stuff came out in the press. They never specified what were the spats. Bill denied them to the press as well. 

Roesgen was 29 when she was hired by WABC, kind of this flashy young anchor to replace Kaity Tong, who had been forced out unfairly when they didn't renew her contract. 

I don't get the sense that Bill liked that flashy kind of personality next to him. Having worked with Kaity Tong, Roger Grimsby, Ernie Anastos, John Johnson and other real professionals with less flare, Susan was likely a different style. 

Regardless, she was gone by August 1, 1992. She made $175,000 a year in her stint with WABC compared to Kaity, who was making $600,000. Ratings at WABC actually had gone 10% up with Susan, which means it was not ratings related at all. 

Ultimately, this led to Diana WIlliams getting the 11 pm slot with Beutel and Harry Martin getting the weekend slot. Rest is history as you can say. 

This is interesting. Of all the WABC Eyewitness News broadcasts on YouTube, there has been none during Susan Roesgen's tenure at the desk. That changed today. Channel 7 itself posted this archive footage on their YouTube. 

That's literally the first on YT. There are some openings and commercials with her. This is the first newscast. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6utfcax4v9s

FTVLive claims Craig was given an ultimatum, either leave WCBS after 4 decades or leave 11 as a weekend meteorologist. 

They did a Beutel/Williams moment on the "Reptilian Roadblock" that caused Bill to practically lose it on air. 

There is a special "Celebrating Diana" at 5 pm on Thursday (9/12), the last of her time.

They also posted her first report on Twitter, back when she was reporting and anchoring weekends. 

https://abc7ny.com/society/diana-williams-first-wabc-report-on-1991-at-t-phone-fiasco/5525995/

Sam Champion, Sam Ryan and Mike Marza's bios are all posted finally. 

The other thing is under accessibility standards, people are going more and more to Capital letter then lowercase text. WABC's new graphics do that well. KABC's do not.

No. There's no reason to change the graphics. No, it's not the 2009-2016 version, but I enjoy the differences. 

Also, KABC's chiron operators stink and their graphics are limiting. 

On top of everything, Kristin Thorne had her baby and Danielle Leigh got married. 

Congrats to Shirleen! 

Admittedly, if Diana wasn't retiring on 9/12/19, I would've suggested Diana and David permanently become the 12 pm hosts. Shirleen already works 4:30-7 and as a reporter. Alas, not to be. 

Regardless, this is the first time I've seen Diana work 12 with Sam present. (She worked Friday, when Sam wasn't there.) It has probably already happened, but I'm not sure. 

WNBC and KNBC loved the odd 4s in the 1980s. I liked the WNBC 4. Then they went to a normalized 4. 

I hate the KABC ones. Besides the fact they can't spell half the time, they just seem boring. 

Regardless, they perform their function. Considering how long the old package survived, I doubt they are going to make that quick a switch. 

(Also, for 12 & 5, the bug has worked as proper) 

I did. I don't mind it, but the old one was due for a change. You'll have to likely wait till 2022-2023 probably to get a new one.       

They are incredibly rarely used. I'm not sure I've ever seen it before.

Regardless, Diana's retirement date is September 12. I don't think that's a date picked out of thin air or because of Shirleen being out. Simpler, it's probably so she can do 9-11 coverage, something I'm sure means a lot. 

So I see. I usually am not watching at 5:51 without a reason, but that makes more sense. 

Someone made his debut I believe today. Reminds me of Jory Rand from KABC. 

[/yes i know who Mike Marza is, it's a joke]

1 hour ago, ns8401 said:

So you are suggesting somebody might say “That rat bastard! Spending his Friday in Florida instead of on the morning news! I’m switching to GDNY!!!!!!!”?

 

Said person would have a rather tenuous connection to the program if that swayed them away from it... they might envy the idea of being in Florida but c’mon... and as to your point about lineups changing... if it happens every week then they’ll get used to that arrangement and go “oh.. no Sam... it must be Friday already” and that will be about all it’ll rate.... 

You say that, said person probably likely exists that is that pedantic. 

1 hour ago, nydem2015 said:

How long do you all think Sam will last? Part of me thinks this might not be a long term project for him. I like Sam but sometimes I feel like going to the past is just not accepting that things change. Did WABC seek to have Spencer Christian rejoin when Sam left? I’m actually asking that question seriously.

Why would Spencer Christian want to leave KGO, where he's been for 20 years, to join WABC again, a station he spent 9 years at and probably worked this weekend as a kind gesture? 

Tex and Storm were together for a few months in 1976. Storm Field joined Channel 7 officially at 11 PM on April 5, 1976. Tex's little faux pas was November 24.  Storm was here from April 5, 1976-November 4, 1990 despite the contract running through November 1. 

Also Ira Joe is MIA from that list. 

7 hours ago, Bill from Maspeth said:

 

Heidy Jones?

 

I am going to presume sarcasm. 

5 hours ago, 24994J said:

Where does Ira Joe Fisher fit into the equation? Was he not on weekends?

Ira Joe was hired in July 1983, but did not start until August 15, 1983 as part of Eyewitness News Extra at 4:30 pm. By August 1985, Ira Joe was upset with the fact that Storm Field was the main "banana' at Channel 7 and Cincinnati offered him a daytime talk show. So on August 20, Bill Fyffe confirmed they would release Ira Joe after September 6 to return to WKRC in Cincinnati.