WeatherandTraffic

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=535524711720557&set=a.149448953661470 JC Navarrete is the new morning anchor. I think when Stefan was brought back, I think they wanted to phase Patrick out. But when Zoraida was in and out a couple of times and then left, it delayed that. I wouldn't be surprise to see Patrick being let go at the end of his contract. Also, I said this before, still not impressed with Kate Chappell's anchoring. The need to find a stronger fill in anchor and have Kate just report.

Once again, congrats to Alan on a great career, a true Chicago legend. With everyone at the desk for the tributes and the after 10pm hugging, are they ever going to go back to normal and stop social distancing? It was nice seeing the closing of the newscasts pre-pandemic again. This is the only station in Chicago that still does the social distancing and has been the more strict with it throughout the pandemic.

That's it for Alan Krashesky. A true professional, class act of a journalist, reporter and anchor. He had the best retirement speech I've ever heard. Who will be his replacement. I prefer someone who can balance out Cheryl Burton. Rob is good for 4pm and 7pm newscasts as I said before. But. he is not top anchor material and pairing him with Cheryl Burton at 10pm is opening the door for the other stations to catch up in ratings. Ravi, Terrell, and Mark Rivera would be my top contenders for the lead anchor spot. Rob Elgas is not fit for the role. but he'll end up getting it and Ravi gets shafted yet again.

Cheryl more likely than Greg since his wife's family is in the Chicagoland area. I can see Phil retiring in the near future. Ravi and Karen/Judy/Liz deserve to be on weekdays and be the lead anchor team once Alan retires. Cheryl Burton and Rob Elgas at 10pm seems like a train wreck for me.

https://abc7chicago.com/meteorologist-job-television-jobs-chicago/12339448/ I just saw they posted a job for meteorologist. Do you think someone is leaving or are they going to have 6 full time meteorologists. If they do 6, Mark McGinnis might be reduced or be done filling in at ABC7. If someone is leaving, who do you think it would be? I hope it's not Tracy or Larry.

Ravi anchored the 5pm today, but not the 10pm. Disappointed, I like Rob Elgas on the 4pm and 7pm, but he's not lead anchor material. Which is the reason Dick Johnson was the main fill in for Rob Stafford over him when Elgas was at NBC5. Ravi deserves the lead anchor spot. If not Ravi, Terrell and Mark would make better lead anchors than Rob Elgas.

Mark Rivera needs to be put into consideration as well. It would not shock me if they do more anchor shuffles and expand the morning newscast to 4am, with the morning anchors giving up the 11am.

The fact I mention this today is surprising. I suspected Jim to retire first out of the 3 I mentioned. Good for Alan. He has been a staple in Chicago for 40 years and a true professional. Hope he has the retirement he deserves. I don't know if they would want to move Terrell from the morning show, he has great chemistry with everyone there. Ravi, he deserves the weekday promotion, seeing as he's been there the longest and is another true professional. He also fills in at 10pm more than Rob. Rob doesn't have it in him to be the main anchor at the station. He's good for the lighter newscasts like the 4pm and 7pm. Mark Rivera is the youngest and has to be a contender for a weekday spot to. But as he has never anchored the weekday 10pm, it seems unlikely and has been filling in less lately. We shall see.

I meant to say "Val Warner is NOW a contributing/third anchor for 6am hour in addition to the 7am digital newscast". Also, Liz, Cate and Sam are all great anchors/reporters so I'm cool with any of those 3 getting the spot. Congrats to Alan, Jim and soon Cheryl Burton on their longevities at the station. Speaking of them, Is there a succession in place when they eventually retire/leave. Dionne is obviously going to take over the Jim. My guesses are Ravi, Rob or Mark for Alan, and Karen or Judy for Cheryl.

Last week was Samantha Chatman's last week on the morning show as she is going to do more investigated reports. It's not surprising as she had been appearing less often on the morning show. Also, as of yesterday, Val Warner is NOW a contributing/third anchor to the 6am hour in addition to the 7am digital newscast. It seems like Liz Nagy might be getting the weekend AM spot as she's appeared the most often next to Mark Rivera.

Patrick was the best fit for the mornings. It seems like the management don't like his anchoring style, but they love the robotic Kate Chappell. I'm sorry, she is not anchor material.

If the rumors are true then good riddance to Chuck Todd. He's not a good moderator and asset to NBC. People on the left, right and center can't stand him. As for Guthrie, MTP would be a promotion for her and Craig Melvin can take her place as Co-Host with Hoda. But it's FTV Live, lets take it with a grain of salt.

What do you guys think of the Digital Newscasts, The morning is great with Terrell, Val, Tracy, Roz plus the fill ins, especially the hot topic conversation in the WCL studio. I really like they include the weather and traffic personal more on the newscast. The 7pm is Cheryl Burtons best newscast as she's more relaxed. Do you think these newscasts are worth it or no? I would rather watch Local in the Morning instead of networks. Also, are they going to end social distancing and go back to normal seating. The newscasts especially the morning and 7pm flow better when everyone is at the desk.

Larry and Phil especially don't like doing the 7pm newscast by the looks of it. Phil has to stay later than he wants. Plus, they abuse Phil when Tracy is off and he has to do Sunday nights and Monday mornings.

Terrell Brown just cursed on the digital newscast. He said "worked their asses off". They are trying to be like WGN Morning News and it's a better alternative to GMA. Terrell and Val's chemistry if perfect. The Evening Digital newscast is almost unbearable. First of all. Cheryl Burton is on that newscast and I'm sorry. she is ditzy and annoying and should not have that much airtime. Also Phil, Larry and Cheryl Scott look like they don't want to have that digital newscast, it seems like they don't want to be there. Greg is the only Meteorologist that wants to be there. The Morning newscast is perfect, great chemistry and they all want to be there.

That came into my mind. Just to clarify, I don't want Cheryl Burton and Rob to leave. Rob's good where he's at and move Cheryl Burton to a lighter newscast.

With Cheryl Burton out and Judy anchored from home. Karen Jordan gets a well deserved exposer to anchoring election coverage next to Alan Kreshesky. Karen is so underrated and should be on weekdays instead of Cheryl Burton. I know Karen has nepestism, but she also has talent and is professional unlike Cheryl. Also Rob, who is a good anchor was off tonight and Ravi filled it for him. He's a great anchor, but doing coverage like this isn't his forte.

Alan and Cheryl Burton are off tonight so, Liz Nagy and Judy Hsu did the 5pm while Karen was out in the field. Do you think Karen did not want to anchor tonight or do they have plans for Liz Nagy as she's been filling in more since the digital newscasts were started.

Tomorrow marks 2 years since the passing of Dick Johnson. I was really sad when he passed as he was underrated and one of the best journalists I've seen. NBC5 should have given him top spot as he had great chemistry with everybody.

Agreed. This station has always had one of the best graphics in this market, if not, the country, next to Hearst. The outgoing graphics were 7+ years old and they aged well.

It is really unfortunate, but he maybe wants a job with weekends off or wants to have 8 hour days and not do both GMA and WNT. He doesn't do that much on Weekend GMA anyway and the second hour of GMA on Saturdays is pointless. It's just to give the anchors more time anchoring. They can easily get put on ABC news live. The regular anchors of ABC news live are not the best besides Linsey and Terry.

Cheryl has gotten a lot better, especially since being paired with Larry on weekdays and more experience so she doesn't bother me. I'm saying with Greg, if he wants to move up more or get a weekday job in a top market, they're are openings. WABC needs at least 1 more also as Sam's schedule is limited and overworking Brittney and Jeff is not a good idea. Plus Cheryl, Greg and Danielle Breezy from Nashville are the most often GMA fill ins, although Danielle and Cheryl are both in too good positions to leave their current jobs.

The Rob Marciano situation is still weird. He hasn't been on GMA (both weekend and filling in for Ginger on weekday) for months now. But he still doe WNT and ABC news live. Last week, Sam filled in for Ginger and did Weekend GMA from Florida, yet Rob Marciano was in Florida for WNT. So is he leaving ABC or stalled contract issues?

Don't get me wrong I like Mark McGinnis. His forecasts are simple and not over the top like Greg, even though Greg is good, he just needs to stand still more and stand a little further from the camera. But with openings in Philly, I think were Cheryl Scott grew up in that area as Cecily Tynan was her inspiration. Wcvb has an opening as Harvey Leonard retired and no one has replaced him officially and another meteorologist is Pregnant. Greg and Cheryl Scott's fiance are from the Boston/Southern New England area. I can see one of them jumping over to Boston or Philly. More likely Greg since he's on the weekends and can get a weekday job in those 2 markets. So if one of them is leaving, bringing back Mark McGinnis makes since.

Is there a reason they brought back Mark McGinnis as a fill in. I'm surprised he's filling in again since he lives in Milwaukee area and has his own company. I know it's extra money. but with the gas prices, I'm surprise he said yes.