Encore 323

This is true because WABC just shuffled some of the talent over the last two years, redid all of it's talent opens, and viewers are now getting used to the new pairings, so the last thing the station wants is to do any drastic changes. If anything, Dani Beckstrom will most likely get the midday slots in the near future before they think about Liv Johnson, or any other outsider.

If Johnson and Shlonsky come to Channel 7, I could see a lineup like the following happening in the near future. WEEKDAYS 4:30 to 7am: Shirleen/Pedro, and Brittany Bell with weather - no changes Mornings @ 10: Joe/Sandra, and Dani Beckstrom or Sam Champion as third wheel/meteorologist (Allicot and Rivera are already established anchors in the 10am hour, which tends to be looser but Torres and Bookman should get more than just one slot to me and then they can still be the primary evening fill ins) Noon: Joe/Sandra, and Jeff Smith with weather 4 & 6pm: Liz/David, Jeff Smith with weather at 4, Lee Goldberg with weather at 6 5 & 11pm: Sade/Mike, and Lee Goldberg with weather - no changes WEEKENDS Mornings: Michelle/Perry, and Dani Beckstrom with weather - no changes Evenings: Tanya/Brian, and Liv Johnson with weather

As stated in the Out and About Thread by @TheRolyPoly, The next new newscast for WUPA is CBS News Atlanta at Noon. The half-hour newscast begins on Monday, July 13th. T.J. Anthony and Meteorologist Jonathan Myers will helm the new broadcast. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DalgVU7gdaA/?igsh=aXFtMmpnYTNuOXpz All that’s left is 4:30am, 5am, maybe 9am, 4pm, along with weekend mornings and evenings.

I get your point but a news leader is supposed to lead and be innovative, not follow others, but sometimes you have to look at what the competition is doing and sometimes they lead in things that the undisputed news leader in Southern California hasn’t fully catched on with. I don’t fully agree with the decision making of KABC in this case but I understand why they are doing it, and that is the bottom line.

Frank and Jessica obviously outlasted the others who anchored the morning news before them and heck they are the most tenured main anchors at the station as a whole right now. We also can't forget the early morning news people from past to present because they are part of the story too and that includes Sharon Tay, Emmett Miller, Cher Calvin, Lu Parker, Asha Blake, and presently Megan Henderson and Chris Schauble.

With a heatwave coming to Southern California, KABC has decided to launch something called “Weather Change Alerts” and I guess anytime the weather makes a sudden change, they will issue this alert. It seems like they are trying to rip off CBS LA and their “Next Weather Alerts” but hopefully KABC is truly doing this for the benefit of the viewer and not just because another station in town is doing something similar.

If this madness was not going on, this thread would definitely not be here but regardless of what has happened, I feel that enough happens at the ABC O&Os nowadays for this thread to logically be here, so I am thinking about the present and the future here as you clearly see.

The purpose of this thread is to have a place to discuss anything relating to all of the 8 Disney/ABC owned and operated stations because even though things may seem quiet across the group, things are still happening beyond what is discussed in the individual WABC, KABC, WLS, and WPVI threads that are in the NY, LA, Chicago, and Philly threads respectively. ——————————————————— As you probably know by now, the licenses of the ABC O&Os are being threatened by the FCC and the deadline is July 29th, so the stations have been rolling out call to action promos, so that viewers can advocate for each station on the station’s behalf. Here are promos from WABC, KABC & WLS. WABC: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ePkAFvaEiAg KABC: https://youtube.com/watch?v=R0wEyMOfNwM WLS:

I know that Bill Ritter stepping down is the main issue of concern right now, but the Knicks just won the NBA Finals with a 94-90 win and Channel 7 is all hands on deck tonight with Sade Baderinwa and Mike Marza leading the coverage. I’m sure that this Knicks win will be putting a smile on Ritter’s face this weekend, especially with everything he is dealing with right now.

Bill Ritter was and still is the face of Eyewitness News in the 21st century and there is no questioning that. Downstate New York, northern New Jersey, and southwest Connecticut residents opened the century in 2000 with him, closed the first quarter with him, and have already started the second quarter with him. Two of my aunties have been living there in the New York area (Borough Park, Brooklyn and Copiague, Suffolk County) since the early 1990s, and they have watched Ritter on both the network and local levels through the good and bad times. A lot of people get triggered when he inserts his opinions into the newscast, and their feelings are valid, but a lot of long tenured anchors tend to go off script a bit anyway, so I don’t really make it bother me. I hope his situation improves soon because Alzheimer’s disease is very destructive to one’s health.

I am getting this info from an LA Times article and a LA Daily News article that talked about him moving to FOX 11. I apologize if my interpretation of it is written badly but those two publications are where I got my sourcing from.

As you might know, Glen Walker will be the newest person on the FOX 11 airwaves and he will be introduced tonight (6/10) on during the 5 & 6pm newscasts on FOX 11 and on the 8 & 9pm newscasts on FOX 11 Plus, KCOP. Then tomorrow night (6/11), he will start anchoring some of the newscasts. He has been hired as a per-diem anchor, meaning that he will not have a regular broadcast time, but hopefully we will see him on a frequent basis.

KTVQ, the flagship station of the Montana Television Network (MTN) also seems to be close to rolling out the new look too as evidenced by their new video thumbnails.

Former KTLA anchor Glen Walker has been hired by FOX 11 and on his Instagram page, there is a picture of him right in front of the FOX Television Center on Bundy Drive in West LA. He will most likely be on in the evenings, but we shall see what happens.

KSTU (FOX 13 Utah) just welcomed a new anchor to its news team and that person is Jiani Navarro. She comes from Gray Media’s KCTV 5 in Kansas City, where she was a weekend morning anchor and weekday field reporter. Navarro’s duties at FOX 13 are co-anchoring the flagship 5 & 9pm newscasts with Bob Evans. She will co-anchor from the field at 5 and then join Evans in studio at 9. Here is a video from the FOX 13 Instagram page on her welcome. https://share.google/GuKImKZd2xQ986Pa6

KPIX nowadays basically functions like how KCAL used to function before 2023 because most of their news hours are in the PM. Back to KTTV now, they are mostly a weekday morning shop when it comes to producing news but it has always been that way for them.

When it comes down to the two outlets that now start at 5am (CBS LA and FOX 11), CBS LA obviously wins hands down and KCBS/KCAL has obviously been gaining traction too in the morning hours since they expanded their news coverage and even received a Golden Mike Award this year for “Best Morning or Daytime Newscast” in the 7am hour. All of this is due to many of the staff having an obvious connection to Los Angeles directly or indirectly and the station having it’s news priorities straightened again. So it is no surprise why FOX 11 continues to struggle against KTLA 5, NBC 4, ABC 7 and the CBS LA duopoly on the KCAL 9 side.

Jamie Yuccas was the primary anchor for that slot but they did rotate between talent on certain days.

So that makes two stations in the country’s second largest city that now start their news day at 5am each weekday. Around 15+ years ago, everybody was chasing after the 4:30am half hour start and maybe 10 years ago, the 4am start. Fast forward to today, some people are not getting up as early due to work from home, among other factors.

On Monday, June 1st, some changes will be going into effect at the CBS LA duopoly, which Chris Holmstrom and Rachel Kim have hinted at on their Instagram pages this week. Those changes include removing the 4-6am live edition of CBS Mornings on KCBS in favor of two half hours of CBS News Mornings at 4 and 4:30am, followed by the 5am hour of CBS LA Mornings returning to KCBS for the first time in nearly two years. This means that the 5-7am portion of CBS LA Mornings will be simulcasting on both CBS LA, Channel 2 and KCAL 9. They should’ve done it like this when they axed the 4am hour not too long ago but at least they are coming back to their senses now. Lastly, Rachel Kim will be anchoring CBS LA News at 11am on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays and will report in studio on the 7-10am portion of CBS LA Mornings on those days, while maintaining her position as a co-anchor on the weekend editions of CBS LA Mornings.

Let’s take a little trip down the Channel 7 memory lane because 15 years ago today, EYEWITNESS NEWS FIRST @ 4PM debuted. As many of us know, this newscast replaced The Oprah Winfrey Show, which ended the day before (May 25, 2011) and ran for 25 years and seasons respectively. Today on FIRST @ 4PM, Liz Cho, David Novarro, and chief meteorologist Lee Goldberg celebrated the milestone. FIRST @ 4PM DEBUT VIDEO FROM 15 YEARS AGO (MAY 26, 2011) https://youtube.com/watch?v=cvUPsa63Lrs&si=Y7E4vqbzhYWtVXGA FIRST @ 4PM 15TH ANNIVERSARY VIDEO FROM TODAY (MAY 26, 2026) https://youtube.com/watch?v=eqv9tjVhvcc&si=7EGkYWMWXdklVAzY

KGTV (ABC 10 San Diego) might do this when they get the new music/graphics because they have been leaning into the talent open/rejoin stuff over the last year or so but we will see.

This is the talent rejoin graphics for CBS 6 This Morning featuring Reba Hollingsworth, Rob Cardwell, meteorologist Tom Patton, and traffic anchor Kirsten Luehrs. It’s refreshing to see stuff like this for a change compared to the mostly generic vibe of the other stations with this package.

Yes, their implementation is wonderful with their sweeping camera angles and even a talent rejoin graphic in the 6pm newscast featuring Bill Fitzgerald, GeNienne Samuels, chief meteorologist Zach Daniel and sports director Lane Casadonte. WTVR is the only station so far with the new music and graphics that features the talent in the rejoin.

Let's put it this way: NBC 4 (the station that this thread is dedicated to), FOX 5, and ABC 7 are all beneficiaries of those who not only no longer watch CBS New York, Channel 2 but also no longer watch The CW, PIX 11 because of all of the layoffs that Nexstar has been doing there. New Yorkers want to wake up, get through the day, and go to bed with familiar faces that they trust, and watch stable news products. Viewers have and will continue to reward that.