WABC - 7 Eyewitness News

[Roadgeek Adam 170]

Mike Marza's assignment to work weekend mornings with Michelle Charlesworth is official. 

 

 

[Gavin 118]

On 11/20/2020 at 7:15 AM, wabceyewitness said:

I know she has joined them before in studio for the weekend weather, and they have also had other O&O meteorologists come to New York to fill in. This is the first time I’ve noticed that they had weather done out of state, from another station, with Brittany broadcasting from WTVD in Raleigh, NC. 

Thry also used WTVDs Steve Stewart one weekend for weekend evening show. He isn't ready for New York I know his children personally I went to school with them here in Raleigh!!! They flew him up there to New York I was visiting family it was a surprised since id seen him 24 before in Raleigh!!!

[mountainave 600]

Chad Matthews has been promoted from VP/News Director to President & GM of WABC-TV.  You'll recall he was promoted from Asst. ND to ND when Camille Edwards left the station.

 

The GM spot was left open when Debra O'Connell received a major promotion of her own to head all of Disney's networks.  O'Connell was brought in to run WABC-TV after Dave Davis left the station.

 

https://abc7ny.com/chad-matthews-wabc-wabctv-eyewitness-news/10348180/

[wabceyewitness 818]

16 hours ago, mountainave said:

Chad Matthews has been promoted from VP/News Director to President & GM of WABC-TV.  You'll recall he was promoted from Asst. ND to ND when Camille Edwards left the station.

 

The GM spot was left open when Debra O'Connell received a major promotion of her own to head all of Disney's networks.  O'Connell was brought in to run WABC-TV after Dave Davis left the station.

 

https://abc7ny.com/chad-matthews-wabc-wabctv-eyewitness-news/10348180/

 

Congrats to Chad! Great to see a veteran of the station, and someone with a news background, reach the top spot. 

[IceManNYR 238]

Saturday morning Mike was anchoring from home with Michelle in the studio.

Today Liz is anchoring the 4 PM newscast from home with David in the studio.

[Roadgeek Adam 170]

Shirleen is pregnant with her and her husband Jesse's 3rd child. 

 

 

[Gavin 118]

On 2/22/2021 at 12:32 PM, Roadgeek Adam said:

Shirleen is pregnant with her and her husband Jesse's 3rd child. 

 

 

She also announced it nationally on Tuesday on World News Now. I could see her going national at some point she definitely has the credentials of doing it.

[Vlad 325]

Yeah that was nice to see her on the program again. Yeah Shirleen is going to be huge. I honestly don't see her staying at WABC I can see her going bigger than that too. She's such a class act at what she does, kinda like how Sade is.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Vlad

[Liugrad2020 80]

58 minutes ago, Vlad said:

Yeah that was nice to see her on the program again. Yeah Shirleen is going to be huge. I honestly don't see her staying at WABC I can see her going bigger than that too. She's such a class act at what she does, kinda like how Sade is.

Where would Shirleen go? Liz and Sade I don’t see leaving anytime soon. Would she want to go to World News Now and America This Morning? Perhaps she will join GMA as a co-anchor someday? 

[Roadrunner 216]

Shirleen certainly has the potential to be national, but I don't know if she wants to...? Certainly she won't want to be a correspondent, with a soon-to-be 3rd child coming, since that job means lots of travel. But they also have plenty based at HQ in NY. If Shirleen might have a Linsey or Diane-adjacent role, where's the room for her? (if they grow their programs, then yes, there should be room) As for WNN, Kenneth and Shirleen are BFFs with a long history of course, but Mona's also been there not too long (relatively speaking) so I'm sure Shirleen won't be going there (plus the hours are even worse).

 

And I assume if Shirleen leaves, then Candace is her replacement? Love Candace and her live shots are great, but...will WABC actually pull the trigger? Anyways, I'm more of a pessimist, so I think Shirleen will stay put for a while and will actually be encouraged to do so for some time. 

Edited February 25, 2021 by Roadrunner

[RealNews18 203]

6 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

Shirleen certainly has the potential to be national, but I don't know if she wants to...? Certainly she won't want to be a correspondent, with a soon-to-be 3rd child coming, since that job means lots of travel. But they also have plenty based at HQ in NY. If Shirleen might have a Linsey or Diane-adjacent role, where's the room for her? As for WNN, Kenneth and Shirleen are BFFs with a long history of course, but Mona's also been there not too long (relatively speaking) so I'm sure Shirleen won't be going there (plus the hours are even worse).

 

And I assume if Shirleen leaves, then Candace is her replacement? Love Candace and her live shots are great, but...will WABC actually pull the trigger? Anyways, I'm more of a pessimist, so I think Shirleen will stay put for a while and will actually be encouraged to do so for some time. 

Why would it be Candace? Sorry but I think there’s some time before that. Sandra and Michelle have much better chemistry with Ken and Sam 

[Roadrunner 216]

Just now, RealNews18 said:

Why would it be Candace?

Actually you're right, I kind of leapfrogged over their vets. I actually thought of Lauren Glassberg as well. But I don't see Sandra moving to mornings (I'm actually eying her retirement sometime in a few years) and so many people here believe (and seem to have anecdotal word) that Michelle prefers weekends. I love either, but again, yeah I just leapfrogged (oops) and assumed.

[RealNews18 203]

9 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

Actually you're right, I kind of leapfrogged over their vets. I actually thought of Lauren Glassberg as well. But I don't see Sandra moving to mornings (I'm actually eying her retirement sometime in a few years) and so many people here believe (and seem to have anecdotal word) that Michelle prefers weekends. I love either, but again, yeah I just leapfrogged (oops) and assumed.

I mean I don’t see this being for a few years but I could see Michelle taking a weekday spot now that her kids are older. I feel that many viewers and many on here felt she wanted/deserved the morning spot (and she did deserve it) so who knows what the future may hold. 

[JoseRM303 171]

Why is everyone assuming Shirleen is leaving? She’s just filling in for Mona for a few days this week. Same when NBC & CBS borrow local talent from their affiliates one assumes that such and such person is joining the network 

[RealNews18 203]

2 hours ago, JoseRM303 said:

Why is everyone assuming Shirleen is leaving? She’s just filling in for Mona for a few days this week. Same when NBC & CBS borrow local talent from their affiliates one assumes that such and such person is joining the network 

Who assumed she was leaving? All that was mentioned was she has potential to move to network and potential moves if she does? Not sure where anyone said she’s leaving. 

[TVNewsLover 776]

6 hours ago, JoseRM303 said:

Why is everyone assuming Shirleen is leaving? She’s just filling in for Mona for a few days this week. Same when NBC & CBS borrow local talent from their affiliates one assumes that such and such person is joining the network 

Is she also doing her regular WABC shift?

[JoseRM303 171]

9 hours ago, TVNewsLover said:

Is she also doing her regular WABC shift?

Yes she did the morning show but unsure if she did the noon as well. Pretty long day if she did.

[Liugrad2020 80]

17 hours ago, RealNews18 said:

I mean I don’t see this being for a few years but I could see Michelle taking a weekday spot now that her kids are older. I feel that many viewers and many on here felt she wanted/deserved the morning spot (and she did deserve it) so who knows what the future may hold. 

I believe that Michele did say in 2017 that she wanted the weekday spot. There might be too high of a demand for Shirleen to be replaced with a black women when she eventually moves on.

[mountainave 600]

In terms of career progression, one would not go from anchoring a broadcast at WABC to anchoring World News Now. It pays less and the hours are worse. If anything, you sometimes see the opposite - Liz Cho and Rob Nelson, for example, both anchored WNN before coming to WABC. 

For most, anchoring a broadcast at WABC would be the apex of a career.  

Edited February 27, 2021 by mountainave

[Liugrad2020 80]

3 hours ago, mountainave said:

In terms of career progression, one would not go from anchoring a broadcast at WABC to anchoring World News Now. It pays less and the hours are worse. If anything, you sometimes see the opposite - Liz Cho and Rob Nelson, for example, both anchored WNN before coming to WABC. 

For most, anchoring a broadcast at WABC would be the apex of a career.  

Unless Shirleen was leaving to anchor one of the main broadcasts on ABC there would be no point to her leaving. It would be worth it to leave for GMA, WNT or MAYBE for a spot on the VIew.

[RGSJenkins 434]

Here's a AccuWeather forecast that will be accurate for sure. Reporter Candace McCowan is due in August.

https://twitter.com/ABC7NY/status/1380110744730107907?s=20

Edited April 8, 2021 by RGSJenkins

[NowBergen 681]

https://www.nexttv.com/news/reham-aslam-named-vpnews-director-at-wabc-new-york

[Vlad 325]

Aw congrats to him. He looks great! He definitely seems ready to take on the market! Let's see what happens in the coming months.

 

Slightly off topic, question is the social distancing format that we've been seeing on all of television a permanent thing now or are people going to start sitting closer together again now that the vaccinations are increasing? I would hope they return back to the normal format from pre-covid.

[RealNews18 203]

58 minutes ago, Vlad said:

Aw congrats to him. He looks great! He definitely seems ready to take on the market! Let's see what happens in the coming months.

 

Slightly off topic, question is the social distancing format that we've been seeing on all of television a permanent thing now or are people going to start sitting closer together again now that the vaccinations are increasing? I would hope they return back to the normal format from pre-covid.

I think they’ll be back closer/normal format soon. News 12 just allowed both anchors in the studio again (for Hudson Valley/ LI regions at least). WABC seems to have the anchors further apart than others as most stations are using a wide shot rather than split screen. All that being said with vaccinations increasing I could see regular set up returning sooner than later

[DMA 135]

 

1 hour ago, RealNews18 said:

I think they’ll be back closer/normal format soon. News 12 just allowed both anchors in the studio again (for Hudson Valley/ LI regions at least). WABC seems to have the anchors further apart than others as most stations are using a wide shot rather than split screen. All that being said with vaccinations increasing I could see regular set up returning sooner than later

 

I suspect that much of the distancing on screen hasn't necessarily been for actual risk minimization, but public service "modeling" behavior for viewers, which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing! I wouldn't be surprised if things gradually come back to normal soon.