KUSI anchor changes

[sfomspphl 490]

SD folks...I know it's a revolving door there...we like watching because we find the anchors / reporters more personable than the other stations, and they cover more community events / local races. Yes I know there's a sometimes over the top slant to things, we filter through it. Had frankly stopped being local news watchers before moving here and coming across the KUSI 'product' - unvarnished as it is. 

 

Over the summer Ginger got moved from doing the 4-6 and 10-11 with the always professional Logan, to just the 10-11 plus reporting. Then left the station last month to head to AZ -  we were disappointed with both, she has a great voice, great at pointed live interviews. Any idea what she's up to in AZ? 

 

Jenny M. came over from KFMB last winter and then filled Ginger's 4-6 role starting in June. 

 

Now with Ginger's departure Hunter S. has been handling most of the evening weekday newscasts, and Jenny as of this week appears in the field reporting. Jenny's Linkedin says 'open to work' so wondering if she got told her contract isn't being renewed?

 

Our favorite pair has been Matt Prichard and Hunter Sowards on the weekends so while we're happy for Hunter if she's getting a 'promotion' we hate to see that pair broken up. 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by sfomspphl

[Bsean 147]

Yeah, KUSI is a station I wouldn't touch with a 10ft pole. They are very unprofessional in my opinion. Not to mention how they treat their staff. The mass exodus of 2018-19 was clear evidence of that resulting in 2 lawsuits that are in litigation right now.

[Big Rollo Smokes 259]

KUSI is adding Rafer Weigel to its news team. It's actually a return to SD for Weigel, who worked at KUSI earlier in his career.

 

Rafer, son of the late Chicago sportscaster Tim Weigel, worked with Jenny Milkowski at WFLD in Chicago. On a public FB post announcing his move came this comment:

 

Later in the same thread...

 

Take that for what it's worth.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Big Rollo Smokes

[ATLNewsExpert 451]

Ah yes the station were the weird 90's trend of having industrial scaffolding on your set lives on! (just why?) 

[nathannah 2394]

1 hour ago, ATLNewsExpert said:

Ah yes the station were the weird 90's trend of having industrial scaffolding on your set lives on! (just why?) 

I'm surprised they never sued Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for co-opting the concept of a dark and dreary set with too little lighting to maneuver around.

 

2 hours ago, Big Rollo Smokes said:

KUSI is adding Rafer Weigel to its news team.

As I always say, there is always a bottom to scrape, and KUSI is a short step down to 'anchoring' infomercials and not-Humana Medicare ads.

[sfomspphl 490]

18 hours ago, Big Rollo Smokes said:

KUSI is adding Rafer Weigel to its news team. It's actually a return to SD for Weigel, who worked at KUSI earlier in his career.

 

Rafer, son of the late Chicago sportscaster Tim Weigel, worked with Jenny Milkowski at WFLD in Chicago. On a public FB post announcing his move came this comment:

 

Later in the same thread...

 

Take that for what it's worth.

 

And the plot thickens. 

 

They trotted him out as an interview subject sometime in the past year forget for what. Got the sense of some slant in what they had him speaking to but forget. I see he’s a Cohen prior hire.

 

Wonder where he’s assigned. Logan seems to be doing well weeknights and Matt Prichard is good attitude talent on the weekend evening. 

 

Maybe Paul Rudy is getting a break from the morning grind? 

 

 

Also a interesting how Jenny gets all these reader voted best of awards and cleans up at the Emmys. She’s a bright talent but the sheer volume of vote driven accolades is unusual  for such a new to the market talent. 

 

 

 

Edited November 6, 2022 by sfomspphl

[Big Rollo Smokes 259]

Jenny's gone from KUSI. 

 

She made no public announcement of her departure, and her personal statement on her LinkedIn profile mentions KUSI in the past tense. Her bio has been removed from the station's website.

 

Jenny has also been very quiet on social media recently, but she posted this in her IG stories yesterday: 

Edited December 10, 2022 by Big Rollo Smokes

[sfomspphl 490]

Yeah maybe was a 1 year contract, oddly in her talent reel one of her clips has her joking they're short staffed so her job is safe after making a snarky remark about how dated the set was

 

Nick James was congratulating Hunter on-air a couple weeks ago for being the new 'miss weeknight' so that role is confirmed - she also posted a contract signing on social over the summer 

 

A recent hire reporter, forget her name, she's from Honolulu, is now doing weekends with Matt Prichard

 

And in another twist...

 

Rafer Weigel, who was hired last month as a 'reporter/anchor' had been reporting on the weeknight news, occasionally doing standups in studio. Last night he filled in on the anchor desk for Logan. And another recent hire reporter, Diane Tuazon, filled in for Francella on weather. 

 

Figured Rafer was the backup for whenever Dan Plante decides to retire from reporting, hoping he's not being positioned to ease out Logan on the anchor desk.

 

Same for Francella, hoping she's in good shape on weather, though won't read much into it since Mark Mathis had to fill in for her earlier in the week. 

 

 

 

 

[Big Rollo Smokes 259]

What I still don't get is why Jenny left KFMB-TV in the first place. Her style of...well, EVERYTHING seems better suited for a network affiliate and not an independent station with bias and credibility issues. Though we can thank KUSI for expanding her skill set and showing us she can handle serious interviews just as well as belly-flops off of a water trampoline.

 

I also know she purchased property in the SD area so she put some roots down. Perhaps she sticks around, but she's major-market talent. I know her hometown fans in Chicago would love to have her back.

Edited December 9, 2022 by Big Rollo Smokes

[tvtime07 252]

1 hour ago, Big Rollo Smokes said:

What I still don't get is why Jenny left KFMB-TV in the first place. Her style of...well, EVERYTHING seems better suited for a network affiliate and not an independent station with bias and credibility issues. Though we can thank KUSI for expanding her skill set and showing us she can handle serious interviews just as well as belly-flops off of a water trampoline.

 

I also know she purchased property in the SD area so she put some roots down. Perhaps she sticks around, but she's major-market talent. I know her hometown fans in Chicago would love to have her back.

 

Yeah, I always wondered why Jenny left KFMB, she seemed like the perfect fit for that station given her personality and the energy she brought to the newscasts. People do like her, I believe that for sure. 

 

It was a head scratcher why she moved to KUSI, but I'm thinking that KUSI had offered her opportunities for growth, it just sounds like it turned out it wasn't the perfect fit.  Even though we make fun of KUSI here for preserving their 90s set, they are still a popular station, especially with affluent communities and those who prefer right-wing narratives. At this point, the only other stations I can see Jenny going to are KSWB (very on-brand) or KNSD; KGTV is too bland/boring at the moment to have someone like her on their station.

[A3N 1002]

She should have done her research prior to going over to KUSI. Yes, promises were probably made for her to do more than feature/lifestyle reporting but she should have seen the mess the station was and still is going through.

 

I seem to recall that Jenny was doing some anchor fill-in while at KFMB. Who knows what the story of her leaving from there really is, but at the end of the day, it's more stable than being at KUSI.

 

If you're an anchor at KUSI, you're not guaranteed a spot for long, unless your name is Paul Rudy. Everyone else is on borrowed time.  Heck, after several years of being demoted, promoted, demoted, Elizabeth Alvarez finally left the station for KSWB.

 

The reality is that going into next year, i'm sure every station will be looking to cut costs left and right. One can see how thin KGTV, KNSD and KUSI are with on-air people- let alone behind the scenes.

 

Jenny is good and talented, hopefully she'll land on her feet soon.

 

 

[sfomspphl 490]

And they delivered on the promise - she replaced Ginger in the M-F 4-6pm anchor chair as of June. My wife was put off by her style on the anchor desk - she felt she inserted too many references to her own experiences, 'always making it about her.' Didn't rub me the wrong way, though felt Ginger was the better fit for the evenings. 

 

I think she's great morning show anchor talent, which is the money maker these days. At KUSI though Lauren and Paul are the prom king and queen, and Kacee Mckinnon has been doing morning anchoring. Though Kacee was a fan of Jenny's on social.

 

Boy did Kacee have an awkward exchange with Mathis when he brought up her parents' 'big house' where they watch a football game on 'two tvs' - she told him how powerful his cologne was that morning.

 

Last week Hunter made a snide remark to Logan about 'finally getting to correct him for stumbling on words for once'  

 

My guess is Paul, Lauren, Mark are the only anchors who are openly 'ok' with the political slant. Hunter, Logan, Jenny, Matt, etc grin and bear it. This Rafer guy seems red meat on board with it. 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by sfomspphl

[Bsean 147]

On 12/10/2022 at 10:48 AM, A3N said:

She should have done her research prior to going over to KUSI. Yes, promises were probably made for her to do more than feature/lifestyle reporting but she should have seen the mess the station was and still is going through.

 

I seem to recall that Jenny was doing some anchor fill-in while at KFMB. Who knows what the story of her leaving from there really is, but at the end of the day, it's more stable than being at KUSI.

 

If you're an anchor at KUSI, you're not guaranteed a spot for long, unless your name is Paul Rudy. Everyone else is on borrowed time.  Heck, after several years of being demoted, promoted, demoted, Elizabeth Alvarez finally left the station for KSWB.

 

The reality is that going into next year, i'm sure every station will be looking to cut costs left and right. One can see how thin KGTV, KNSD and KUSI are with on-air people- let alone behind the scenes.

 

Jenny is good and talented, hopefully she'll land on her feet soon.

 

 

I'm pretty sure it was the fact that Jenny was probably pretty low on the totem pole a KFMB as far as getting in the anchor chair. At that time they had Stella in the chair, with Neda and Heather (though she was doing weather) on the side lines. And they already had Marcella behind Barbara Lee. Everyone is young enough to be in their roles for a while if that's what that want.

[sfomspphl 490]

Yeah that makes sense about KFMB

 

For KUSI the odd thing is they were short anchors. They just put a new hire in to replace Hunter on the weekends....Jenny could have had that slot in theory. And when Elizabeth left there was a morning slot, though guess Kacee got that.

 

Jenny's weeknight anchoring was quite sudden - literally right after she won the 2 emmys, as if the station was trying to send a message to the other anchors. Ginger still hasn't popped up on another station with her move to Scottsdale / Phoenix. 

 

Last night was a college broadcasting night, with the new weekend anchor stumbling through doing weather on the green screen. Also managed to walk behind the other anchor during a close up of the anchor as she walked to the weather board. 

Edited December 12, 2022 by sfomspphl

[nathannah 2394]

Welp, there are about to be a lot of anchor changes at KUSI AND KSWB (and a lot more than that); Nexstar is buying KUSI.

[CircleSeven 1954]

The station sale talk is in this thread.

Edited May 8, 2023 by CircleSeven