WFLD Hires Bob Sirott

[5Viewer 1]

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2010/07/wfld-hires-bob-sirott-officially.html

 

WFLD-Ch. 32 finally made it official on Tuesday: Veteran Chicago broadcaster Bob Sirott has been named co-anchor of its marquee 9 p.m. news, and he's set to make his on-air debut July 19.

 

The news that Sirott (pictured right) -- a former anchor at WMAQ-Ch. 5, WTTW-Ch. 11 and WFLD -- was returning to Channel 32 has been expected since a report in early May that soon picked up momentum and then was all but confirmed here last week.

 

He ostensibly will replace Jeff Goldblatt, the former Fox News Channel correspondent hired as Robin Robinson's co-anchor in 2008, after the departure of Mark Suppelsa, now a rival lead anchor at Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s WGN-Ch. 9. Robinson will anchor solo until Sirott's arrival. Anna Davlantes, the former WMAQ reporter-anchor hired last year, will continue in her role as contributing anchor on the underperforming 9 p.m. broadcast.

 

This marks Sirott's return not only to the Fox-owned station, where he anchored the morning news from 1994 to 2000, but to television. He has been off the air since June of last year, when he left Channel 5 rather than accept the station's effort to tweak terms of his multi-year contract, which the NBC-owned station wound up having to pay off even as it released him.

 

He had become WMAQ's lead male anchor in all but paperwork at the time.

 

 

Besides doing interviews with former ballplayers for a Chicago Cubs archive project, Sirott continues to host a weekend radio show for Tribune Co.'s WGN-AM 720 with his wife and former Channel 32 co-anchor, Marianne Murciano, and fill in at the station. From April 2007 to last January, he also hosted WGN-AM's "The Noon Show."

 

Among this city's best and most versatile live broadcasters, Sirott, 60, is comfortable with shifting between the serious and light. In recent days, he has been substituting for vacationing WGN-AM morning-drive host Greg Jarrett, and giving a veritable clinic for anyone on how to gracefully segue not only from subject to subject but into breaks for commercials, news and traffic.

 

"We are excited to bring Bob back to Fox Chicago," Mike Renda, who runs the News Corp. Chicago duopoly of WFLD and WPWR-Ch. 50, said in the announcement. "His deep understanding of our market, combined with his extensive anchoring and reporting experience, make him the ideal addition to our news team."

 

There has been talk that WFLD may be looking to overhaul its 9 p.m. newscast, which is what public broadcaster WTTW did when it brought Sirott as a catalyst for change of its "Chicago Tonight" program.

 

A 1990-93 morning anchor-reporter at Channel 5, Sirott returned to WMAQ in 2006 after nearly four years at WTTW. He became a TV free agent because a clause in his multi-year WMAQ contract assured him of the station's 10 p.m. broadcast opening opposite coanchor Allison Rosati upon the retirement of Warner Saunders in May 2009, and the station sought to tweak the terms.

 

Sirott already had replaced Saunders alongside Rosati on earlier Channel 5 newscasts and was filling in on the late newscast. But if officially given the 10 p.m. job, as per his contract, the deal also called for a pay increase. The station balked, seeking to shorten the guaranteed length of the deal in exchange, and negotiatons failed to produce a settlement.

 

So Sirott left the station while continuing to be paid under the terms of his existing pact, which had been negotiated less than a year earlier. Channel 5 replaced him with Rob Stafford.

 

"As a native Chicagoan, I’m thrilled to continue covering news in the city I have called home my entire life," Sirott said in the announcement.

 

A graduate of Columbia College, Sirott was a former NBC page who broke into radio in production and as public affairs director for the old WMAQ-AM in 1968. He made a name for himself on the air first as a personality with WBBM-FM 96.1 and then WLS-AM 890 before becoming a reporter for WBBM-Ch. 2 30 years ago.

 

Sirott went national as a correspondent on CBS News' "West 57th" newsmagazine alongside Steve Kroft and Meredith Vieira. He also has reported occasionally for CBS News' esteemed "Sunday Morning" program.

[WGN9fan 0]

Maybe his signature "One More Thing" segment will continue on there.

[Jase 818]

Bob's "One More Thing" segment will be included within the 9PM newscast. He was on GDC this morning discussing his role, the past and the challenges that lay ahead (today's Phil R.'s Chicago Tribune piece goes into the latter in greater detail).

 

WFLD saw a small uptick in their 9PM ratings for June, so that's a good thing. Bob and Robin should work well together given their overall knowledge of Chicago and journalism experience. Hopefully, Anna's role will be more structured going forward (more reporting and little/no tri co-anchoring) with Bob and Robin leading the way.

[Jase 818]

Bob's first night was tonight and he fits in well with Robin and the rest of the crew (Anna was off and wasn't missed).

 

They added new graphic elements and music. There was an overall distinct difference from last Friday's newscast to the one tonight (more interviews, shorter weather/sports reports, a station editorial given by the GM, etc...).

 

They still have a few bugs to work out with the graphics, general flow of the newscast, but they're off to a decent start at least.