Channel
Surfing
by Laura Nachman
Bucks County Courier Times
January 11, 2005
WPVI has finally settled
on a morning news team to replace Monica Malpass and Rick Williams, who
began the noon and 5 p.m. shows a few months ago.
ABC overnight anchor Tamala Edwards will join the station and will
co-anchor with Matt O’Donnell. Edwards
has been with ABC since 2001, and before that wrote for “Time” magazine.
WTXF also has a new
early morning news team. Nick
Smith of the Raleigh, NC ABC affiliate will co-anchor with Sharon Crowley on
the 5-7 a.m. newscast. Kerri
Lee Halkett, who currently anchors that shift, will just do “Good Day
Philadelphia” when is scheduled to return from her maternity leave in May.
UPN 57, which was
scheduled to begin its new morning news yesterday, is still hoping to debut
this month. It will replace
“KYW Newsradio on TV.”
WCAU sources say its
likely that weekend morning anchor Denise Nakano will join Dawn Timmeney on
the weekday morning shift permanently when Steve Levy retires the first half
of the year.
Watch
Out “Ten O’clock” News
With
Dr. Phil earning high ratings for KYW at 5 p.m., it’s no surprise that
“Dr. Philadelphia” will get a second showing (different episode) on
sister station UPN 57 at 10 p.m. It
will be interesting to see if “Dr. Phil” puts a dent into the ratings
for the local news shows on WTXF and WPHL.
Hepp-tic
Year
Former
WCAU reporter Karen Hepp completed her first weekend as the new Saturday and
Sunday 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. news co-anchor for WNYW in New York City.
Hepp
began the year as the morning weekend anchor for WNBC, but was demoted to
reporter partially because she referred to a tank top as a “wife beater”
on the air.
In
a phone conversation, Hepp said it was a mutual decision by her and the
station to end her time at WNBC.
She
was hired at WNYW by news director Scott Matthews, formerly of WTXF.
Hepp,
who splits her time between a NYC apartment and a Delaware Valley house,
will get married to investment planner, Brian Sullivan of Havertown, PA in
June.
Running
Down the Aisle
WPVI weather anchor Cecily Tynan is engaged to fellow duathlete Greg Watson, a financial analyst for MBNA in Wilmington, DE. It is the second marriage for both. Neither have children.
WCAU is the media
sponsor for the new set of lights for “Boathouse Row” scheduled to debut
in May.
WTXF weatherman Rob
Guarino is providing forecasts for the Mix 95.7-FM morning show with Joe
Mama and Kim Douglas on Fridays.