Channel
Surfing
by Laura Nachman
Bucks County Courier Times
February 1, 2004
Here’s your scorecard of who is in Jacksonville for “The Super Bowl” for the local stations.
WPVI is sending Gary Papa, Rick Williams, Phil Andrews, and Karen Rogers. WCAU is sending Vai Sikahema, John Clark, and Tracy Davidson. KYW is sending Larry Mendte, Alycia Lane, Beasley Reece, Kathy Orr, Anne Marie Green, and Steve Bucci. WTXF is sending Don Tollefson, Jennaphr Frederick, Steve Keeley, and Dave Huddleston. Comcast SportsNet is sending Michael Barkann, Dei Lynam, Derrick Gunn, and Neil Hartman. CN8 is sending Lou Tilley, Gregg Murphy, and Kyle Schmoyer (I don’t know who Kyle Schmoyer is either).
WPVI news anchor Jim Gardner returned after a two-week break. When anchors are gone that long, viewers usually speculate that it's vacation, illness or plastic surgery. For Gardner, it was reportedly an undisclosed health problem.
Beginning Thursday, it should be another close sweeps race between WPVI, KYW, and WCAU at 11 p.m. In November sweeps, WPVI led with an 11 rating. KYW had a 10 rating and WCAU had a 9 rating.
Former CN8 weather anchor Robyn Stevens subbed for weatherman Kirk Clyatt on WPHL’s 10 p.m. news last week. A station spokesperson had no comment on whether Stevens could be hired for weekends. Stevens and CN8 mutually decided to part ways in December.
Meanwhile, CN8 hired a new weather anchor for weeknights – Ginger Jeffries. Jeffries arrives from the ABC affiliate in Palm Desert, CA.
Speaking of weather people, WPVI weekend weather anchor Karen Rogers will be moving to weekdays to join David Rogers as a weather team. WPVI will look for a new weekend weather anchor.
In more weather news, WCAU led by chief meteorologist Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz led in the ratings for blizzard coverage last Saturday with a 9.2 rating from noon to 8 p.m. KYW was second with a 7.0 and WPVI had a 6.5 rating.
The new UPN 57 morning newscast that will debut in March will originate from the “Traffic Pulse” studios in Wayne, PA. “Traffic Pulse” with John Ogden provides traffic for WCAU in Philadelphia.
According to a station publicist, it’s being at "Traffic Pulse" because UPN 57 and sister station KYW only has one control room, thus both news shows can not be done at the same time. “KYW Newsradio on TV,” the current offering, is done with a wall-mounted camera aimed at one anchor in the KYW 1060-AM radio booth.
Also, the new UPN 57 broadcast will be a little different from regular broadcasts – no suit and tie for the anchors.