Channel Surfing
by Laura Nachman
Bucks County Courier Times
November 2, 2004

Here's what some of the local stations will be doing on Election Day.

On WPVI, ABC News begins its special election coverage at 7 p.m. (pre-empting "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune.")  Starting at 8 p.m., "Action News" will provide cut-ins on the hour and the half hour (or more exactly, 8pm, 8:25pm, 8:56pm, 9:25pm, 9:56pm, 10:25pm).

After "Action News" at 11p.m., "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel" will be pre-empted by special ABC News election coverage (from 11:35 p.m. to 1a.m.)

WTXF will air cut-ins from Fox from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Full network coverage will air from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.  During that time, there will be two local cut-ins per hour; at :20 past the hour and :50 past the hour, and there will be crawls of local results.

WTXF will return to local coverage from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., and will go back to the
network at 11 p.m.
On KYW, Larry Mendte, Marc Howard and Alycia Lane will co-anchor local election coverage from 4-6:30 p.m. (Dr. Phil moves to 3 p.m.) Updates will be provided every half-hour beginning just before 7:30 p.m. The anchors are back at 11 - and KYW will re-join the network (CBS) following the 11 p.m. news.

For the first time in the 19 years since Channel 57 went on the air (October, 1985), UPN 57 (WPSG-TV) will offer viewers election night news updates throughout prime time.  Anchors from its duopoly sister station CBS 3 (KYW-TV), Larry Mendte and Alycia Lane, will broadcast updates hourly for UPN viewers on Tuesday night. The updates will air at 7, 8:15, 9:15 and 10 p.m.

The KYW "Kidcaster" contest is back. If your child loves to say precipitation, take him or her to the Oxford Valley Mall November 7 and the Granite Run Mall November 14th.  Auditions are from noon - 3 p.m.  Winners will get to do a forecast on KYW.

WTXF has a new fill-in weather anchor - New Jersey native Melissa Sander, who has worked in Atlanta and Charlotte.

WCAU news anchor Renee Chenault-Fattah was awarded the "Shining Star Award" at LaSalle University's celebration for the tenth anniversary of its Communication Center. 
 
LaSalle graduates working in the media include Metro Network's Paul Perrello, Los Angeles radio personality and "Joe Schmo" host Ralph Garman, and WCAU traffic anchor John Ogden.

Here are some more pop songs being used in commercials - "There She Goes" by Sixpence None the Richer for birth control pills, "The Boys Are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy for the Capital One card, "I Feel Good" by James Brown for Ameriquest, "I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow for Kmart Halloween items, "Let the River Run" by Carly Simon for Canon, and U2's new song "Vertigo" for the Ipod, and "The Weight" by the Band for AT & T.