CHANNEL SURFING Change in the weather at WPVI A station source says that Cecily Tynan will take over weather duties for the 5

CHANNEL SURFING
Change in the weather at WPVI
A station source says that Cecily Tynan will take over weather duties for the 5:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. weekday news for Dave Roberts.

By LAURA NACHMAN
Courier Times

Is the earth off its axis? There will be another major change at "Action News." A station source says that Cecily Tynan will take over weather duties for the 5:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. weekday news for Dave Roberts. Roberts will remain with the 5 and 6 p.m. shows. This comes less than a month after the bombshell of 5 p.m. news anchor Marc Howard leaving the station for Channel 3. Tynan, 33, who currently is the weather anchor for the weekday early morning news, is one of the most popular personalities on WPVI. Roberts, 65, has been with the station since 1978.

WPHL RISES ABOVE COMPETITION AT EMMYS

WPHL, the lowest-rated broadcast station, received the highest honor from the Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards by winning "Outstanding Single News Broadcast" at the 20th annual ceremonies at the Crystal Tea Room atop the Wanamaker building Saturday night. WTXF led all stations with nine awards, including "Outstanding Morning Broadcast" for "Good Day Philadelphia." "Lou Tilley's Sports Connection" on CN8 won for "Outstanding Sports Broadcast." Meanwhile, the station that cut him loose a few years ago, KYW-3, wasn't even nominated in the sports category.

WCAU's Larry Mendte won for "Outstanding Individual Achievement - News" and "Outstanding Individual Achievement - Writer/News." Mendte batted .500 - he was nominated for 10 Emmys and won five, including "Outstanding Talk Show Host." WCAU's Kathy Orr, who currently is on maternity leave, won for "Outstanding Individual Achievement - Weathercaster." "It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle" on CN8 won for "Outstanding Talk Program/Series." It was the first Emmy for the Upper Makefield resident.

Some other winners were Dave Schratwieser, Jennaphr Frederick, Bruce Gordon, Dr. Brian McDonough and Joyce Evans of WTXF, Brad Sattin, Tina Kim and Mike Dardis of WPHL, Paul Moriarity and Ren Scott of KYW, Jim Jackson of Comcast SportsNet and Suzanne Roberts and Gregg Murphy of CN8. Phillies announcer Harry Kalas was presented with the prestigious Board of Governors award. Stations from Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Allentown, York and Pittsburgh markets competed. WPVI-6 does not submit entries for competition.

17 AGAIN

WPHL had a good week. Besides winning the Emmy, its 10 p.m. newscast beat WTXF in the ratings on Sept. 11 with a 3.3 rating to a 3.2 rating for Channel 29.

NO DR. PHIL / OPRAH FACE-OFF

Good news and bad news in the afternoon for KYW. The good news is that "Dr. Phil" got off to a great start by winning its timeslot Monday with a 6.2 rating/16 share at 3 p.m., beating WPVI's "General Hospital," which had a 5.7 rating/15 share. WCAU's "Montel Williams" had a terrible 1.4 rating/4 share.

The bad news is that KYW is unable to run "Dr. Phil" at 4 p.m. as a lead-in to its newscast. The reason is that due to the syndication deal, "Dr. Phil" can't compete with "Oprah" in any market. The debut of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" on KYW lost almost half of "Dr. Phil's" audience with a 3.4 rating/8 share, then "Pyramid" with Donny Osmond dropped a little further with a 3.2 rating/7 share. Each rating point equals 28,010 households.

NEW ARRIVALS

CN8 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. anchor Connie Colla, 37, is expecting her second child in March. Colla and her husband, who is a photographer for WCAU, have a daughter, Sophia, 3. The newest reporter on WPVI is Sarah Bloomquist, who arrives from the ABC affiliate in Toledo, Ohio. Husband and wife Christian Farr and Karen Jordan were in competition Sunday night at 10 p.m., as Farr anchored the news on WTXF while Jordan anchored on WPHL.

Send a message to Laura Nachman at bradyresident@aol.com.

September 19, 2002