Ann Conway -- She was NOT the 1st female

[formeraa]

Why does Ann Conway claim to be the first female evening co-anchor in the Providence market? She claimed this in her old WPRI bio and now in her current employer's bio at www.bates-communications.com/speaker.html

She clearly was NOT the first female co-anchor in the Providence market. When I arrived in 1980, Magee Hickey and Chris Conanglia (sp?) were co-anchoring the 6pm and 11pm newscasts at WLNE Action News. If anything, that would make Magee Hickey the first female evening co-anchor. WPRI and WJAR had two males at 6pm: Walter Cryan and Jim Roberts (Ann Kellan co-anchored at 11pm) on WPRI and Doug White and Larry Estepa on (Patrice Wood was also around) on WJAR.

I have no idea how Ann would claim to be the first. She wasn't even close!

 

[Chopper8]

> Why does Ann Conway claim to be the first female evening
> co-anchor in the Providence market? She claimed this in her
> old WPRI bio and now in her current employer's bio at
> www.bates-communications.com/speaker.html
>
> She clearly was NOT the first female co-anchor in the
> Providence market. When I arrived in 1980, Magee Hickey and
> Chris Conanglia (sp?) were co-anchoring the 6pm and 11pm
> newscasts at WLNE Action News. If anything, that would make
> Magee Hickey the first female evening co-anchor. WPRI and
> WJAR had two males at 6pm: Walter Cryan and Jim Roberts
> (Ann Kellan co-anchored at 11pm) on WPRI and Doug White and
> Larry Estepa on (Patrice Wood was also around) on WJAR.
>
> I have no idea how Ann would claim to be the first. She
> wasn't even close!
>
I agree with you about Magee Hickey being the 1st female anchor.However
Doug White after leaving WPRI in/around 1974. Anchored at 6pm with John Sweeney
for a few years. Patrice began at WJAR as a reporter.Walter Cryan prior to 1989. Had anchored with several people.Most were women.

 

[formeraa]

> I agree with you about Magee Hickey being the 1st female
> anchor.However
> Doug White after leaving WPRI in/around 1974. Anchored at
> 6pm with John Sweeney
> for a few years. Patrice began at WJAR as a reporter.Walter
> Cryan prior to 1989. Had anchored with several people.Most
> were women.
>
In 1980, Walter was anchoring at noon and 6pm only. IIRC, his noon co-anchor was Barbara Hamilton. After Jim Roberts left the station, they tried Ann Kellan as a co-anchor at 6 and 11 (I believe).

At WLNE, they were splitting Chris and Magee between Providence and New Bedford, which led to some awkward exchanges. One night, Chris was in New Bedford and said, "Let's go to Steve Cascione in the weather center." Then, the response was, "Well, it's actually Brad Field here in the weather center tonight, although Steve and I are both working hard on the snowy forecast."

After the Action News fiasco, WLNE brought in John Sweeney as news director and changed the name to "Channel 6 News". John and Chris C. anchored at 6 and John and Magee anchored at 11pm. Around this time, Ann Conway started as weekend anchor. Then, WLNE let loose news of a secret concert by the Rolling Stone (or some other famous group) and John Sweeney was fired. Chris C. and Magee H. also left the station during this period.

Triumphantly, WLNE rolled out -- LIVE FROM DOWNTOWN PROVIDENCE -- "The WLNE News" with Dave Layman, Ann Conway. Ken Bell on sports, and Million Dollar Man John Ghiorse on weather. The theme music used is over on the southern media website (although their dates are incorrect). It was an exciting time, as "thousands" of people turned to WLNE News. Arguably, they had one of the better newscasts which also had live news from New Bedford (let's switch live to Massachusetts Bureau Chief Barbara Meagher) as well as downtown Providence. However, they couldn't seem to break the viewing habits of the Providence/New Bedford market.