• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

KHOU's Deborah Duncan

T

TXNews

Just got back from vacation and saw this press release. It's a couple weeks old, but didn't see any conversation about it on here so thought I'd post it:

11 News Anchor Deborah Duncan to Become New Host of Great Day Houston

Houston, TX -- 11 News This Morning Anchor Deborah Duncan will be the new Host of Great Day Houston.

Duncan is well versed in the talk show genre having hosted both television and radio talk shows that relied on her versatility, quick-wittedness and being in tune with what Houstonians want to know.

"We are thrilled to have someone as well known and loved as Deborah take on this role," said KHOU General Manager Susan McEldoon, "She has the right mix of energy, passion and experience for the job. "

"There are so many untold stories that don't fit into a newscast," says Duncan, "this is a great venue for celebrating Houston's heart and at the same time giving our business community another avenue to tell us what they do."

Duncan has been a news anchor with KHOU since December of 2002. She is a graduate of the University of Texas and began her career at the CBS station in Austin. She was co-host of Good Morning Texas from 1994-1997 at KHOU's sister station WFAA. Deborah has also worked for Lifetime Television and ABC. While at the ABC she hosted the Debra Duncan show from 1998-2002. Deborah is the recipient of many local and national awards for television excellence in addition to recognition for community service.

Deborah will remain on 11 News This Morning while a search for her replacement is underway.
 
I wish Debra was still here in the Dallas market with us.

Always watched her on the morning news when I travel down to the Houston area.
 
She is an amazing talent, too bad WFAA let her slip through their fingers and gave us a poor replacement with debbie denmon.
 
Slambang said:
She is an amazing talent, too bad WFAA let her slip through their fingers and gave us a poor replacement with debbie denmon.
Click to expand...

Ahhhh, I wish you didn't dislike Debbie so much. She's a hoot to work with, and a genuinely nice person who is so classy and down to earth. Deborah Duncan is all that, too, and is so dynamic and charismatic that anyone who comes after her in any position would find her shoes hard to fill.

My very first morning to cover traffic for Alexa, nearly 5 years ago now...I did my report and tossed it back to Scott (Sams) and DEBORAH (instead of Debbie) by accident! I didn't think she'd take well to that, but I was wrong.

Really, I thought Deborah was already doing such a show at KHOU...I didn't know she was strictly doing morning news. The talk show format is where she will shine the most...just like at GMT of yesteryear.
 
Mike, it isnt that I dont like her. I think shes decent in small doses, as a beat reporter or doing packages for Metro. I just wish we could pull serious talent like a Deb. Duncan in this market, seeing that we do have the Belo flagship. Instead we're getting the likes of Justin Farmer and Morticia.

In addendum, I believe Deborah Duncan had her own talk show on KHOU, that they wanted to make into another Oprah, but it fell through due to bad managment decisions
 
Justin's still out of here in July, last I heard...but no idea who's stepping into his role. I worked with Cynthia for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and she's got to be one of the nicest people I've ever met. I think she's doing well so far, but teaming her with a new male who can cut up a little bit...it just might work. 8 is slowly creeping up on that sacred morning ground that's belonged to Channel 4 for so long.

(NO, just to be clear, I'm not trying to blow sunshine up WFAA's *** or buy points with my comments on this thread, but there really are some nice folks over there. Now I'm judging mainly on who I interact with and their friendliness and lack of ego, and not solely on their on-air talents. I know that's not being totally objective!) McCaa, Brady, Jepson, McCauley, Delkus (yes, Delkus!), Denmon, Izzy, Danahey, Hawkins, plus many others...all tops in my book.
 
It maybe the case that daybreak will take that top spot back, but it'll have to do more, like potentially start doing more lifestyle segments to get the early morning soccerMILF to watch. Too bad WFAA cant flex its muscle and not run GMA, id like to see what they could do with a 3-4 hour block in the AM.
 
Slambang said:
In addendum, I believe Deborah Duncan had her own talk show on KHOU, that they wanted to make into another Oprah, but it fell through due to bad managment decisions
Click to expand...

It was actually across the street at KTRK-13, the ABC O&O. The initial plan was to start in Houston then roll it out into nationwide syndication. Never happened. Whether that was bad management of the part of folks at ABC-13, Buena Vista (Disney/ABC's syndication arm) or someone else, I can't speculate.

Her contract for the show was allowed to expire and she subsequently popped up on KHOU's languishing morning newscast a few months later. I don't know that "11 News This Morning" was ever able to knock KTRK off the top perch in the morning, but the show became a contender once Duncan and co-anchor Ron Trevino were in place.
 
Slambang said:
It maybe the case that daybreak will take that top spot back, but it'll have to do more, like potentially start doing more lifestyle segments to get the early morning soccerMILF to watch. Too bad WFAA cant flex its muscle and not run GMA, id like to see what they could do with a 3-4 hour block in the AM.
Click to expand...
I don't think WFAA would ever consider expanding it's local morning newscast, even if it could. GMA does fairly well in the ratings and sometimes it's even the #1 watched program from 7-9am (as on Thursday), beating Fox 4's local "Good Day." Expanding "Daybreak" would probably bring down WFAA's ratings in the timeslot.
 
Given WFAA's longtime standard of staying relatively conservative on the air (not politically, I mean, but stopping short of dumb antics and classlessness,) I don't know that they could hold viewers' attention for a 3-hour show. Part of the Ch 4 "aura" is folks tuning in (and staying tuned in) to see what dumb thing they're going to do or say next. WFAA's tried the long format morning news/talk show twice, with "News 8 etc..." and "AM" ("The AM Show.") "etc..." had a nice 5-year run, but lost much of its steam early on when Don Harris stepped down and Gene Thomas died...Suzie Humphreys was left to prop up the show all on her own. "AM" was an offshoot of that, and John Criswell was just too serious of an anchor to hold attention for long. I don't think there's been an attempt since GMA went on the air in early 1975 to do that long-form type of show at WFAA again. (But you never know what might change...is Webster Webfoot still available?)
 
Slambang said:
In addendum, I believe Deborah Duncan had her own talk show on KHOU, that they wanted to make into another Oprah, but it fell through due to bad managment decisions
Click to expand...

Maybe Belo can replace the Good Morning _____ with the Deborah Duncan show (like the ABC 13 show ) live on all it's Texas (and possibly New Orleans) stations in this timeslot?
 
Id watch it, prolly better than whats on there now, as GMT has become in essence a 60 min paid advertisement for goods and services.
 
Does Gary Cogill grate on your nerves as bad as he does on mine? Cannot stand him.

Love the blonde, she's a hottie and always seems to have a nice pair of thigh high boots on. :)

What's up with that? Seriously, she has worn thigh high boots a number of times on the air. Can't
believe Belo8 would allow that.
 
Gary is usually decent when he's phoned into Jeff Wards show on KLBJ, he's a better media/film reviewer than co-host.
 
Slambang said:
Id watch it, prolly better than whats on there now, as GMT has become in essence a 60 min paid advertisement for goods and services.
Click to expand...

That's basically what "Great Day Houston" and lot of the mid-morning local shows popping up all over the country ("10!" in Philadelphia, "Daytime" in Tampa and the "The View from the Bay" in San Francisco, etc) are doing. These shows are not produced by the news departments, but by the promotions and advertising departments.

I guess if there is a decent host, it makes a bit more palatable than a straight-forward infomercial.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom