What Is Up at Channel 5?

[vjm]

...the new GMC MMJ is Josh Boose...

Forgive my ignorance, but what does the acronym "MMJ" mean? I thought we were only referring to Macie until someone wrote "there's an MMJ coming along with Macie..." ???

MMJ = Multi Media Journalist.

A fancy way of saying "reporter".

I used MM-J to refer to Macie, with the hyphen included to reflect her name (McInnis-Jepson)

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Yeah, no one in local TV news gets hired as a "reporter" anymore.

 

[almaniac27]

I thought it meant "Medical Marijuana" and I was confused for a bit. ;D

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

I was not in town when Macie was here. At all. Her time at Fox 8 almost exactly coincides with my time out of Northeast Ohio.

A question: Did she use "McInnis" here? I seem to recall reading references to her here solely as "Macie Jepson".

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

As we noted in the item, and here, Patty Harken's last day was Friday.

Since she is no longer in the building, meteorolgist Christine Ferreira has been adding traffic to her plate. I have no idea when Alicia Roberts starts, but it's apparently not this week.

Oddly enough, Jon Loufman is doing traffic on "19 Action News" in the morning - not in addition to weather, which is handled as usual by Jason Handman. I wonder if I should start asking about Joy Redmond's status?

 

[CleveFan]

Macie went by "Macie McInnis" when she joined WJW in 1994 for "Good Day Cleveland" around the same time the station switched to Fox. She started going by "Macie Jepson" in 1998 after she moved to the Noon & 5pm newscasts. She briefly replaced Robin Swoboda in early 1998 on the 6pm newscast when Robin left for the second time. Jepson is her married name.

Joy Redmond actually left WOIO a few months back for an anchor position in Indiana. She announced her departure a while back, but many did not noticed until recently.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

OK, I get the Macie thing now.

But I feel funny that I missed Joy's departure. Is Metro even handling "19 Action News" traffic anymore, considering that Jon is doing it and not Terry Groden?

I'll have to nose around.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Oddly enough, Jon Loufman is doing traffic on "19 Action News" in the morning - not in addition to weather, which is handled as usual by Jason Handman...

Jon's had traffic duties for quite a while now. Methinks that Metro may only be supplying the information, but not any talent, as some radio stations now are being forced to do.

This of course in preparation for whenever the Metro-Total Traffic combination actually takes effect. (IIRC, CC did acquire Metro, but both are still run as separate companies due to legal challenges preventing the actual merger.)

And of course Jon still supplies weather reports to the ELBC stations... 107.3 has never been one of them, though.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Joy Redmond actually left WOIO a few months back for an anchor position in Indiana. She announced her departure a while back, but many did not noticed until recently.

Are you sure about this? TVSpy (now part of MediaBistro) says she left 19 earlier this month for Mississippi:

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/on-the-move-10411_b24131

Joy Redmond, a traffic reporter at WOIO in Cleveland, joins WDBD in Jackson as 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. anchor.

No mention of Indiana...maybe she said something and it fell through?

WDBD "Fox 40"'s page is here:

http://www.fox40tv.com/

I can't find any "News Team" or "Bios" pages on that site.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Jon's had traffic duties for quite a while now. Methinks that Metro may only be supplying the information, but not any talent, as some radio stations now are being forced to do.

This of course in preparation for whenever the Metro-Total Traffic combination actually takes effect. (IIRC, CC did acquire Metro, but both are still run as separate companies due to legal challenges preventing the actual merger.)

That's very possible. IIRC, Metro did the same thing to WCLV around the time they closed down Granger Road and moved supervision to Detroit.

Maybe Joy saw the Metro/Total Traffic Handwriting On The Wall? Though Metro/Total Traffic did put out an ad for TV reporters fairly recently...

 

[CleveFan]

Joy Redmond actually left WOIO a few months back for an anchor position in Indiana. She announced her departure a while back, but many did not noticed until recently.

Are you sure about this? TVSpy (now part of MediaBistro) says she left 19 earlier this month for Mississippi:

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/on-the-move-10411_b24131

Joy Redmond, a traffic reporter at WOIO in Cleveland, joins WDBD in Jackson as 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. anchor.

No mention of Indiana...maybe she said something and it fell through?

WDBD "Fox 40"'s page is here:

http://www.fox40tv.com/

I can't find any "News Team" or "Bios" pages on that site.

I apologize. Indiana was a guess, but I was sure Joy left to take an anchor job in a different market.

Maybe Patty Harken can fill the job at 19 to at least take in viewers still upset over the "GMC" change. Interestingly enough, I saw a comment on Uncle Barky's page on Dallas TV that WEWS has been looking at anchors from Dallas a lot. I think that same person said the "GMC" job was offered to another female anchor in that city, but she turned it down so she wouldn't have to move her family.

I am glad 5 is finally filling holes at the anchor desk. They've been short-staffed for a while. I do wonder why none of the in-house staffers didn't work out regarding replacing Ted Henry, not to mention trying to get Tim White a while back.

 

[CleveFan]

THIS JUST IN:

Channel 5 has now hired another morning show co-anchor, this time from Orlando.

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_u...-good-morning-cleveland-anchor-team-announced

He's Mike Dunston, coming from Fox-owned WOFL-TV, and will join the "GMC" crew in January, but will debut in December. I wish him lots of luck.

 

[vjm]

THIS JUST IN:

Channel 5 has now hired another morning show co-anchor, this time from Orlando.

http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/about_u...-good-morning-cleveland-anchor-team-announced

He's Mike Dunston, coming from Fox-owned WOFL-TV, and will join the "GMC" crew in January, but will debut in December. I wish him lots of luck.

Macie was OK on WJW back in the day, and Dunston looks like a career journeyman, going from town to town up and down the dial.

They both probably will do some holiday fill-in during the evening shifts to get viewers familarized with them, before the grand re-launch of Good Morning Cleveland on January 9.

Chris Flanagan will also probably see a lot of holiday duty as well.

We'll probably see a lot of the 3 newbies in December, as station vets Leon Bibb, Lee Jordan, and Danita Harris take their holiday vacations.

So once the dust clears (and more than likely the holidays are over) here's what the WEWS anchor line up will look like:

Mornings:
Mike Dunston and Macie McInnis-Jepson (anchors), Christine Ferreria (weather), and Alicia Roberts (traffic)

Noon:
Leon Bibb (anchor), with Ferreria, Jason Nicholas, and newbie Trent Magill sharing weather duties

5 p.m.:
Danita Harris and Lee Jordan (anchors), Mark Johnson (weather), and Andy Baskin (sports)

6 p.m.:
Bibb and Jordan at the anchor desk, with Johnson and Baskin at their respective posts

11 p.m.:
Harris and Chris Flanagan (anchors), with Johnson and Baskin doing their thing.

Saturday mornings:
TBA (anchor) with Trent Magill at the weather desk

Weekend evenings:
Tracy Carloss (anchor), Jason Nicholas (weather), and Mike Cairns (sports)