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WJW Anchor Shuffle

V

vjm

Stacey Bell's last day is tomorrow (11/23).

Who do y'all think will be her replacement?

My $0.02:

Tracey McCool goes to evenings to work with Bill Martin, Kristy Capel moves from Sky Fox to the anchor desk alongside Wayne Dawson and Stefani Schaffer in the AM and a Patty Harkin-esque type (not necessarily Patty herself) goes up in the chopper.
 
I will miss Stacey. She was really good as Bill's co-anchor. I can't really picture someone else in her spot on the 5 and 10 p.m. Newscasts.

Tracy McCool is a good choice for the spot, but I think you should add Suzanne Stratford to the list of possible candidates. Maybe Jacque Smith can come back and take Stacey's spot.

How about Sharon Reed? Maybe she's tired of waiting for Denise Dufala to leave, so she can spread her wings and become the leading anchor elsewhere.

In the meantime, Fox 8 can plug Wilma Smith with Bill at 5, and Lou Maglio at 10 until they find or name Stacey's replacement.
 
CleveFan said:
I will miss Stacey. She was really good as Bill's co-anchor. I can't really picture someone else in her spot on the 5 and 10 p.m. Newscasts.

Tracy McCool is a good choice for the spot, but I think you should add Suzanne Stratford to the list of possible candidates. Maybe Jacque Smith can come back and take Stacey's spot.

How about Sharon Reed? Maybe she's tired of waiting for Denise Dufala to leave, so she can spread her wings and become the leading anchor elsewhere.
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Remember that back in 2007 or so, Sharon nearly left WOIO to join WJW's then-sister station in Houston, TX... which even forced WOIO to change their anchor lineups! It must have fallen through at the very last minute, or WOIO's moves were enough to keep Sharon in town.

I'm not sure that WJW will do something that dramatic. In fact, the last time they seriously poached talent from another station was back in 1993, when Wilma, Lou and David Moss bolted WEWS on the same day.

CleveFan said:
In the meantime, Fox 8 can plug Wilma Smith with Bill at 5, and Lou Maglio at 10 until they find or name Stacey's replacement.
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Perhaps Stephanie Shafer, Stacey Frey, Mark Zinni and/or Todd Meany get plugged in the anchor lineup in some way or another over the next few weeks. I doubt it will take WJW as much time to find a replacement in comparison to WEWS. ;)

Stacey Bell's departure also now means that the David Whitman-Denise Dufala tandem at WOIO is the longest-tenured anchor duo in Cleveland. Wow.
 
Yeah, the David Wittman-Denise Dufala pairing has been strong for nine straight years at WOIO. Longer than any other team. I would not be surprised to see those two last longer than Bill and Stacey in terms of years and length. Even the Tim White-Romona Robinson pairing has not lasted as long as Bill and Stacey.

Speaking of Denise, could she possibly return to WJW? Don't know how she would do with Bill, but who knows? Then again, I'm not sure how she'll do with Wilma Smith still at 8.

I think it all depends on whether or not Tracy has chemistry with Bill and/or whether she even wants to leave mornings. WJW might likely look at other candidates to see what's out there, but the best success has always been in-house. Stacey was already at WJW when she replaced Macie McInnis Jepson (who's soon to arrive at WEWS) as 5 p.m. co-anchor in 2000, two years after Stefani Schaefer took over for Macie as morning co-anchor when Macie replaced Robin Swoboda as 6 p.m. co-anchor in 1998.

Going back, Denise D'Asenzo was already at WJW when she replaced Tana Carli as the 6 and 11 p.m. co-anchor in 1983. Then in 1989, Eleanor Hayes and Kelly O'Donnell got anchor gigs when the station shuffled their female anchors around (except for Robin Swoboda). Of course, Denise Dufala replaced Robin as the 6 and 11 p.m. co-anchor at WJW back in 1991. That last search was mainly in-house. It seems WJW has a tradition of going in-house for replacing anchors.
 
Haven't you guys been noticing local TV stations on-air talent have been steadily getting younger, cheaper?

With the fragmentation of TV audience across 80+ TV channels, thus ad revenues falling, and rumors of the major broadcast networks seriously considering eventually ending local station affiliations in markets across the country and simply having their own channel on cable (like USA, CNN, MSNBC, Discovery Channel, etc., etc.)...the local broadcast TV industry is in scramble mode to cut costs.

Ever wonder why certain local broadcast TV stations run local news starting at 4am to 5am+, and 4pm to 5pm+??? Extend the only real local programming on broadcast TV: news. Everything else is pretty much syndicated or network shows. Not a whole lot of locally-produced programming other than news.

Very crazy times in local broadcast TV, indeed.
 
CleveFan said:
I will miss Stacey. She was really good as Bill's co-anchor. I can't really picture someone else in her spot on the 5 and 10 p.m. Newscasts.

Tracy McCool is a good choice for the spot, but I think you should add Suzanne Stratford to the list of possible candidates. Maybe Jacque Smith can come back and take Stacey's spot.

How about Sharon Reed? Maybe she's tired of waiting for Denise Dufala to leave, so she can spread her wings and become the leading anchor elsewhere.

In the meantime, Fox 8 can plug Wilma Smith with Bill at 5, and Lou Maglio at 10 until they find or name Stacey's replacement.
Click to expand...

Sharon Reed's schtick wouldn't work at any other Cleveland TV newsroom.

Fox 8 has always had a "steady as she goes" approach to news, and Reed's "more sizzle than steak" rep wouldn't fly at Dick Goddard Way.

Also Stacy Bell was on RBS yesterday (as Rizz wanted to bid his old Fox 8 buddy farewell), and Stacy herself said that McCool was the probably going to be her replacement.

And I still will go on record as saying Kristi Capel will take over McCool's spot at the anchor desk.

WJW has been pushing Capel as a star since she came in, and the best way to give her more of a profile is to get her out of the chopper and at the desk with Wayne and Stefani.

It also wouldn't shock me if channel 8 then transferred Allie LaForce (another personality they've been pushing) from the sports beat to replace Capel in the chopper (and as David Moss' new co-host on "New Day Cleveland").
 
Is WJW going to look at other candidates or just simply give Tracy the gig. If not her (and not Sharon), than who?

I can't picture Allie doing non-sports segments. She seems to be much stronger in sports, and that is her passion. That's like when WEWS had then-reporter Duane Pohlman fill-in and later audition for Ted Henry's spot at the anchor desk. I didn't think Duane was right for the anchor role, because I felt he was stronger as an investigative reporter. (BTW, WJW has an ad online for an investigative reporter. Just sayin' ;))

I think WJW is going to take their time with finding Stacey's replacement like when they first replaced Robin Swoboda 20 years ago. Worst case senario, Bill ends up solo for awhile.
 
By the time Dick Goddard is ready to retire Scott Sabol will be the Chief Meteorologist. Anyone wanna bet that Andre Bernier quits before Dick Goddard? Mark Koontz got tired of waiting for Goddard to retire and became Chief Meteorologist somewhere else (Youngstown I think?)
 
CleveRadioInsider said:
By the time Dick Goddard is ready to retire Scott Sabol will be the Chief Meteorologist. Anyone wanna bet that Andre Bernier quits before Dick Goddard? Mark Koontz got tired of waiting for Goddard to retire and became Chief Meteorologist somewhere else (Youngstown I think?)
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Correct.

Mr. Koontz went to WFMJ -21 (NBC) in Youngstown.

And Dick Goddard goes when HE wants to go...and not a second sooner.

You'd think Andre is next in line (which is why they moved him to evenings to do a "tag-team" deal with the man they named the street after).
 
No offense to Goddard but I think it is time for him to retire. His voice is very weak on newscasts now, and you can see at times he gets lost and stumbles. Someone in management should let him do a farewell tour of sorts. Set a date for his retirement and wish him well. If he wants to fill in on the weekends once in awhile then OK but I think its way past time he retires from doing weather on a regular basis.
 
CleveRadioInsider said:
No offense to Goddard but I think it is time for him to retire. His voice is very weak on newscasts now, and you can see at times he gets lost and stumbles. Someone in management should let him do a farewell tour of sorts. Set a date for his retirement and wish him well. If he wants to fill in on the weekends once in awhile then OK but I think its way past time he retires from doing weather on a regular basis.
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If WJW forces him out, there would be pitch forks and torches at South Marginal...err...Dick Goddard Way.

It's his call, and that's just how it is. As long as he still thinks he has gas in the tank, he's gonna keep on trucking.
 
Besides, in some circles, Dick Goddard is considered, "The Franchise" at Fox 8. Keep in mind that Dorothy Fuldheim was pretty much carried out of WEWS in a gurney. I'm hoping this isn't the case with Goddard, but......
 
74WIXYGrad said:
Besides, in some circles, Dick Goddard is considered, "The Franchise" at Fox 8. Keep in mind that Dorothy Fuldheim was pretty much carried out of WEWS in a gurney. I'm hoping this isn't the case with Goddard, but......
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......if that's what Mr. Goddard wants, that's what he's gonna get.
 
On a different note I give Don Webster credit he knew when it was time for him to retire. I believe he retired in the late 90s. He stayed on for a little while to do fill in weather. One bad thing about Channel 5 weather is that Mark Johnson is in constant panic mode. Don did not get worked up over a few flurries flying in the air. Channel 5 interrupts programming when the temperature goes below 40 and two flakes of snow are flying. I wish someone in management at Channel 5 would get Johnson under control. Just my two cents.
 
vjm said:
It's his call, and that's just how it is. As long as he still thinks he has gas in the tank, he's gonna keep on trucking.
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But it shouldn't be. My parents always taught me that nobody ever "earns" something and then gets to rest on his or her laurels. They have to keep earning it and if they can't then they need to be shown the door and let the next person have their shot.

I'm sure we all remember the incident from June, 1994, where Dick missed his cue and sat there at his desk for a solid ten seconds before turning around, getting embarrassed, and putting his coat on and starting the weather report. He should have been "retired" the very next day

Besides, WJW has always been seen as a joke since they made the switch to Fox back in 1993. To most NE Ohioans, WJW is still remembered as a CBS affiliate and WOIO is the Fox affiliate, it's just a matter of time until they eventuallyh switch back to their old networks.
 
Fox 8 recently ran a pretty heavy radio campaign for their news that featured some woman on the street talking about how good it makes her feel to see Dick Goddard on TV....doesn't seem to me that they plan on showing him the door anytime soon. Can you imagine though all the hoopla that will surround his eventual retirement?? It will likely be the biggest farewell tour there has ever (or will ever) be in Cleveland media.

Amazing when I think though how long Andre has been there waiting in the wings....I remember watching him do the weather in the morning back when I was in junior high school.
 
Andre has been waiting not only behind Goddard but Mark Koontz for awhile as well. I think Koontz finally gave up in 1995 and went to Youngstown after almost 20 years of waiting. I said Andre might retire before Goddard does at this rate ;D. Andre has to be close to 60 now.
 
FM 100 Means Music said:
vjm said:
It's his call, and that's just how it is. As long as he still thinks he has gas in the tank, he's gonna keep on trucking.
Click to expand...

But it shouldn't be. My parents always taught me that nobody ever "earns" something and then gets to rest on his or her laurels. They have to keep earning it and if they can't then they need to be shown the door and let the next person have their shot.

I'm sure we all remember the incident from June, 1994, where Dick missed his cue and sat there at his desk for a solid ten seconds before turning around, getting embarrassed, and putting his coat on and starting the weather report. He should have been "retired" the very next day

Besides, WJW has always been seen as a joke since they made the switch to Fox back in 1993. To most NE Ohioans, WJW is still remembered as a CBS affiliate and WOIO is the Fox affiliate, it's just a matter of time until they eventuallyh switch back to their old networks.
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You go to You Tube, and you'll find gaffes 10X worse from anchors and weather people all around the country.

WJW a joke?!? Are you kidding me? Their ratings are through the roof in the AM (and have bn for years), They've owned 10 p.m. since they moved there 17 YEARS ago, and are always right there at 5 and 6 p.m.

They are also the most stable newsroom in town by far, and are long known as being reputable.

Seriously...how can you call channel 8 news a joke when there's a certain newsroom in the basement of Reserve Square?

And there's been a whole generation of Clevelanders born/growing up since the network swap of '94 where all they know is "Fox 8" and "CBS 19".

Finally the 2 stations are in long term deals with their repsective networks, so it ain't changing anytime soon.
 
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