Posted by Bud on May 10, 2010 at 16:30:14:
Courtesy of Phil Rosenthal at the Chicago Tribune:
Reunion season in full swing for TV news
May 9, 2010
Anchor team of Bill Kurtis, Walter Jacobson might return to WBBM-Ch. 2; Bob Sirott a possibility back at WFLD-Ch. 32
This just in … from the 1980s: Bill Kurtis, Walter Jacobson and Bob Sirott all may be headed back to local anchor duty.
It's apparently trial-balloon season here in Chicago, where local TV stations adhere to the maxim that while those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, those who can remember the past also may wish to repeat it strategically.
It's still just talk in that nothing actually has been agreed to yet. Nothing has been signed. The only thing in ink, in fact, has been a Chicago Sun-Times report that a reuniting of the Kurtis-Jacobson anchor team of the 1970s and '80s is being considered by their alma mater, WBBM-Ch. 2. The possibility of WFLD-Ch. 32 rehiring Sirott, who transitioned into TV news at Channel 2 in the '80s, appeared the next day on Robert Feder's Chicago Public Media blog.
This for months had been the talk among the local TV tribes, where the idea of grabbing hold of the past initially might seem at odds with embracing the future. But while familiarity may or may not breed contempt, a lack of familiarity breeds something worse — ambivalence.
"I know firsthand how long it used to take for established people, high-quality people like Bill and Walter … to make it," Sirott said. "That was before … all the fragmentation and new sources for news. So if back then, it took three or four years, today it might take 30 years, if you can do it at all. That may be why there's interest in these people who are already known."
Sirott, a Chicago radio-television personality for nearly 40 years, previously anchored for WFLD, WTTW-Ch. 11 and, in two stints, WMAQ-Ch. 5. He still has a weekend show for Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s WGN-AM 720, but is a TV free agent still cashing Channel 5 checks because the station last year hoped to renegotiate his deal as it promoted him to lead male anchor and failed.
Channel 32, or any station, would benefit from Sirott's versatility. He is among the best at shifting between serious and light news. There also has been chatter about taking WFLD's news in a new direction, possibly mimicking what Sirott did as host of WTTW's " Chicago Tonight."
Sirott, however, is a traditionalist at heart and wary when people start talking about reinventing news. He recalls his WBBM days in the Kurtis-Jacobson era fondly, still marveling at what the old Channel 2 news team did.
Only about a decade in age separate Sirott and Kurtis (the younger half of the Kurtis-Jacobson pairing), and the city's top anchor, WLS-Ch. 7's Ron Magers, would be halfway between them. Yet, perhaps it's the fact that Kurtis and Jacobson were first installed as Channel 2 anchors in 1973 and last were a regular team 21 years ago that makes the CBS-owned station's possible move seem more of a reach.
"If it works out, you can be sure I won't be doing the 10 (p.m. news) because I can't stay up that late," Kurtis said Friday.
WBBM, which brought Kurtis and Jacobson back for a single well-received 10 p.m. newscast last fall and has experimented since with reviving Jacobson's "Perspective" commentaries, would like nothing more than to bask in the glow of their distant success of 30 years ago. Maneuvers have included using Kurtis in promos and segments tied to his syndicated "Cold Case Files" on newscasts.
The Channel 2 news of the Kurtis-Jacobson era was nationally known for excellence, yet the quality of the newsroom deserves much of the credit. Even with WBBM's reputation, it wasn't until the late '70s that its news became the city's most popular. That distinction held when Kurtis left for CBS' morning news but already was slipping by the time he returned in the mid-'80s. He left for good in 1996.
No question Channel 2 would get at least a short-term bump from nostalgic and curious viewers, but the quality of the overall news organization will dictate long-term success. In that respect, the exit for Channel 32 of Mike Flannery, whose political reporting for Channel 2 dated back to the Kurtis-Jacobson glory days, threatens to have greater impact.
Kurtis' reputation now is as much about AT&T commercials and cable television documentaries as it is for his stint as Channel 2 anchor. A wiser move for WBBM might be to partner with his Kurtis Productions on reports, letting Kurtis complement Jacobson's commentaries and, more importantly, the work of the current WBBM staff and anchor Rob Johnson.
"I watch (Channel 2's) 10 o'clock and I think it's a pretty good newscast, but is this enough to make a dent somewhere?" Sirott said. "I think you've got to hit people over the head. These trial balloons are about people thinking, 'Well, maybe the only way to hit people over the head is to do it with some recognizable folks.' I don't know. I hope so. For my sake."