Posted by chicagomedia.org on June 25, 2008 at 08:09:52:
New arrival
Fox adds Chambers to 'Good Day Chicago' cast
As WFLD-Channel 32 gears up for the expansion of "Good Day Chicago," the Fox-owned station has added a new face to its morning show.
Kori Chambers, just in from WDIV-TV in Detroit, will "handle a variety of reporting and anchoring responsibilities," according to an announcement by the station.
With the addition of the 9 a.m. hour, the show will expand to five hours -- from 5 to 10 a.m. weekdays -- starting July 7.
Chambers, who'll serve as a news reader on the show, joins a lineup headed by Mike Barz and Jan Jeffcoat. As part of the realignment, Nancy Loo and Patrick Elwood will be anchoring from 5 to 6 a.m., followed by Elwood and Jeffcoat from 6 to 7, and Barz and Jeffcoat from 7 to 10.
The morning show has been struggling in the ratings particularly since Tamron Hall resigned last year to join MSNBC.
Chambers, a native of Upstate New York and journalism graduate of the University of Massachusetts, worked at WGGB-TV in Springfield, Mass., and KVBC-TV in Las Vegas before joining WDIV in 2005.
Meanwhile, Channel 32 continues to seek a replacement for its main news anchor, Mark Suppelsa, who chose not to renew his contract and left the station last March. David Novarro has been filling in.
Insiders identified one candidate for the 9 p.m. anchor job as Mark Koelbel, who has been a news anchor at KUTV-TV in Salt Lake City since 1997. He previously worked at KRIS-TV in Corpus Christi, Texas.
While some said Koelbel, 51, bears a strong likeness to actor George Clooney, others who saw him visiting the Fox station said his prematurely gray hair and youthful looks resemble those of Suppelsa.
(Feder)