Posted by chicagomedia.org on February 21, 2008 at 10:36:46:
WBBM-Channel 2 reached out to the West Coast this week to buy itself some anchor insurance.
The CBS-owned station hired Anne State, a news anchor at KSWB-TV in San Diego, to front Channel 2's 5 p.m. weekday newscast with Rob Johnson.
Starting April 21, she'll replace Diann Burns at 5 p.m. and report for the 10 p.m. newscast.
Burns will continue to anchor with Johnson at 6 and 10 p.m. With Burns' multimillion-dollar contract up in October (and Channel 2 cutting salaries left and right), State could be in line to succeed Burns in the top job.
Johnson followed the same scenario when he first bumped Antonio Mora off of the 5 p.m. newcast and eventually replaced him at 6 and 10 p.m. as well.
Both State and Johnson are represented by the same New York agent, Gregg Willinger.
"Anne is a talented news anchor and aggressive reporter who will bring great energy to our team," said Joe Ahern, president and general manager of Channel 2.
State grew up in Southern California and graduated from the University of California at San Diego. She earned a chicagomedia.org's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and worked in Topeka, Kansas; Des Moines and St. Louis before returning to San Diego in 2002.
She joined NBC-owned KNSD-TV as a reporter before anchoring at KSWB, a Tribune Co.-owned CW affiliate whose news is supplied by KNSD.
The announcement of State's hiring noted that she holds dual Irish and American citizenship.