Posted by chicagomedia.org on November 18, 2009 at 18:33:23:
Anchor-reporter who left Channel 5 believes WFLD will triumph
Phil Rosenthal | Tribune Media
November 18, 2009
Whoever had Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32 in the "Where Will Anna Davlantes End Up?" pool, congratulations, you are a winner.
Now the challenge for former WMAQ-Ch. 5 anchor-reporter Davlantes and her new colleagues at WFLD is to make Channel 32 a winner, too.
Davlantes, who in July walked away from a WMAQ contract renewal offer after nine years, said she wouldn't have signed with Channel 32 if she didn't believe it could -- and would -- ultimately triumph.
"I don't want to understate it," Davlantes said Tuesday after WFLD announced she was coming aboard as a contributing anchor and reporter on its marquee 9 p.m. weeknight newscast fronted by Robin Robinson and Jeff Goldblatt. "I think Fox is doing great things already and they're one to watch. General Manager Mike Renda is a smart man. He's been with Fox for a long time, and he's committed to making (the station) better."
Renda, the recently installed WFLD boss Fox hopes can re-create in Chicago the success he enjoyed at its stations in Philadelphia and Cleveland, has made no secret that he views improving the performance of the 9 p.m. program as key to boosting the station overall.
That's why Channel 32 ponied up for Davlantes. Although the station's reporting is increasingly gaining notice, WFLD's 9 p.m. show for years has been unable to capitalize on the popularity of its Fox prime-time lead-ins, including the January-to-May juggernaut "American Idol."
"I'd love to think we can become the preferred station in Chicago and that's what we're going to work on," Renda, whose long-term goals include adding a late afternoon-early evening newscast, said recently. "News is the thing that you lead with."
Davlantes grew up in Chicago and earned degrees from Lane Tech and Northwestern University. After beginning her broadcast career at Chicago's WTTW-Ch. 11, she spent three years at Fox-owned KRIV in Houston before Channel 5 bosses Larry Wert and Frank Whittaker brought her back home. In leaving that station, where she anchored weekends and reported, she said she was seeking opportunities WMAQ couldn't afford her.
"This is the perfect role for me, this hybrid reporter-anchor role Monday-through-Friday," Davlantes explained of her new post.
Davlantes didn't know where she would land after leaving Channel 5, but she was confident there would be enough interest once she and agent Steve Mandell finally were contractually free this month to talk to outlets here and elsewhere. So she said it wasn't as risky as it might have seemed at a time she concedes many stations were "talking about the economy and why everyone was going to have to take pay cuts."
Cuts have been made at Channel 32 and other stations. Now, perhaps, it's time to build anew, and at WFLD they're understandably in a hurry to get on track.
"This contract got done in record time," Davlantes said.
In nate talent? Chicago designer Nate Berkus appears destined to be the next acolyte of Oprah Winfrey to earn his own syndicated television program. Winfrey's Harpo Productions and Sony Pictures Television are finalizing plans to launch a syndicated weekday program hosted by Berkus next fall, according to a Broadcasting & Cable report.
A Harpo spokesman on Tuesday confirmed discussions but said there is nothing to announce. Harpo and Sony already partner on the rookie show "Dr. Oz."
Step to the plate: Chris De Luca is coming off the baseball beat for the Chicago Sun-Times to become its new sports editor, effective immediately. He succeeds Stu Courtney, who this month joined the rival Chicago Tribune as editor of its new chicagobreakingsports.com Web site. "I guarantee our sports coverage will be in good hands," Don Hayner, the Sun-Times' editor in chief, said.
Ever green: John Williams, mid-morning man at WGN-AM 720, may be the front-runner for Tribune Co. employee of the month.
Taken aback by the six-figure expense the city of Chicago says it takes to have a Christmas tree in Daley Plaza, Williams insisted the whole thing could be done for less -- maybe even free.
Listeners soon volunteered a tree, a truck, a crane, lights and such, and what began as an everyday radio rant blossomed into what the station is touting as "The People's Tree." Said tree is to be installed in front of Tribune Tower on Wednesday, with Chicagoans invited to drop off ornaments in the building's lobby.
Which means Williams' rant not only got some publicity, it provided Tribune Co. -- parent of WGN and the Chicago Tribune -- a fully decorated 25-foot Christmas tree for its Michigan Avenue headquarters at no cost.