Posted by chicagomedia.org on November 18, 2009 at 20:08:45:
In Reply to: Anna Davlantes signs on with Channel 32 posted by chicagomedia.org on November 18, 2009 at 18:33:23:
Former WMAQ weekend anchor joins Fox News team Monday
November 18, 2009
LEWIS LAZARE
The public can talk all they want about Anna Davlantes, but will they flock to watch her in her new role as a contributing anchor and reporter on WFLD-Channel 32's 9 p.m. news?
WFLD General Manager Michael Renda made the announcement of her hiring Tuesday, referring to her as one of the "most talked-about personalities" in the Chicago broadcasting business.
Davlantes, who left WMAQ-Channel 5 July 30, begins her new job Monday.
In her new role she will be a "consistent'' presence on the 9 p.m. newscast, according to a WFLD spokeswoman, but it will be very clear that Jeff Goldblatt and Robin Robinson will still be the lead co-anchors at 9 p.m.
Davlantes also will fill in whenever Goldblatt or Robinson is away.
From the moment Davlantes walked away from a new contract offer at WMAQ, there has been rampant speculation about what her next move would be. She insisted she was not looking for a 10 p.m. anchor slot but wanted a contract with some security and a job with some new challenges.
Sources who know Davlantes well say she was looking for a job that would give her increased visibility on the newscast during the week, rather than just on weekends. She was the weekend anchor at WMAQ when she left.
PR machine in gear
In adding Davlantes to his talent lineup, Renda clearly believes she can help the station move from the bottom in the local late news ratings competition and make the newscast more competitive with Tribune company's WGN-Channel 9 and the networks' 10 p.m. local newscast.
The hiring of Davlantes is Renda's first big move to turn around the WFLD 9 p.m. news report. In an interview last month, Renda said he believes a newscast improves in the ratings when the content and the presentation of the news are done right. Renda's philosophy is similar to that of Jeff Kiernan, the news director at WBBM-Channel 2 who has had some significant success in turning around that station's 10 p.m. newscast in the 10 months he has been there.
And as Davlantes prepares to do what she can to help WFLD improve its ratings, her publicity machine was already kicking into high gear this afternoon.
Within hours of the announcement about her new job, Roe Conn already had booked Davlantes to make an appearance today on his afternoon drive radio show on WLS-AM (890).