A Fox News star is born in Anna Davlantes

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: A Fox News star is born : Davlantes steals the show in her WFLD debut : : November 25, 2009 : LEWIS LAZARE | Chicago Sun-Times : : Anna Davlantes made her debut Monday night as a contributing anchor and reporter on the "Fox Chicago News at 9 p.m" on WFLD-Channel 32. And viewers could be forgiven if they came away from the hourlong newscast thinking Davlantes, who Fox is now touting as "one of the most talked-about personalities" in the Chicago market, was the show's new star. : Whether they liked it or not, co-anchors Robin Robinson and Jeff Goldblatt had to take a backseat to Davlantes, who at the top of the show introduced the evening's major investigative piece -- a look at how passengers at O'Hare and Midway airports can sometimes get through security using only a credit card or a gym pass for identification. : Davlantes also introduced several more segments over the course of the hour, and she reported another lengthy piece about a woman severely injured in a fluke taxi accident. In fact, Davlantes seemed to dominate the first 30 minutes of the show, with Goldblatt and Robinson appearing only to sort of reassume their co-anchor roles in the evening's second half. : Tuesday morning, a Fox spokeswoman said the station wanted to be sure to highlight Davlantes' arrival on Monday's newscast. The spokeswoman also indicated Davlantes' contributions and presence could fluctuate from night to night. : Certainly, the overnight ratings for Monday show that WFLD still has a ways to go to become a significant force in the late news ratings competition among the major local stations, though Davlantes appears to have given WFLD a significant lift in the ratings -- at least for her opening night. WFLD scored a 3.9 rating Monday night at 9 p.m., compared with a 2.2 rating for the same newscast a week earlier. : WGN's late newscast, which usually airs at 9 p.m. opposite WFLD's, did not air until well after 11 p.m. last night, because of a late Chicago Bulls telecast. But even at that late hour the WGN newscast scored a 2.9 rating. Meanwhile, WLS-Channel 7, per usual, far outperformed all other competitors at 10 p.m. on Monday, when its newscast scored a whopping 9.9 rating, compared with WBBM-Channel 2's 4.9 rating and WMAQ-Channel 5's 4.4 rating. : In an interview the morning after her debut on WFLD, Davlantes said she was extremely happy with her new position at the station. : "It's a great role for me," said Davlantes, who indicated she likes to mix it up as a TV news talent -- anchoring and reporting, including investigative pieces."This new job will allow me to do all of that." : Davlantes' boss, WFLD General Manager Michael Renda, said he was pleased with her debut. : "Robin and Jeff are still our co-anchors, and I think the addition of Anna will be a great service to our viewers," Renda said.

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