Where to turn - When Your Main Anchor Leaves?

Friday, November 12, 2010

Jeff Derderian, Media Critic

Have you ever noticed - there's always a "nationwide search".

For this or that top job, I guess it just sounds good.

Well, it's no different for TV news - it sounds big and exciting - when a lot of the time---the replacement has already been picked before the anchor seat gets cold.

But with Channel 12's Karen Adams leaving at the end of this year if there were something commonly called a "world-wide-search," the station would be doing it. Karen has said she will retire after 22-years so there is no doubt some anxious moments over at WPRI TV on Catamore Blvd these days about the "nationwide search".

Replacing Karen will be no easy job. She is top notch and has managed to weave herself in the fabric of Rhode Island television hearts--which is hard to do here. Rhode Island is very traditional when it comes to its anchors and news viewing habits. John Sweeney, Doug White, Walter Cryan, for example were all giants here. And Karen, a native of Missouri, now shares a spot with those well regarded broadcasters.

LEAVING ON HER OWN

Karen says she is leaving on her own and that alone in the world of television news is an accomplishment. With news budgets shrinking and news talent being asked to do more with less (i.e. reporters shooting their own interviews for stories) news directors are in search of ways of cutting back. But positioning your anchor desk and the people who sit there each night is nowhere to cut corners. A wrong move can spell disaster for a station and with Channels 10, 12 and 6 trying to hold on to each viewer they have--picking a replacement is a tall order, make no mistake about that.

The reason why its so important is because more and more viewers are not watching TV news like they used to. When was the last time you were home at 6pm and made a point to watch the news. A recent Gallup poll found that about only 22% of adults surveyed have a "great deal" of "quite a lot" of confidence in TV news.

SOLO ANCHOR?

It would be television suicide for Channel 12 to consider a solo male newscast at 6 or 11 pm. Rhode Island is not the place for that. Boston pulled it off at power house Channel 5--when the married on air duo of Chet Curtis and Natalie Jacobson called it quits on their marriage. Natalie carried the day anchoring solo. But here, male and female anchor teams go together like hot wieners and coffee milk. There will be some vying for the job internally, but I think, in the end management will be forced to look outside. But they should take their time. This is one of the most important hires the station will face in recent memory. Luckily, for the station, the job will be led by news director Joe Abouzeid, a broadcast news pro with migrated here from Boston TV. He gets it and the management needs to let him find the best person and stay away from out of state TV consultants. Consultants, who mind you rarely ever worked a story in their lives, can ruin stations.

It remains to be seen if the station can have a new hire in the door and ready by the crucial February 2011 rating period. It's possible, but doubtful.

With the station gaining momentum on ratings powerhouse Channel 10, Channel 12 is going to want to take extreme care in picking a replacement because this "nationwide search" is not only for a main anchor, but like all television stations these days - there is a "nationwide search" for viewers who are watching less and less these days.

Jeff Derderian is a former television news reporter and anchor both in Providence and Boston. He is one of the founders of the Station Education Fund. He can be reached at [email protected]