Some of our readers have already noticed an anchor change at Raycom Cleveland CBS affiliate WOIO/19's "19 Action News".
The station has replaced long-time anchor David Wittman at 11 PM weekdays with Paul Joncich.
Joncich, of course, is the former anchor at Sacramento CBS affiliate KOVR/13 who first came to "Action News" to co-anchor weekends with former Chicago anchor Danielle Serino. He then moved to the 10 PM edition of "19 Action News" on sister MyNetworkTV outlet WUAB/43.
The TV industry gossip site NewsBlues quotes WOIO/WUAB general manager Bill Applegate as calling the move "a trial", and he insists the change is "not now permanent, and may never be". (Around here, we call that "NewsChannel 5 Style Anchor Shuffling".)
But the popular TV industry gossip site quotes "insiders" as saying the move may have been made in an effort to hang onto Sharon Reed.
NewsBlues placed the controversial anchor in Houston on a recent trip, where she's reportedly up for the morning anchor job at the FOX O&O there, KRIV/26. The site speculates that the station is moving around its male anchors - to pave the way for the station to more prominently feature Ms. Reed...
Thursday, July 12, 2007
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STO usually shows up in HD on DirecTV 94, 95, 96, or 97.
These are the extra HD channels used for various sports and other special programs.
You do need the newer MPEG-4 receiver to get them.
Did I call this or what?
She has leverage...and deservedly so.
Cleveland media needs to hold on to it's best and brightest talents instead of losing them repeatedly to bigger markets.
She has no talent. Anyone can sit at a desk or go in the field and flash cleavage in everyone's face. She isn't very bright either. Manipulative - yes, intelligent no. There is a big difference. We can only hope she receives "a call on her own personal cell phone" from another station out of town so she can blaze her trail through someone else's locker room.
If Reed really had leverage, she'd be on the 6 & 11 instead of Denise.
Reed isn't moving, so her leverage is nil.
If she was terminally destined for Houston, she'd have been there by now. Wasn't she readying for impending national positions immediately after the Body of Art thing?
That was years ago. I see those doors have really been busting down, huh?
If Reed's presence can't get viewers to the 10pm as it is, how is adding Wittman going to help out *her* plight?
I hope Sharon Reed is leaving, shes an embaresment to Cleveland TV.
I found this online, a look back at better days(before WOIO even existed)
http://clevelandclassicmedia.blogspot.com/2007/07/christmas-in-julyfrom-wjkw-tv-8.html
Stodgy old men make up the majority of the commenters on this board obviously...
Stodgy old men I'm 19 and I commented on this topic. I like to hear the real news, just because I'm young doesnt mena I buy into this tabloid style BS the put out. I was not even born yet in 77 but they did a better job covering the news than 19 or Sharon ever will.
True...only stodgy old people would be fooled by 19's fake newscast style. Intelligent, young people see right through it. Sharon has never had ratings success here.
How does moving around the male anchors pave the way for Sharon Reed to get more exposure?
Unless they replace Denise with Sharon, Sharon stays on the B-team anchoring last place 5pm and 10pm newscasts.
I hate to sound negative, but Greggo from 99.7 The Blitz in Columbus was released earlier this week and not a peep here on the OMW.
Did you say Reed had leverage or Cleavage? I would believe the latter.
Can you say.. "Naked News" featuring Sharon Reed? I'm sure Channel 19 is salivating at the thought of that concept. Oh wait, I guess they already did that. Nevermind. Maybe Action "Nudes" or the "V" team?
is Houston next on Spencer Tunick's list?
Hi OMW. From a fellow media blogger...
Sharon, please stay in Cleveland or go to Houston and don't come to Chicago. Local news here is embarrassing enough. The Amy Jacobson debacle is a testament to that. I wonder if WBBM-TV management has Sharon on speed dial....
http://thetdogblog.blogspot.com/
Actually, I'm surprised that Sharon HASN'T stooped to the "standards" set by Amy Jacobson. I saw the CNN/HN story, and Amy could EASILY have been substituted by Sharon - the epitome of WOIO and InAction Nudes.
This stupifying shuffling of anchors is the re-arranging of the Titanic deck chairs. For crying out loud, 19 always crows about the supposed mojo that the 11pm news has gotten. So now they swap their 10pm and 11pm lead anchors?!? For what purpose? Keeping just ONE reporter - just ONE... and it's not their TOP-TIER TALENT???
Smart, very smart. Goes to show that WOIO will forever be in last place, from 1994 'til eternity.
- Nathan Obral
Is the Sharon Reed Shuffle related in anyway to THE CURLY SHUFFLE????
Interesting Question???
I agree Nathan. And its kind of ironic that Amy Jacobson is seen at a party at the house of a missing woman, just like how one of Cutt's friends has Sharon Reed's personal cellphone number. Really makes you wonder,what else does Sharon know? You could tell she was almost auditioning just by the way she sounded(the entertainment reporter and one time nude news person was trying to sound serious) I got the impression that she was trying to get in at CNN(there goes their credibility) I really dont care where she goes, I just hope she goes. And their 11pm news is nothing more than a sex show pretending to be news. Every night, their promo says something about sex. That's why after CSI or the other 10pm show, I change the channel.
I know 19 is a bit trashy but they have to do somehting to try and get ratings, its hard competeing with stations that have been on air since the 50's. And lets be honest Ch. 8 started the whole tabloid news thing in the late 90's/ early '00 remember Carl Monday at the strip club Lemrock's and whats her name following Ms. Cleo around, 19 just went a few steps further than Ch. 8 did. Also 19 is not the worst in town that goes to Channel 5. They are horrible, most of the people on their I dont recognize and Mark Johnson is the worst weatherman ever, the guy freaks out anytime a rain drop falls within a 100mi radius of Cleveladn.
Maybe its just me, but a lot of the people at action news seems to have a HUGE EGOS and its not warranted, especially Sharon. She has to be the biggest no talent in Cleveland, who thinks she is talented. I have never seen a bigger bunch of untalented losers, especially Martina, Sharon, and Jeff(Its just weather, no reason to jump all over the freakin' screen dude)All 3 of them come across condescending. They have a few bright spots on the station like Lynna Lai, and Alison Alexander, who are actually to good for action news.
I don't watch action news very often, but last I thought Triv said he wasn't going to do on any on air segments. He went on about how he needs to feed his family and its not worth the risk. I turn on a few weeks later, and he was enjoying his smokes.
I worked at WOIO / WUAB just prior to Action News. I never watch and have almost no idea who is on the air at their shop.
Yes, it is difficult to make inroads against old, well-established competition, but I have trouble accepting that stripping naked on the air is an acceptable way to gain ground.
And, yes, Carl Monday did push the envelope and at times crossed the line, but at least he remained fully clothed.
And I agree that, if Sharon Reed were a strong candidate for a position in a larger market, she would have taken it by now. And changing her co-anchor would do nothing to convince her to stay.
It's very simple...Action News is a failure. It remains the lowest rated of all the local stations and Sharon's shows are among the lowest on 19 (especially at 10pm).
Their on-air people are not likeable at all..and history shows that viewers in Cleveland want to connect with the anchors.
Sharon appears to be a smart, articulate woman (however, with a LOT of baggage) If I were her I'd get out of WOIO and try to find a real station to start over at.
You guys can bash MS. Reed all you want, but most of it sounds like it's rooted in jealousy. You can't question her intelligence - for heaven's sake, she has a masters from Northwestern. Most of you guys commenting on here got an associates from the OCB!!
Also, don't confuse the station's inability to garner ratings as Sharon's inability to garner ratings. There's an important distinction to make here. If you put Dick Goddard and Wilma Smith on Action 19 news and did the tabloid style reporting, it wouldn't do well. It has nothing to do with Sharon. She could go elsewhere and do just fine. Think WKYC couldn't use her name recognition? How many of you can even name their lead anchors? Exactly.
Then why hasn't she gone "elsewhere"??
Good points..that is why Sharon needs to get out of WOIO as soon as possible. Despite all their hype, it's not working. She does have smarts, looks and presence. I think the problem is she has become somewhat of an industry joke because of her 'naked stunt'. She'll probably tell you otherwise but I bet she wishes she couold have that one back.
Here is a novel idea. Maybe Channel 19 should take the high road and actually report on news instead of tabloid fodder. Isn't that fad just about over yet anyway? Once all the channels start doing it, it is nothing new. Cheesy, trivial, amateurish come to mind. And these stations wonder why people are tuning out. They are all fighting over an ever decreasing market population. Does anyone remember Dorothy Fuldheim. She was a small, old, not particularly attractive women, but she could deliver the news. She wasn't afraid to ask the tough questions. Today's news anchors are simply parrots reading word for word from teleprompters. And some can't even do that well (can you say Ramona).
I can name WKYC's anchors- Ramona Robinson, formerly of WUAB's 10 o'clock News, and Tim White, formerly of the Fox network's show about paranormal events, "Sightings"! Tim is a bit too "country club" for me, seems like he has too much starch in his shirts, although I have to admit that news seems credible from him.
What I'd like to know is why nobody has a problem with the male anchor on Fox 8 news at noon. Talk about ZERO personallity.
>> You can't question her intelligence - for heaven's sake, she has a masters from Northwestern.<<
From their journalism school, which teaches ethical and pragmatic concerns in reporting that Reed and the rest of the 19 crowd (including management) poo-poo as old fashioned. If Reed actually used what she learned at Northwestern's j-school, she never would have inserted herself into the Body of Art story and thus faced the years of ridicule for it.
By the way, if advanced (hell, even bachelor) degrees are the basis of what makes a reporter/newsreader not only purportedly successful and talented, but also intelligent, I assume then that the folks like Cronkite are dumbasses. (He dropped out of college, and learned the trade by actually being an apprentice. Remember those days?)
>>Also, don't confuse the station's inability to garner ratings as Sharon's inability to garner ratings.<<
There is a point to be made here, and you may be correct. But if the ratings failure is all about the "format" and not the staff, then why does 19 keep the format around? If they will get more audience with Reed, et al. in a straight-line format, why do tabloid-ish stuff? That's the disconnect.
As it is, we have no way to separate Reed from the format. They are one and the same: Reed is an agent of the format. And the fact is that Reed's newscasts are ratings losers. The (rare) shining moments for in the past have been at 11pm...when isn't Reed's timeslot.
>>She could go elsewhere and do just fine.<<
Then why doesn't she? If she's hampered by the format, which appears to be the argument, why is she still doing it? Why hasn't she left for Houston post-haste?
>> Think WKYC couldn't use her name recognition? How many of you can even name their lead anchors? Exactly.<<
I'm pretty sure that Ramona Robinson garners for public response than Sharon Reed. And more favorable too.
However, if you really want to compare "Tim White" to "David Wittman", then your argument may hold weight.
Once again, if Sharon Reed really is "all that" and is the future of 19's news operation's success...why is Denise the #1 anchor?
I think we all know the answer.
Sharon Reed will eventually replace Denise Dufala at 6 and 11.
WOIO sees her as THE face of their "Action News" format, and 6 and 11 is traditionally where stations put the "A" troops.
As long as Bill Applegate runs that pop stand on Reserve Square, the newscast will always be more sizzle than steak.
Applegate likes sexy, sassy, brash, and attitude (Reed), he doesn't care for respectable, sweet, Cleveland born and bred, OSU grad, girl next door types (Dufala).
He finds them boring.
The whole atmosphere at 19 has to change before anything resembling journalism cant take hold.
I can name all of Channel 3 news anchors within 30 seconds, because they haven't moved around too much. The other stations are always shuffling around. Not just with the lead anchors, but with weather and sports.
Wasn't channel 3 at the bottom of the barrel a couple years ago and now they are usually holding the top spot at 6 and 11pm. They regrouped with good anchors.
I don't know how much of action news failure is to blame on being a relatively new station compared to the others I think it has more to do with just bad on air people. When they first started off they kept firing everyone, maybe they should of let Denise go. She comes off as a sour puss to me.
Maybe they should just do legit news and hire likeable anchors.
The only stations I really like are 3 and 5. Although, I like Romona Robinson as a anchor. I have heard from many people she is not friendly in person and VERY standoffish, but I have heard quite a few stories about Wilma, and Goddard having attitudes. Holly Strano is unwatchable. She needs to teach first grade or something. They should really replace here with Betsy Kling. John and Barbara work well together, but I think Carol Sullivan made him more annoying.
As far as channel 5 goes. I pretty much like everyone at that station, except maybe for Mark Johnson. Although, I would make some changes. I do think it was a bad move to remove Danita Harris from 5am and the noon newscast and put her at 6 and 11pm. But I think they are trying to do the Bill Martin, Stacey Bell thing. She is more of a morning anchor. Lee Jordan does seem to fit well in at noon, but I think she would be good at anytime slot, because she has done bascially all of them(and she has the morning exchange experience). She is one of the better anchors in town I would also remove Susan Horgan and send her to weekends and put Jason Nichols on weekday mornings.
Paul Kiska is good in the morning and I also like Lorna Barret although she lacks some personality. Angie Lau is pretty, and has a nice personality. She needs a little more on air experience, but she would be a good permanet fit on GMC.
Well, that is just my .02 with the anchor shuffle :)
Ps. I can't imagine of anyone being jealous of Sharon Reed
I assume the Fox 8 person you're talking about is Robo-anchor Todd Meany.
Very quietly, ch 3 has put together an anchor team that can match up with the legendary Taylor/Swoboda/Goddard/Coleman quartet of the mid/late 80's on ch 8.
Tim White and Romona Robinson have been together since September 1998, Jimmy Donovan has been doing sports there for 25 years, and Mark Nolan became chief meteorologist in 2000.
Their ratings have been solid, plus longevity = familiarity = stability.
Why 5 broke up Ted Henry and Lee Jordan is beyond me.
They were together for 13 years 1994-2007 and did very well in the ratings, there was *some* stablity at the weather desk (Webster 94-99, Sussman 99-01, Johnson 01- present), granted sports was a mess, but Ted and Lee's presence hid it somewhat.
Danita Harris is a morning person, and the bubbly act doesn't mesh well with Tall Ted, who I believe works better with someone more "contemporary" to him (Wilma Smith/Lorna Barrett/Lee Jordan).
They should swap Danita and Lorna.
Paul Kiska and Danita are more high energy, thus perfect for mornings.
Leon Bibb, Lee, Ted, and Lorna are all more laid back, seasoned pros who could mix and match well with each other in any pairing at 5, 6, and 11.
Leon Bibb is an underrated anchor who is enjoyable to watch on TV. Channel 19 is a joke. I can't understand how anyone can watch that Amateur news.
I agree with the 2 post above me. I always liked Lorna Barret, but did she leave on her own terms a few years back, or was she let it go?? I thought she was pregnant and wanted to spend more time at home?? But someone told me they let her go and brought her back.
I think Lorna should anchor 6pm and let Lee Jordan do 5 and 11, and Danita go back to mornings, which she was great at. Even though Lorna is just a filler right now for mornings, she is too serious for the am, but not 6pm. While Danita is too bubbly for 6 and 11pm. God, channel 5 can never get it right. I think viewers lose interest when people are constantly moved.
I think the biggest trainwreck EVER was when they had Tonya Strong anchor the 6pm news. Where is she now?? Just curious. Last time I heard she was at Onn, but don't think she is there anymore. Just from 3rd party sources, I heard the staff at channel 5, didn't care for her. Major diva.
I wasn't a huge fan of Alicia Booth, but she totally grew on me and really like her at noon.
I never liked Brad Sussman, something about him strikes me as very odd, but can't really pin point it. Maybe lack of personality?? I guess he is doing weekends on fox 8.
I am also curious if it was Kim Wheeler's decison to go back to weekends or the stations. She seemed like a good fit, but now that Barbara is on I actually like her more.
Well, I don't make the calls just critique them ;)
They wanted Wheeler to go back to doing her education reports on the 6, 7, and 11 news.
Gauthier is fine in the mornings, brings a contrast to the WAAAAAAAAY too perky Holly Strano.
Sussman is actually very good as a weatherman, straightforward, no frills, to the point.
He does weekends at Fox 8, and is a frequent fill in on WTAM whenever Bill Wills or Bob Frantz go on vacation.
Brad's much better than Mark "Uh-oh, there's 3 raindrops. I better break in to programming and do a 2 hour special report and show off the Power of 5 HD Doppler!" Johnson.
Tonya Strong had a cup of coffee at 19 before going into oblivion. She did like to come off as "Miss Thang" on air.
Alicia Booth is very good. She was doing weekends on the pre-Action News era WOIO and WUAB before going to 5 and scoring the dialy noon gig.
19 needs to just drop the whole Action News thing and go with a new format. Start by cleaning house at the top, get rid of Bill Appelgate. Then start calling the station CBS19 News again. Go with a more serious approach to the news, less stories about sex and use Carl Monday to do investigations that matter(like WJW's I-Team) instead of using Monday to do stories like that story about the guys at library(it even was made fun of on the Daily Show). It will be hard for them to get even decent ratings, the damage is already done. WOIO and Action News is a big joke in Ohio and probley the whole country. Sharon Reed leaving would be a step in the right direction.
First of all, there is no way 5 is worse than 19, its not possible for anyone to be worse. That's not just my opinion, ratings show it(5 was in 2nd or 3rd place). I agree Tim White is too serious, personally I think he's a tool. But Todd Meany(the guy on WJW at noon) is a good reporter. He may not be as fun as Kenny Crumpton, but thats not his job, he's a news reporter. Some of the morning comments sound like they were written by WOIO employees. Big changes need to be made at WOIO.
Well to sum things up. The news stations in Cleveland... STINK. Some are worse than others. At least Channel 3 has been somewhat stable over a fairly long stretch. Because of their success, stations like Channel 19 try to be something different. In this case different=lousy. The only reason why they have Sharon Reed or that Bosley women is for eye candy. Do you think Sharon would be on TV if she was 30 lbs heavier... I think not. She wasn't hired for her reporting/anchoring ability. But don't fret, Cleveland. The one thing you can count on from Channel 19/43, and to a certain extent 5 & 8... is the line-up will change again in no time.
I'm angry to see that 9:14 put FOX8 and WEWS in teh same category as 19/43. FOX8 has not changed their anchors at all in the last few years, except when Tim Taylor retired and Andre took the evening shift. Also, at least WEWS just moves the SAME people around. As far as stations go, WOIO has the largest turnover rate: most if not all of their field reporters have been there less than a year and don't stay long. There seems to be a revolving door at Reserve Square,less than a dozen people are still there that were there five years ago. That's part of the problem: most of the older reporters are from Cleveland(Cleveland's Own) and are established. WOIO did have it hard coming into the TV scene in the 90s, but they started with WUAB's news(which was #1 at the time) They should of kept in the WUAB style of news instead of going to the trash news format, that can be blamed on Bill Applegate, who also worked in Chicago before. He brought ratings up for a while with a flashy newscast, but eventually the ratings went down. WOIO still has not been up in the ratings. 3 is th only station that has not changed, but they need to. Tim White is a tool, he should be replaced. Nolan is OK, but I'd rather see Hollie Strano or Betsy Kling.
Also about changes, what's happening with the WJW weather center, is the old weather center being remodeled this weekend or is there a new weather center with the new set?
Sharon Reed is pompous and arrogant. While that is no excuse to bash her, she has no reason to be that way. I have engaged in several online debates with her about her station's journalistic tactics. She will brag about one scoop her station gets and go on about how hard working the "journalists" are at 19, but can't justify why her station does stuff like "Triv TV", "Action News Idol" and other crap like that.
I don't know the reason I like to bash Sharon Reed, is because she is pompus and arrogant. I can understand Oprah, being that way, but not a local tv personality who's news team doesn't even bring in good ratings. Her arrogance is not warranted.
On the other hand. I like Catherine Bosley. She messed up big time(she even has a site dedicated to her screw up, so I am willing to give her a pass) but she comes across likeable and does a decent job reporting.
Action News should fire all their reporters except for Harry Boomer. Have him do all the newscasts. Ratings will go up for sure.
I agree, I think she is delusional. She acts like she works for a top rated local station or a national news station and she thinks people actually like her. And Harry Boomer, I forgot about him. A good newscast would be Harry, Lyna Lai and Jeff Tanchak. Sharon is way too arrogant. Remember how she was using the Jessie Davis story to get on CNN, it almost sounded like she was phoning in an audition. To quote one of 19's many stunts: Reality Check, Ms. Reed: you work for a low rated CBS station(without HD news) and not many people like you, if they did WOIO would be top rated, it's not.
How long before OMW closes this thread. Remember you are not allowed to bash anyone on here. Everything is supposed to be great. Sharon Reed is the greatest.
Cant think of anything great to say about Sharon... nothing
Anon @ 6:52 PM - You're right. "Bashing" for the sake of "bashing" is not what we want to see here.
However, we've let this one gone on long enough. What else is there to say? We've had roughly a dozen kicks around at Ms. Reed's infamous "Body of Art" series, and other shots at her.
We think anything that could have been said, has been said. So, we're closing the comments after this one - look, folks, we're up to 44 comments, not many of them in Sharon's favor.
Yes, she puts herself "out there". Her own behavior on and off the air has turned her into a giant target for "bashers", and she really has to look at herself if she has even the most remote question as to why, which we bet she does not.
Again, she brings it on herself. We don't really feel sorry for the shots she takes online, particularly with the knowledge of the trouble she got into back in Philadelphia.
But there's a deceased equine somewhere around here getting a flogging, so we're closing the item.
If you'd like to take the 30th potshot in 24 hours at Ms. Reed, feel free to visit the Cleveland.com Television message board, where you may even get an answer from someone many believe is Ms. Reed herself:
http://www.cleveland.com/forums/television/
And if you don't like our comment policy, and continue to whine about not being able to "bash" someone...tough. We own this blog, and we set the rules.
And since the comments area has been on a short leash for some time now, it may not matter when we finally decide to make that decision.
-The Management
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