Channel Surfing
by Laura Nachman
January 19, 2003

"The Dawn Patrol"

     In a surprise move, WCAU named reporter Dawn Timmeney the new weekday morning news anchor, beating out Karen Hepp and Lisa Mishler who were doing the show after Tiffany McElroy was reassigned last month.  Timmeney, no relation to former Philadelphia Police Commissioner, John Timoney, becomes the fourth anchor to join Steve Levy and Bill Henley in the last two years, following McElroy, Sharon Reed, and Monique Braxton.

     KYW news anchor Ukee Washington added another credit to his acting resume, as he was on "Hack" Friday at 9 p.m. on CBS.  Of course, "Hack," is the series that is completely filmed in Philadelphia starring David Morse.  Washington was in the big summer hit "Signs," which recently came out on video and DVD.

     New KYW news anchor Marc Howard took the eyewitness in "Eyewitness News" literally Wednesday, as he saw the high-rise apartment fire firsthand since his own apartment building was nearby.  "I called our newsroom immediately and we were the first on the scene," said Howard.  Though Howard's contract only requires him to anchor the 11 p.m. news, he put on his "reporter's cap" and was on the air live between 10:30 and 11 a.m.  "A story is a story, whether I'm a reporter or an anchor."
     After coming in first place on opening night, Marc Howard and KYW came back down to earth the rest of his first week.  KYW ended up in its usual third place in the ratings for the week with a 7.9 rating.  KYW had a 7.8 rating in the November sweeps. 
     Meanwhile, KYW-AM had no ratings woes as it finished first in the recent Arbitron ratings with a 7.0 rating for ages 12 and above.  That means seven percent of the listening audience of over four million people was listening to KYW at any given time.  The rest of the top ten was WBEB-FM, WDAS-FM, WUSL-FM, WIOQ-FM, WJJZ-FM, WYSP-FM, WOGL-FM, WSNI-FM, and WXTU-FM.  The big surprise of the top ten was WSNI, which started playing Christmas music at the beginning of November, more than doubling its ratings from the last ratings period.  Big losers were rock:  Classic rock WMGK-FM dropped into 12th place and WMMR-FM dropped into 15th place and lost its morning man Barsky, who couldn't come to terms with the station. According to a source at WIP-AM, WMMR has approached WIP personalities Joe Conklin and Mike Missanelli about its morning show. WMMR program director Sam Milkman could not be reached for comment.  Didn't 'MMR learn anything from "Sports Rock," the disastrous the pairing of John DeBella and Howard Eskin a few years ago.

       WPHL weekend weather anchor Tracey Humphrey will begin a regular entertainment segment during the week called "Backstage."  That's a step in the right direction.  In a town that has scores of meteorologists, consumer reporters, and health reporters, it is unbelievable that none of the top stations has a regular movie critic or entertainment reporter. 

Shuffled Back to Buffalo

     Reporter Amy Polacko left KYW to return to Buffalo, New York to get married.  Polacko lasted less than a year at the station.

Great Assignment

     WCAU's Steve Levy and Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz will be among the judges for the 3rd annual "Philly Cooks" competition that will select the best dishes of the year from the top restaurants in town Wednesday at the Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penns Landing.  For ticket information call 610-667-0706.