It looks like WCAU management blinked.  A few weeks after Tim
Lake filed a complaint against the station to allow him to anchor for
rival KYW, WCAU has reinstated the anchor onto the 5 p.m. show.  A
newsroom memo announced that Lake has signed a new contract with the
station to become the 5 p.m. anchor.  Larry Mendte and Renee
Chenault-Fattah will anchor the 4 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 p.m. shows, which
means Tracy Davidson will probably move from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.  Lake had
previously anchored the 5 p.m. show with Tracy Davidson, before getting
demoted to reporting a few months ago.

       Sources close to WTXF say it was finally reckoning day for
general manager Roger LaMay who sent an email to the staff Thursday
confirming that his last official day with the station will be January
6.  Former employees say that factors such as several sexual harassment
complaints against LaMay, the Rich Noonan racial discrimination
complaint, the embarrassing "City Paper" "Transit of Venus," series that
many believed was a thinly-veiled portrait of the dysfunction at the
station, and tumbling ratings all contributed to the departure of LaMay,
who began at Channel 29 as news director in 1986. 
       A former employee said, "Ratings are down and lawsuits are up.
The morale is terrible, the on-air talent has been gutted.  Many people
at the station are concerned that the new anchor team (Dawn Stensland
and Dave Huddleston) isn't cutting it.  There hasn't been an executive
producer of "Good Day Philadelphia for over a year.  Things are in utter
disarray."
       LaMay disputed the charges of sexual harassment calling it
"nonsense," stating that no sexual harassment claims have ever been
filed against any manager at Fox. About former news anchor Rich Noonan's
racial discrimination claims, LaMay said, "Unfortunately, frivolous,
grossly inaccurate claims by ex-employees are part of the business."
And for the "City Paper" series, LaMay called it a "fictional work that
was written by a couple of disgruntled ex-employees who tried to smear
me and the company."
       LaMay said that he and the network began discussions a few months
ago about his future with the station and that "the November news
performance" (down 11-percent from last year) had nothing to do with his
departure.   "I feel the news has never been better," he said.  "Fox's
concern is with overall station performance.  Philadelphia is one of the
more challenging markets.  The primetime ratings of Fox took a nosedive
this year." (Fox went down 20-percent in the November ratings).
       Many believe that current news director Scott Matthews could be
the next to go after a new general manager is hired.   The average
tenure of a news director is 18-months.  Matthews, who has a history of
moving around (14-jobs in his 10-year career), has been at Fox for
almost a year and a half.   LaMay also disputed that theory, stating
that Matthews job isn't in jeopardy.  "In a business that has extremely
high turnover, we've only had three news directors in our 17 years of
existence."
       LaMay, who has two sons in college and a ten-year-old daughter,
said he'd like to stay in Philadelphia, but in a new role.  After 17
years, I'm ready to do something else.  I'm excited to do something
different."