KMOV makes early-morning changes
As of Oct. 26, Virginia Kerr will anchor KMOV’s 5-7 a.m. “Awake With News 4″ with newcomer John Knicely, who most recently reported for the CBS affiliate in Dallas. Robin Smith will do early morning news and traffic while remaining anchor of the noon news. Matt Chambers remains on weather. Marc Cox becomes a dayside reporter and fill-in anchor; Paul Cook, who had been doing morning traffic, left the station as of Friday, apparently voluntarily. (Cook is the afternoon drive time host on Y98 radio.)
Knicely “has previously been an anchor in Charlotte (N.C.) and Paducah (Ky.),” news director Sean McLaughlin told staff Thursday afternoon, adding, ”For those of you who have been around a while, his father worked at KTVI in the 1980’s.” The senior John Knicely now anchors at WOWT in Omaha, Neb. He was a sportscaster at KTVI from 1981-84.
I’m glad Paul Cook is gone,I stopped watching because of him! He made the most sophomoric and idiotic comments and you could see the embarassment on the faces of his co-workers! KMOV should of billed him for the constant plugging of his book while he supposedly was ‘reporting’! I can start watching KMOV in the morning again,now that he is gone!
Very disappointed… My husband and I have had a difficult time watching Virginia Kerr, and we are under 40. She seems rather immature when she gushes about the Cards or Twitter, or any other subject that the finds ‘cool’ and ‘important’. I can appreciate enthusiasm and light-heartedness, but we have taken it to a whole new level, when the goal should be ’smart’ and ‘witty’. I enjoyed watching Marc Cox. Sadly the previous female morning anchor disappeared, now Mark Cox is out… Gives one pause. Makes one wonder what is going on here. I likely will no longer watch the morning news show.
Afton Spriggs, aka the web girl, is a breath of fresh air in KMOV’s underrated morning show. I will miss Marc Cox, however. He is a true professional.
Marc Cox is the reason I watch Ch. 4 in the mornings — I won’t be doing so anymore. Hopefully they’ll have the sense to give him a night-time slot, something they should have done years ago.
Does early-bird TV news improve on “P.S. 4″ and “Sunrise Semester”?
I’ll stick with “Morning Edition” on 90.7.
I don’t watch channel 4 anymore except for prime time programming which is the best of all the non-cable networks. This new guy who took over as programming director is fitting into the mold of channel 5 which has thoroughly destroyed the local news with new out of town personalities. Channel 2 is the place to go. They have all of the castoffs from the other stations which gives them a more personal representation of the news, sports and weather.
Virginia Kerr used to do their morning fluff pieces before she was promoted to co-anchor the morning newscast. This is a classic case of “The Peter Principle” in action. Virginia Kerr needs to go back to the fluff reporting and they need to keep the consummate professional Marc Cox on in the morning. Is KMOV going for this “fluff” approach in the morning or do they want to remain professional?
I love Virgina Kerr, she’s one of the only reasons I watch, even after she got married! Also, where’s Matt Chambers going? Being from St. Joe and going to the same grade school, he’s the other reason I watch!
Marc Cox was the only reason to take that morning news show seriously - and HE’S the one who was ‘demoted’????
That is ONE goofy business!!
Matt Chambers stays on weather. I’ve updated the original post to include that.