Ah, the smell of napalm in the morning: ABC affiliate WJLA-TV (Channel 7) is blowing up its early weekday newscast for the second time in almost two years.
Beginning Monday, Doug McKelway and Alison Starling will replace Andrea McCarren and Elliott Francis as the anchors of WJLA’s “Good Morning Washington,” which airs weekdays from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., and the half-hour newscast the station airs weekdays at noon.
Traffic reporter Lisa Baden could disappear from WJLA’s morning show, too. The station is expected to drop the Metro Traffic service, which employs Ms. Baden, and switch to a rival service.
That could mean weather forecaster Brian van de Graaff will be the only holdover from WJLA’s current on-air morning regime, although there is talk around the station’s Arlington newsroom that he, too, may be moved off the early shift.
WJLA named Mrs. McCarren and Mr. Francis its morning anchors in March 2002. Ratings rose initially, then sagged.
The station is making the anchor changes for a “variety” of reasons, said Bill Lord, vice president of news for WJLA and sister cable network NewsChannel 8. “Our ambition is to field the best possible morning show,” he said.
The popular Mrs. McCarren gets a plum new assignment as WJLA’s investigative reporter. The station will even revive its old I-Team brand name for her stories, giving her a high-profile showcase as management continues to groom her into the region’s next big news star.
Mr. Francis will report for WJLA and NewsChannel 8 during the week and anchor the evening newscasts on the two stations during the weekend. His co-anchor on Saturdays will be Angela Russell, and on Sundays, he will sit next to Mrs. McCarren.
On the weekend anchor desk, Mr. Francis replaces Mr. McKelway, a much-respected local news veteran in the Washington area. Mr. McKelway was also a contender for the WJLA weekday anchoring job that recently went to Leon Harris, formerly of CNN.
Miss Starling joined WJLA as a reporter in August. She previously worked for Mr. Lord when he ran a Seattle station’s newsroom.
Radio ratings in
As expected, urban music radio stations WPGC-FM (95.5), WMMJ-FM (102.3), WKYS-FM (93.9) and WHUR-FM (96.3) and all-news station WTOP (1500 AM and 107.7 FM) ruled the ratings in the fall, according to Arbitron Inc. research released yesterday.
Meanwhile, the “Junkies in the Morning” show on rock music station WHFS-FM (99.1) continued to gain ground, becoming one of the top-rated morning drive programs among men. In several key demographics, the Junkies bested archrival Elliot Segal of rocker WWDC-FM (101.1).
Listeners also continued to warm up to the morning teams at country music station WMZQ-FM (98.7) and oldies station WBIG-FM (100.3). New morning hosts arrived at both stations in July 2002, driving their numbers down that fall. But one year later, both stations recovered nicely.
Other winners: The syndicated “Rush Limbaugh Show” on talk station WMAL-AM (630) and soft rock station WASH (97.1), which began its all-holiday music marathon toward the end of the fall ratings period.
• Call Chris Baker at 202/636-3139 or send e-mail to cbaker@washingtontimes.com.
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