Monica Pearson, John Bachman to host new 4 p.m. Channel 2 Action News newscast, post Oprah
Monica Pearson and John Bachman will host the new Channel 2 Action News 4 p.m. newscast starting May 26 after “The Oprah Winfrey Show” ends its 25-year run.
Pearson has been with the station for more than three decades and currently anchors the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts as well. She has said she plans to retire next year.
(UPDATE, 6 p.m. Here’s a question I forgot to answer on the intial blog entry. Here’s how this impacts the other newscasts.) Jovita Moore, who co-anchors the 5 p.m. news with Justin Farmer, will take over the 11 p.m. slot for Pearson, working again with Farmer. Pearson will continue to anchor the 6 p.m. newscast. Pearson has no complaints: “After working the 11 p.m. for 36 years, I can’t wait to go to plays in the evening and go to dinner with my husband without having to watch the clock to get back to work. I will have a life!!!!” she said in an email.)
Bachman, who joined Channel 2 about four years ago, has been the primary weekend anchor and has also done general assignment reporting and specials. He will now be a full-time weekday anchor.
General Manager Bill Hoffman, in an interview today, said the station has added 20 employees to supplement the upcoming 4 p.m. newscast. That includes three on-air reporters, three photographers and two additional news vans. He said the station also recently purchased a high-end radar for weather forecasting.
“We did research and we also took stock in where we are as a brand right now,” Hoffman said. “We really believe where we are right now, this time, this place, this state of the station, that the best thing we felt was go news.”
Channel 2 is not the only major market replacing Oprah with news instead of another talk show. Hoffman said ABC affiliates in Philadelphia and New York are doing the same thing.
The station will now have three consecutive hours of local news from 4 to 7 p.m. on weekdays.
The other 4 p.m. newscast in Atlanta is on the CBS affiliate WGCL-TV, which added a 5 p.m. newscast last fall.
As for the pending departures of soaps “One Life to Live” and “All my Children,” Hoffman said he appreciated how dedicated the soap fans are, but unfortunately, the audience was aging and shrinking. He said he plans to take the two new ABC replacement shows hosted by chef Mario Batali and fashion guru Tim Gunn.
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By Rodney Ho, rho@ajc.com, AJCRadioTV blog
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189 comments Add your comment
PR
April 26th, 2011
2:59 pm
At WSB “if it bleeds, it leads”.
2nd Cup
April 26th, 2011
3:12 pm
@Jim Miller: WSB can’t be received in Waycross via cable because your ABC affiliate is WJXX/ch. 25 out of Jacksonville. Can’t have two ABC affiliates on the same system.
foodffight
April 26th, 2011
3:12 pm
Monica promised to retire years ago. When is she going to keep her word?
up north
April 26th, 2011
3:15 pm
This is so foolish. It must be for advertising dollars. Heck, you can see the same news story on Sunday night at 11 PM that was originally broadcast at 6 PM on Friday! There simply is not that much news. They repeat the same stories from 12:30 to 1 PM that were on at Noon everyday, anyway. At least Bachman gets a break. He is much better than Farmer.
DG
April 26th, 2011
3:26 pm
Actually, their morning broadcast now starts at 4:30am. All total that will be a full 7 hours of repeat news stories.
Josh
April 26th, 2011
3:32 pm
@pcBobby: You just MADE my day. I was just commenting to a friend how Glenn Burns wife must have to take a Xanax after every “severe weather” outbreak, which you clearly point out happens regularly. He is in constant FREAK OUT mode, and it’s more fun to listen and laugh, then even care about what he’s saying. Well done, sir!
Connie Armbruster
April 26th, 2011
3:34 pm
WSB already repeats the same stories over and over again! Enough already!
SOS
April 26th, 2011
3:34 pm
FORGET THE FREAKING NEWS…..SAVE OUR SOAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wooleybare
April 26th, 2011
3:37 pm
just what Atl needs….another hour of NOTHING news reported by the talking heads.
Chuck
April 26th, 2011
3:38 pm
How many times can you rerun the same d@mned clips of house fires, car wrecks and perp walks? We have only begun to see…
Ellen
April 26th, 2011
3:44 pm
Really? MORE news? Do we really need that? Why not find an old comedy that’s in syndication to show instead? The news is depressing enough, do you have to start airing it at 4pm?? Oh I should clarify, the Channel 2 news is depressing enought. I won’t be watching that’s for sure.
My $0.02
April 26th, 2011
4:11 pm
What news? More news coverage on the drunk and disorderly conduct of Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan and the like. How about real news? If I never hear another story regarding Charlie or Lindsay (not that I listened to them anyway), it would be too soon for me!
mmsurvivor
April 26th, 2011
4:13 pm
The air time between 1 and 3 I will be watching something else. IF I wanted watch a food show then I would watch the Food Network. IF I wanted fashon, the I would watch Style or Bravo. Will not watch channel 2 when these shows appear.
Mr Ed
April 26th, 2011
4:37 pm
Surely there is another courtroom tv show that could go on in the daytime. Animal Court?
Hollywould
April 26th, 2011
4:52 pm
Glenn Burns once said ” I will show you for sure where the storms might hit” My wife still cracks up on that one.
Steve cripps
April 26th, 2011
4:57 pm
There’s a reason PBS has gained viewers and the local commercial broadcasts should (in part) get the credit. WSB means …. We’re So Boring
roge
April 26th, 2011
5:22 pm
It will be much better when Monica leaves. Getting tired of the wigs and outdated clothes.
Patrick
April 26th, 2011
5:25 pm
So now WSB can spend extra house running several different commercial breaks teasing for some story “coming up later, you’ll want to hear about this!!!” only that the actual story, WHEN they finally run it, is about 12 seconds long and consists of the same footage (usually of something exiting like a tree stump in a field or some empty apartment steps, or flashing emergency lights that could be stock footage) looped twice or three times for dramatic effect.
And even then, they’ll come back from commercial, run this stupid boring short story that says nothing about anything, and then they’ll scoot right back out to another commercial. So it’s about three minutes of commercials, 30 seconds of “news” and then immediately another three minutes of commercials.
Why do people settle for this? Why don’t they fight back and demand better?
Who is the customer here? The viewers? No of course not. They are the product. And they are gathered up like insects stuck to a glue strip and SOLD to the advertisers. All these little 30 second news clips do is keep the insects -the viewers- lured into walking toward that glue trap.
Best thing about a modern TV is that button or menu option that lets you delete channels. There are, after all, about 40 free HD channels in Atlanta and hundreds more on cable or satellite. Choose wisely what you watch.
DebDoes
April 26th, 2011
5:42 pm
I participated in the marketing research he mentions in the article. .I didn’t like the combination of anchors they had for the evening time slot. It appears they are compromising and moving Monica to an earlier time, for now. There is tough competition in the Atlanta market and WSB appears to be lagging behind.
Jamie
April 26th, 2011
5:49 pm
I won’t watch this programming, but I’ve gotta say, John Bachman is the bomb. He’s an awesome anchor. Ms. Pearson, on the other hand, is unbearable. I realize she appeals to a much older demographic, but her constant emoting, exaggerated facial expressions, etc. are just so over the top. I quit watching the 6pm and 11pm news because I couldn’t bear to watch her. Her “retirement plans” have been announced for years, but she can’t bear not to be in the public eye. Everyone has their time and she should gracefully walk into the sunset, and spend time with her kids and grandkids. If WSB wants viewers at 4pm, they should have Erin Coleman, Jovita Moore, or Linda Stouffer co-anchor with Bachman.
Timely Reality
April 26th, 2011
5:53 pm
When will they learn we are tired of the daily dose of murder and mayhem!
Gardener
April 26th, 2011
5:53 pm
another hour of Monica Kaufman????? No thanks
I LOVE WSBTV!!!!
April 26th, 2011
6:07 pm
Jamie I TOTALLY agree with you. Erin Coleman, Jovita Moore, and Linda Stouffer are the bomb. I really like channel 2. I don’t watch the ENTIRE news cast (like many people on here do). They have had the same anchors for years and are now giving the young people a chance. Is it me, or is their station really clear?? **shrugs shoulders**
Cant believe!!!!!!
April 26th, 2011
6:14 pm
Monica let it go!!!!!!!!”,,,,,,,,why u afraid to go,,,,,,your time has passed “omg”
CHRIS
April 26th, 2011
6:24 pm
HEY WSB ; Here’s a sure-fire way to get people to watch your station. Have some dumb A_ _ hole start off the pre-program by this creative intro, ONLY ON CHANNEL 2 NEWS you will see an exclusive tape of an elderly person at the Happy Place retirement home eating beans and passing gas. And later you can add AND FILM AT 11.
Johnjon
April 26th, 2011
6:48 pm
one more reason the watch ellen at 4. at least she’s entertaining.
pb
April 26th, 2011
7:15 pm
Jamie,
You are correct. Monica is too much to bear. Had her day a long time ago, like back in 70’s and 80’s, but needs to go into the TV news sunset. My mother used to watch her back in her early 1980’s- Monica was fresh and fun back then.(My mother is 83 now.) Channel 2 needs fresh people.
North Fulton
April 26th, 2011
7:23 pm
The same six stories, one of which will be a fire, and one a c-store hold up, now repeated 18 times rather than 12, for 3 hours.
And don’t forget the repeated opportunities to exagerate the impending life ending storms about to desimate the entire region.
Only Katie Couric could be more annoying.
mmmmmm
April 26th, 2011
7:23 pm
Don’t they get it they will be losing alot of viewers at 12:00 noon when ABC makes the tragic fatal error of taking off All My Children at 1:00 after 40 years at 1:00 and One Life to Live at 2:00. I have not watched Oprah at 4:00 since she used her show to endorse Obama and sunk Hillary Clinton’s Campain. Look at the mess we are stuck with.
I had planned on leaving WSB for news and ABC for everything unless they come to their senses about AMC and OLTL. AMC and OLTL were still pulling in 2.5 million and 2.8 million viewers per day. ABC did no advertising at all for OLTL and it out pulled General Hospital the week prior to the cancellation announcement. It is also at the Elementary school pick-up time. Most of us viewers suspect that no one is counting all the people who record it and watch at night or everyone that watches the showings on Soapnet in the evening and middle of the night.
Real Houses Wifes of Atlanta gets the best ratings of all the ROHW’s series and it has only recently this year hit the 2.8 million viewers in Primetime at 10:00 P.M. slot once a week. Not daytime. So the Ratings for the Soaps are still really strong. How many shows have a 40 + years worth of loyal followers besides 60 minutes.
ga female
April 26th, 2011
7:25 pm
When is WSB going to get over the “Formula of a White Male and Black Female anchor”. Why can’t a White female ever have a chance at being the anchor chair weekday evenings. Is this about Sex and race?
Total Action Eyewitness NewsWatch Plus
April 26th, 2011
7:32 pm
I seldom can tolerate Monica but watched her handle the anchor duties solo recently.
She talked about someone getting robbed at “an AT&T”. The person was robbed at an ATM.
A few minutes later, after reporting on the Jesus statue that was vandalized, she began reading the story a second time. After a moment she realized the error.
Why couldn’t John Bachman replace Monica right now?
Oh, that’s right, his melanin lacks the appropriate hue.
Eddie
April 26th, 2011
7:54 pm
When I was a Kid in the late 70’s and early 80’s reruns of Star Trek would come on in that time slot. How much news do one town needs. Soon local news is going to be 24hrs.
Brenda Love
April 26th, 2011
9:20 pm
I am a 46 yr old soap fan and I count . I count all the news shows on all channels all the time airing bad news . Why would I want more of that . I don’t! Save the Soaps!
Brenda Love
April 26th, 2011
9:21 pm
Enter your comments here
Stu Kleitenic
April 26th, 2011
9:30 pm
I wish Linda Stouffer would wash her hair. Take a look at it next time she is on tv. Ewwwwwwww
Jay
April 26th, 2011
9:46 pm
I’m glad John Bachman will be the 4pm anchor. Rodney, did Bill Hoffman say what would happen with the weekend newscast? Will it be just Linda or will someone join her?
A lot of these comments sure are funny. I’ve heard them or ones like them for years around here. Since Channel 2 still dominates in the ratings, I assume the 100 or so people here must be the few who watch the other three channels’ newscasts.
Do any of the people who complain about the negative news on channel 2 watch 11Alive? They are doing newscasts that you apparently want to see: lots of feel-good feature stories and less of an emphasis on the crime stories when they are reported.
For all the people that think channel 2 reports on too much crime, just know that they only report a fraction of the crime that happens every day. Plenty of murders, rapes, robberies, and shootings go unreported even by channel 2.
In this day and age there are so many resources for news. It’s impossible for one news outlet to cover everything, so if you are truly interested in being well-informed don’t expect one TV station, one newspaper, one alternative paper, one radio station, one web site, or one blog to keep you updated on everything you want to know or shoud know about. Instead check out all news sources and compile a list of those you like and follow them.
The comments about too much news on channel 2 miss the point of the increase in local news programming. Yes, it brings in more money directly to the station. But the stations don’t expect you to watch news straight through from 4:30am to 7am or 4pm to 7pm. They put it on to give people a choice.
People in the metro Atlanta area are up-to-date with technological advances, so a lot of people have DVRs. The national average is at least one-third of households. Do people that complain about the length of the newscasts or the quality of the stories use their DVR to forward through what they don’t want to watch? I do, and it helps a lot.
Lastly, I get a kick out of all these people who don’t want more local news on. What do they want instead? People mention talk shows, soap operas, game shows, and old comedy re-runs. Yeah, real quality stuff. As if they couldn’t get these things on hundreds of other channels.
shelley
April 26th, 2011
9:48 pm
Guess WSB can now have the entire 4-5 time slot for their breaking news since they won’t have Oprah to break into everytime someone in Atlanta stubs their toe or has a flat tire.
Squirrel
April 26th, 2011
11:03 pm
They need to get that good lookin’ weather gal Markina from Channel 4, then they would be sure to get watchers!
Tonya
April 26th, 2011
11:17 pm
If ms. Monica still want to be readin the news with people like John Backman she need to try and look younger. She be needin some new dark brown wigs cuz she look like his grandmama.
tvBoy
April 26th, 2011
11:44 pm
could some1 please get my grandma off the TV news – please????? God, i have respect for the history of monica on atlanta news – but every1 else on the air is like 30 and stands out like a (real old) sore thumb!!!
Almost Native Atlantan
April 27th, 2011
12:29 am
I can remember when there was a LOCAL NEWS SHOW on Atlanta radio, and I miss that. On my ride home from work, I would much rather catch up on news of the day rather than to listen to a sydicated talk show.
What a great opportunity for you, “WSB-AM 750 and NOW 95.5 FM” to take advantage of this time slot and prosper!
Truth Squad
April 27th, 2011
3:09 am
I just have to laugh at all the Monica haters out there. Turns out they are also Obama haters too (yeah more drilling will make gas prices go down…that’s why we have more “news”…because people do not even understand basic commodities pricing). OK, sorry for the rant.
The fact of the matter is that Monica is still here because she pulls in the ratings. In the news business, you don’t last as long as her if you aren’t pulling in the ratings and revenue. Isn’t it ironic how people who claim not to like her still watch? So she will retire when she’s good and ready and, like Bobby Cox, has earned the privilege to make that decision for herself. You don’t have to like her, but don’t act like you didn’t know she’s been #1 all these years. Even Neil don’t mess with Monica!
rod
April 27th, 2011
5:53 am
monica is like queen elizabeth and Jovita is like prince charles. the queen is 90 years and old and has lost it but loves the power while charles twists. monica has outlived her usefulnes while poor jovita sits and twists in the wind. monica, get a food taster.
carlaroqs
April 27th, 2011
10:43 am
rodney, so tired of you not posting my comments
carlaroqs
April 27th, 2011
10:59 am
monica wears wigs because cancer treatments damaged her hair and she wants options just like everyone else. no one expects you to watch news all day, again–it is called having options. if channel 2 was not making money off of monica, she would have been long gone. if you do not like her– do not watch channel 2, options, remember? the comment about not enough melatonin (sp?) in his skin– are you for real? check the ratio of Black anchors vs white ones,idiot
Angela
April 27th, 2011
11:17 am
There isn’t that much interesting local news… and I’m still so upset “One Life to Live” is going to be cancelled, that I won’t be watching ABC after January 2012 – especially not local news rehashes of the same stories over and over.
Daily news for: news channel 5 | AutoSkt Daily News
April 27th, 2011
11:25 am
[...] Channel 2 is not the only major market replacing Oprah with news instead of another talk show … The other 4 p.m. newscast in Atlanta is on the CBS affiliate WGCL-TV, which added a 5 p.m. newscast last fall. As for the pending departures of soaps … read full article… [...]
matt
April 27th, 2011
1:48 pm
Do people really watch this much local news. I for one have stopped watching local news in its entirety…but theres too much local news…It cant be getting a good or young demo – it must be old people. Fox5 has 4-5 hours of news each morning…On weekends, same for 11…Now Ch2 and other ABC affiliates seem to think we need 3 hours of local news (4-7p) every afternoon? Really? I think it gives opportunities for other stations to get interesting syndicated programming or create original LOCAL programming…Not an informercial like Cha 11 does at 11am but something like Chicagos WLS is doing by creating a local talk show….where is our version of AM ATLANTA or GOOD AFTERNOON ATLANTA? Someone come up with something original!
Backwoods Hick
April 27th, 2011
6:53 pm
@The Ghost of Ed Murrow–You forgot the most important part of your “news” recipe. After you add all the ingredients, you mix (not very well) and Repeat-and Repeat-and Repeat ad nauseum 4-5 times a day.
monica's hair
April 27th, 2011
9:53 pm
The problem with Monica’s hair is having it done too much. She use to have it done everyday at the old Rich’s downtown before it closed. They warned her repeatedly that no ones hair could sustain the amount of different color and styles that she put her hair through.