Thanks for visiting the Rochester, NY News Story Archive...

June 29, 2007
Chris Gloninger has left WHEC for a job as the weekend/noon meteorologist at WTEN, the ABC affiliate in Albany, NY.

June 22, 2007
Say goodbye to "Wake Up Rochester". Starting July 2, WROC will re-name it's morning newscast "News 8 Now at Sunrise". Sound familiar? It should because that was the name of the broadcast prior to switching to "Wake Up" in 2002. WROC's website claims "mornings will never be the same AGAIN".

There have been a number of changes in both WROC and WHEC's newscasts, most noticeably with the timing of certain segments. Could it be because WROC beat out WHEC in both the Noon and 11PM time slots this past May? What other changes might we see in the near future? All I can say is that it's about time things start to get interesting in this market... Of course, RNYN will keep you posted.

June 11, 2007
WHEC has begun using Tower V.3 by 615 Music. You can listen to a montage of "V.3" by clicking this link.

June 4, 2007
WHEC has brought a familiar face back to the airwaves. Steve Hausmann, who was the weekend sports anchor during much of the 1990's appeared tonight filling in for Mark Gruba. After leaving WHEC the first time around, Hausmann focused his talents on radio broadcasting and has been heard on a number of stations which currently include WBZA 98.9 and WBEE 92.5 (Entercom). WHEC had been managing to get by over the past few months by having only 2 sports anchors since the departure of Rick Hager.

June 2, 2007
Melanie Barnas has left WROC. Her contract was up at the end of May and was not renewed. RNYN knew about the possibility of Barnas leaving the station back in the middle of May, however I prefer to receive confirmation before posting a personnel change. E-mails were unreturned from the station.

April 26, 2007
RNYN has removed most video content from it's site until further notice. The video should return as soon as I can re-encode every file to include a watermark of the RNYN logo. It appears that people have been taking content from this website and crediting it as their own on other websites. I understand that I do not hold any copyright to this content, it's just a matter of respect. I apologize for the inconvenience this may cause other readers of RNYN.

April 23, 2007
Clear Channel has announced the sale of all 56 of its television stations, including WHAM-TV. Providence Equity Partners Inc. has agreed to pay approximately $1.2 billion for the group.

WROC-TV has hired Jerry Walsh as their news director. Walsh comes to Rochester from Utica where he was operations manager at WKTV.

April 10, 2007
Scott Fybush reports that WROC has hired a new general manager. Louis Gattozzi joins WROC from WJET-TV in Erie, PA.

You may have noticed that there have not been any updates on RNYN in nearly 2 months. There really hasn't been anything significant to report up until now. Keep in mind that RNYN relies on our readers to send in tips. I also often find out information from other websites. Please keep those e-mails coming, otherwise I'm left in the dark as to what's really going on behind the scenes. Thanks again. 

February 20, 2007
It's been a fairly quiet month aside from all of the hype about sweeps. The only change I have to report is that WROC General Manager Marc Jaromin has left the station. Tim Busch, Nexstar vice president is now acting as GM, a role which he is familiar with considering he was WROC's GM prior to being promoted up the ladder at Nexstar. More on the never-ending saga of the 78th ranked television market on Radio-Info.

January 16, 2007
Newsblues reports that WHEC-TV has hired reporter Catherine Varnum from WETM in Elmira.

Both WHAM-TV/CW-WHAM and WROC-TV/WUHF have unveiled new websites within the past week. WHAM's is still at 13WHAM.com while WROC-TV/WUHF have changed their URL to rochesterhomepage.net.

And here's something from the better late than never file: WUHF has begun using a new theme for it's 10:00 newscast. Most other Sinclair stations currently use this theme as well.

Update January 18, 2007:
The new theme package heard on WUHF is called "Evolution", composed by Gari Communications, Inc. You can listen to an audio montage at this link. Of course you probably knew this was coming... I am in search of this entire package. Please e-mail me if you think you may be able to help out.

January 4, 2007
Happy New Year from Rochester, NY News. An extended thank you goes out to all of you who have sent in your e-mails with site suggestions and tips. I also want to thank you folks who work at the stations in town that respond to my annoying and quite frequent e-mails. It's hard to believe that it has already been five years since I launched this website as a freshman in high school, and might I say it sure has come a long way! This site would not have been possible if it wasn't for the cooperation of so many different people working at different levels in local media. All of you GMs, NDs, tech guys and gals, and on-air talent surely help me out in trying to sort out what goes on in this crazy world of television news.

So, what's to come in the new year? Well, it's really up to you... As mentioned above, RNYN relies so much on the cooperation and feedback from others. Many people have the misconception that I am some television media insider, when in fact I am not. Most of the information that is posted on this website is learned from either my own personal observation or from an e-mail sent in from a reader or station staff member. I encourage everyone to continue writing their e-mails so that RNYN can remain up to date.

We do not charge a membership fee for this site and we never will. I believe that RNYN is an educational resource that should be available to anyone upon request. We also do not seek donations of monetary value. I can surely afford the 7 dollars a month it costs me to run this site. However, I do want to point out that RNYN is in desperate need of donations of other types. Not only would we like you to submit your tips and suggestions, but it would be nice to obtain some new material for our multimedia section. If you have any clips of old news opens, rejoins, promos, etc (from Rochester, obviously) and would like them to be shared on RNYN, please send me an e-mail or instant message.

The general public may not have access to some of the other material I am looking for, so listen up you folks who work at the TV stations!... theme packages. I know, I know, what weird guy collects news themes? Well, I do and I am looking especially for WHEC's 1991 - 1993 news theme package called "Everyday Music Package", composed by Wow & Flutter Music. A cut of this theme is currently used on the noon broadcast of News 10NBC to tease the upcoming Mr. Food segment. You can listen to an "all new" audio montage here. These are random cuts that have been recorded off-air from other television stations that used the package in the past.

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed to this site. I look forward to hearing from you all in the new year.

-Jack Allen
 Creator and Webmaster of Rochester, NY News


December 20, 2006
Beginning Monday, January 15, 2007, 13 WHAM News will expand its morning newscast to four hours. The only catch is that you have to be a cable subscriber or have a digital tuner in order to watch the entire show. 13 WHAM News This Morning will air on WHAM-TV from 5:00 - 7:00AM and also be simulcast on CW Rochester (cable channel 16, over the air 13.2). The 7:00AM - 9:00AM block will air on CW Rochester only, while Good Morning America airs on WHAM-TV. Evan Dawson will also be joining the morning team. 

December 12, 2006
Rochester has lost yet another media legend. George Beahon, former sports reporter and anchor for WOKR-TV passed away in his sleep Monday morning. George began his career in 1941 covering high school sports for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. For more information on the life and career of George Beahon, please visit this article from the D&C.

November 21, 2006
I am not sure how I could have overlooked this, but Clear Channel announced last week that it will be selling all 43 of its television stations, as well as 448 of its radio stations. WHAM-TV is currently owned by Clear Channel.

November 20, 2006
Mike Goldrick is the new news director at WHEC. Goldrick comes to Rochester from KOMO-TV in Seattle where he served as executive producer. As Scott Fybush points out on NERW, the new ND is in no relation to meteorologist Michael Gouldrick who works at R News, the cable-only news station in Rochester that RNYN does not cover. R News is not covered by RNYN simply because I do not subscribe to Time Warner Cable and am unable to view the station.

November 13, 2006
In a press release dated today, we learn:

*** Clear Channel Television in Rochester, NY has purchased the CW affiliation (WRWB) from Rochester Television Ventures, LLC, a joint venture of Time Warner Cable and Warner Brothers.  The station will be operated by Clear Channel’s WHAM-TV and will be renamed CW-WHAM.  It will be broadcast over-the-air on WHAM-DT, digital channel 13.2 (also 59.2), and will continue to air on Time Warner Cable Channel 16.  Clear Channel is operating Rochester’s CW-WHAM as of today. *** view entire document

Some have speculated that WHAM may attempt to produce a 10:00 newscast sometime down the road to compete with the WROC-produced FOX First at Ten, which airs on WUHF. Of course this is just speculation and there have been no signs to support this theory. As always, keep it here on RNYN for further developments.

November 11, 2006
An RNYN reader has pointed out that Jessica Weinstein's bio no longer appears on WHEC's website. Typically this means that the person no longer works for the station, however there has been no official word out of WHEC on Jessica's status. Meanwhile, WHEC still remains without a news director, 7 months after the departure of former ND Adam Bradshaw.

Update November 13, 2006:
Jessica Weinstein now works with WGRZ, the NBC affiliate in Buffalo, NY.

Another unofficial report shows signs of Clear Channel's 13-WHAM entering into some sort of an agreement with Time Warner's CW16 (formerly WRWB). WHAM aired election coverage on the cable-only channel this past Tuesday. I have contacted station management concerning this matter and have learned that an announcement should be made sometime in the near future.

November 5, 2006
WROC-TV News Director Lee Eldridge will soon be leaving the station for another position in Louisville, Kentucky.

October 17, 2006
WHAM Radio Host Bob Lonsberry is not very thrilled about being a contestant on 13 WHAM-TV's local version of "Dancing with the Stars". Yesterday on his radio show he laid out his strategy for being voted off the feature segment so that he may go home earlier in the evenings after working a long day.

Matt Molloy joined WROC last week as a reporter. Matt comes to us from WETM Elmira.

October 6, 2006
Lila Carney has joined WHEC as a reporter. She previously worked for WKTV in Utica.

October 1, 2006
Rachel Barnhart is back on the airwaves in Rochester. She appeared on 13WHAM News this evening at 6PM. Barnhart filed suit against her former employer WROC-TV in February, trying to invalidate the non-compete clause in her contract. The case was sent to arbitration in March and that was the last information that I have regarding it. In April, Rachel announced that she had joined 13 WHAM News as a web producer and internet reporter. It is unclear whether the judge recently ruled in her favor of having the non-compete dropped, or if the non-compete clause had been sat out for its entire duration.

Update October 2, 2006:
RNYN has learned that Rachel Barnhart's case with WROC was settled.

September 26, 2006
The Nexstar Broadcasting Group, which owns and operates WROC, and operates WUHF though a joint sales as shared services agreement with the Sinclair Broadcast Group has recently begun airing ads encouraging viewers to visit a website called PreserveLocalTV.com. The ad is very reminiscent of the "No TV Tax" campaign that ran in 1996 on local stations all across the country. The television ad is one minute long, but doesn't really say what the real issue at hand is. Viewers are lead to believe that the "FCC wants to take away local television". After visiting the website, you then learn that it concerns the current FCC ownership regulations. "Operating two stations gives companies like ours the ability to deliver another news voice to the market. It means more local news not less. It means more local jobs. It’s good for our community."

All of Rochester's local stations have recently hired or departed ways with on-air personalities. At WROC/WUHF, Kevin Jolly joins as a reporter. WHEC-TV has said goodbye to veteran sportscaster Rick Hager, who assumed the role of sports director for the past year. Finally, Mike Doria has left WHAM-TV for a gig in Las Vegas. All of these changes were only brought to my attention after reading about them on Radio-Info. This seems like an appropriate time to mention that you can e-mail me anytime with a tip or site suggestion. You can also Instant Message me on AIM, screen name: RNYNdotcom.

For those of you who have been wondering about Cathy Orosz, Cathy has landed on her feet in Milwaukee at WITI. She shares the airwaves with former WROC Meteorologist Rob Haswell.

September 15, 2006
RNYN has just learned of the death of legendary Rochester news anchor Gabe Dalmath. This comes as a shock to many who weren't even aware that Gabe was sick. He died tonight at Strong Hospital after losing a short battle with kidney cancer. He was 60 years old.

August 25, 2006
Newsblues confirms the rumor that WHEC's Emily Smith has been hired by WABC. Emily will serve as the station's new Long Island correspondent. This is quite the jump for Emily, who came to Rochester less than 2 years ago from WETM in Elmira, NY. RNYN had been informed about a potential move for Emily a few weeks back, however out of respect and for the purpose of maintaining accuracy; I decided not to post this until a more credible source confirmed the move.

Mark Giardina points out something interesting on the Radio-Info boards. WROC is alternating anchors between Maureen McGuire and Kevin Doran while one goes out in the field to cover stories and the other stays at the station to anchor the evening newscasts. This is only temporary until the station can find replacements for the recently departed Ty Chandler and Cathy Orosz.

August 20, 2006
Friday, August 4 was Ty Chandler's last day with WROC. I apologize for the delay in reporting this news as it has been known by many for weeks now. I've been a busy man and unable to devote as much time to the website as I would like. Thanks again to all who have e-mailed me your tips.

August 5, 2006
13WHAM reports the death of former Chief Meteorologist Bill Peterson. Bill retired from WOKR 5 years ago this week. A site has been set up in his memory (see WHAM link).

Bill Peterson was a man who I never met, but he was a man who I believe had an impact on many people’s lives, mine included. If you think about it, much of our life revolves around the weather. It’s the first thing we notice when we step outside and often one of the first things to pop-up in a discussion with a stranger while waiting in line at the supermarket. For many years Bill was OUR weatherman. He told us what to expect, and he did a damn good job doing it. My interest in meteorology began years ago as a kid. I always wanted a snow day and I wanted to know when it was going to happen. The news wasn’t my favorite show to watch. Instead I’d rather watch some good cartoons just like any other normal kid would. Of course my parents had control of the remote and when 5:00 rolled around, it was time for the news and that remote was not allowed to be touched until the END when all of the well-groomed folks on the tube said goodnight. For many years I was exposed to the news and grew to like it, but more so I had a fascination with the weather. Fast-forward a dozen years and here I am today looking to enter my freshman year of college to study what else… meteorology. Who would have known? Thank you, Bill.

July 25, 2006
Cathy Orosz is no longer employed at WROC, however her bio still remains on the station's website. Orosz reportedly left the station at the end of June, turning down a new contract which offered her less pay.

June 6, 2006
Steve Dawe has been named News Director at 13WHAM News. Dawe has served as promotions director for the past three years. I met with Steve in April for a tour of the station. After the tour, Steve treated me and my accompanying girlfriend to lunch at a local submarine joint. I would like to take this time to personally congratulate Steve on his new position. He has been very helpful to me over the past couple of years in researching Rochester television history.

Don Alhart celebrates 40 years at Channel 13 today. Alhart joined the station on June 6, 1966 and co-anchored beside the late Dick Burt for over a quarter century.

June 5, 2006
Kevin Jolly is no longer at WHEC. He was one of several people cut from the station, most of which worked behind the camera.

Yet another news crew has been attacked in Rochester. WHEC's cameras were rolling when a woman hit the photographer during a police investigation at the scene of a shooting. Update (6/6): The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports the same woman also hit one of WROC's cameras.

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports on the death of former Channel 13 reporter and "troubleshooter" Al White. White died May 9 after suffering a heart attack and undergoing bypass surgery. 13 has also posted an interview conducted in 1982 which profiled the "most recognizable face in Rochester" as seen on PM Magazine.

May 23, 2006
Chuck Samuels has been promoted to Vice President and General Manager of 13 WHAM-TV effective immediately. Samuels has served as news director for the past ten years. Former VP/GM Kent Beckwith retired from the station at the end of March, ending a 43 year run at Channel 13.

May 5, 2006
WROC has changed voice-over talents yet again. The short lived female voice of Elisabeth Noone has been replaced by an unknown male voice. WROC was the first in this market to have a female as the main voice of a local station. Apparently it didn't work out as well as hoped for.

An arrest has been made in the attack of a News 8 Now crew back in April. Jaquanda Peterkin turned herself in to Rochester City Police on Tuesday for the attack which sent WROC Photojournalist Kate Yerves to the hospital to receive stitches. Peterkin was charged for the assault and is being held on $15,000 bail.

More news out of WROC... it seems as if the station has a new slogan: "(We're) Your Eye on Rochester."

WHEC did their entire 5 and 6 o' clock newscasts from a live remote in front of the Greece Town Hall and Recreation Center on Thursday afternoon. Greece is one of a handful of chosen spots where News 10NBC will be "on the road" from throughout May.

April 24, 2006
Adam Bradshaw, current news director at WHEC will be leaving the station at the end of May. In June, he will become the new ND at KVVU-TV, the Fox affiliate in Las Vegas, Nevada.

April 19, 2006
WHEC will be changing their anchor line-up starting next Monday the 24th:

AM Show - Pat McGonigle, Rebecca Leclair, Lynette Adams, Rich Caniglia
Noon - Rebecca Leclair and Rich Caniglia
5pm Newscast - Rich Funke, Janet Lomax, Kevin Williams
6pm Newscast - Rich Funke, Janet Lomax, Kevin Williams, Mark Gruba
11pm Newscast - Rich Funke, Jennifer Johnson, Kevin Williams, Mark Gruba
Weekends - Nikki Rudd, Josh Nichols, Brett Stagnitti

News Director Adam Bradshaw writes: "Janet moves off the 11pm after more than 20 years. This was at her request and something she's been pondering for the past few years. Robin DeWind returns full time to her Medical Discoveries beat. Jennifer Johnson moves from weekends to 11pm, Nikki Rudd moves from AM show to weekends, and Lynette rejoins the AM show (not until the following week)."

April 18, 2006
While covering a local story in the field, WROC Photojournalist Kate Yerves and Reporter Ty Chandler were attacked by a woman with a baseball bat. Yerves was transported to a local hospital "where she received several stitches."

April 5, 2006
Rachel Barnhart announced today that she will be joining WHAM-TV as a web producer/internet reporter starting Monday, April 10th. The earliest Barnhart can return to the air is sometime this summer, pending the court's decision.

March 18, 2006
Rachel Barnhart's case against WROC-TV was heard on Wednesday in front of State Supreme Court Judge Kenneth Fischer.
The case has been sent to arbitration and may take up to 3 months.

Update - March 29, 2006
Rochester's City Newspaper has more on the Barnhart case. (3rd item)

Christine Crafts, formerly of WROC was seen last week doing a NEXTEL commercial, which ironically, has only been seen on WROC. Maybe in a year the commercial will be allowed to air on other stations. It's just a theory...

February 13, 2006
RNYN first told you back in December that WHEC would be changing slogans this month. "Coverage You Can Count On" has replaced "Digging for Answers, Reporting them First." In addition to slogan change, the station has new graphics which are rumored to be from Giant Octopus. GO also designed the current graphics package used on WHAM-TV.

As reported last week, Rachel Barnhart has filed suit against WROC-TV and Nexstar Broadcasting Group...
NorthEast Radio Watch reports:
>Here in Rochester, former WROC-TV (Channel 8) reporter/weekend anchor Rachel Barnhart filed suit against the station last >week, trying to invalidate the clause in her contract that bars her from working on the air at other radio and TV stations in the >market for the rest of the year. The suit claims officials at the Nexstar station tried to force Barnhart to renew her contract as a >general-assignment reporter, without the lucrative anchor shifts - and that that amounted to a "constructive discharge" that has >left her unable to get a job in her hometown, in the only field in which she has experience.

February 10, 2006
WROC has changed voice-over talents. Elisabeth Noone is now heard as the main announcer at the station, replacing Al Vanik whose voice had been heard on WROC for the past 5 years.

An unconfirmed (though reliable) source has reported that former WROC anchor and reporter Rachel Barnhart has or will be filing suit against the station. More information will be available shortly.

February 6, 2006
I bet there were a lot of angry phone calls to WHAM-TV Sunday night. The high-definition signal on Time Warner Cable channel 1013 went dark towards the end of the first quarter in Super Bowl XL. Time Warner resolved the issue and WHAM went ahead and placed text on the screen saying that the high definition had been fixed. The over-the-air signal was not affected. WHAM started their late newscast by mentioning the problem. What's ironic is that Time Warner and WHAM had actually plugged the availability of the digital signal on 1013 before the game started... They were wrong.

February 2, 2006
Jenny Chu is now a reporter with WROC and WUHF. Chu most recently worked as a reporter at WCTI-TV in Greenville, NC.

WHEC's NBC Weather Plus launched earlier this week on Time Warner Digital channel 110 and on digital sub-channel 10.2 (over-the-air). More additions in the News 10NBC Weather Lab include new Weather Bug station sites. Stay tuned for more changes as we get further into February sweeps.

January 30, 2006
WROC has suffered yet another casualty. Rachel Barnhart is no longer employed at the station. A reliable source claims that Barnhart and management at the station failed to reach an agreement on a new contract. More on this at Radio-Info.

January 25, 2006
WHEC-TV will be re-launching their digital weather channel sometime within in the next few weeks. The new digital sub-channel will feature NBC Weather Plus with local cut-ins.

January 3, 2006
An anonymous tipster has told RNYN that veteran reporter Steve Levine will be leaving WROC after spending 12 years at the station. His last day is this Friday, January 6. Mr. Levine is headed for Baltimore, MD to work as an investigative reporter at Sinclair's flagship station WBFF.

Editorial: You know, when Nexstar and Sinclair entered into the joint sales and shared services agreement I didn't expect they'd be trading valuable talent to other markets! Steve Levine has certainly done this market some good. While RNYN tries its best to remain unbiased, I can say without shame that Steve Levine was definitely one of my favorites. So what now, is 8 no longer "on your side"? Only time will tell. 

December 25, 2005
Come February, WHEC will be dumping the slogan "Digging for answers..." and picking up "Coverage You Can Count On". These changes will occur with the arrival of the 2006 Winter Olympics which are being held in Torino, Italy this year. Of course you can keep it right here on RNYN for more information, whenever it may become available.

November 1, 2005
FOX First at Ten has premiered. From what I saw the newscast went off without a hitch. I'm not one that usually gives opinions on this website because it has gotten me in some trouble in the past, but I will say that this newscast has quite some potential. My only complaint so far would be the over usage of FOX in the newscast. Not a single thing was mentioned about WROC or News 8 Now during this newscast. You can view video of the new open by going to this link.

There is some more information concerning recent and upcoming staffing changes at WROC/WUHF.
Rob Haswell, meteorologist for Wake Up Rochester and News 8 Now @ Noon will leave the station in December for WITI, the FOX O&O in Milwaukee, WI. John Stehlin has been hired as Haswell's replacement. Stehlin previously worked beside Fritz Coleman at Los Angeles' KNBC-TV.

Meteorologist Jonathan Myers has been hired for weekend weather duties, replacing Christine Crafts. Myers comes from WETM in Elmira, NY where he was chief meteorologist.

And now finally some news that doesn't concern WROC/WUHF...
Holly Maynard is now co-anchor of 13WHAM News This Morning.
>Courtesy Newsblues and the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

October 31, 2005
Christine Crafts' final broadcast on WROC was at noon today. Crafts is leaving the station to take a job at the meteorology department at SUNY Brockport.

Lance Barry, formerly of WUHF has landed a job at WCPO in Cincinnati.

David Aldrich, formerly of WHAM-TV has been hired by WTXF, The FOX O&O in Philadelphia. 

October 30, 2005
While none of this has been confirmed, RNYN has heard that both meteorologists Christine Crafts and Rob Haswell will be leaving WROC. An employee of WROC told RNYN, "I can say nothing... Changes will be obvious in the next few weeks."

Melanie Barnas, former anchor of The Ten O'Clock News on FOX Rochester is said to be the new morning co-host of Wake Up Rochester on WROC.

WHAM-TV has hired Marty Snyder to fill the void as morning and noon meteorologist. Snyder comes back to his hometown of Rochester after spending some time at WTVR in Richmond, VA. Look for Snyder to make his debut on 13WHAM-TV in December.

WHEC weekend assignment editor and producer Deanna King was spotted doing an in-studio report on News 10NBC Saturday at 6. King was supposedly just "filling in" and continues to assume the roles as AE/producer.

October 17, 2005
According to NorthEast Radio Watch, Lia Lando of News 12 Westchester will join WROC/WUHF to anchor the Sunday - Thursday editions of "FOX First at Ten". Katrina Irwin will serve as anchor on Friday and Saturday. The newscast will launch Tuesday, November 1 @ 10:00 on WUHF. Keep it here on RNYN for further updates as well as video of the newscast when it premieres.

September 20, 2005
Tomorrow is David Aldrich's last day at WHAM-TV. Aldrich joined Channel 13 back in July 2001.

August 31, 2005
The Ten O' Clock News on FOX Rochester has "signed off". WUHF ran extra-long credits which displayed the names of hundreds of current and former employees dating back to 1998. You may choose to view the video by clicking here. It might also be worth mentioning the irony in the selection of music used behind these credits. "That's Life" by Frank Sinatra was used to close the newscast.

So what's next? The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports that almost all staff at FOX31 "will either have a new employer or be laid off." The station has already removed the faces and biographies of all on-air staff from their website.

August 22, 2005
Nexstar Broadcasting Group, owner and operator of WROC-TV Channel 8 have announced that they have entered a joint sales and shared services agreement with the Sinclair Broadcast Group effect immediately. Sinclair owns and operates WUHF Channel 31. The Ten O' Clock News on FOX Rochester will temporary cease operation as of September 1st. FOX31/WROC plans to re-launch the newscast in November, combining both news teams.

July 13, 2005
Two of WHAM-TV's personalities are leaving the station to seek career opportunities in other fields. Traci Buch, current weekend sports anchor and reporter will be headed south to start her own business. Gavin Reynolds is going to study law at Fordham University. It is unknown how long the two will remain at the station before parting ways. On the flip-side, WHAM-TV has hired Kyle Clark, a native of Lyons, as a reporter. Clark comes back to the Rochester area from the Binghamton market where he was weekend anchor and reporter at WBNG.

Update - August 10, 2005
Both Traci Buch and Gavin Reynolds have departed from 13WHAM-TV. Kevin Roche is now the weekend sports anchor.

July 8, 2005
Melissa Long has left WROC. No other information is available at this time, though there are some theories floating around on Radio-Info.

July 1, 2005
WHEC has moved a few things around in their newscasts. Most noticeably is the full weathercast which doesn't come until the third block. In addition, the 6:00 newscast is teased by Janet Lomax in the newsroom during the 5:00 newscast. These changes are only minor, but it may be signaling something more to come.

WHEC has also added an extra half-hour to their news. News 10NBC Early Today runs from 5 - 6am, and News 10NBC Today runs from 6 - 7am.

June 27, 2005
WROC has hired Joylynn Whitfield as a reporter. She comes to Rochester from WSBT in South Bend, Indiana.

Something else happening at WROC is a little shuffling of anchor duties. Melissa Long has been absent from the morning and noon newscasts for a month or more, but the station's website still has her listed as being an anchor. Long has been doing general assignment reporting on the later editions of News 8 Now. Cathy Orosz is now anchoring Wake Up Rochester and News 8 Now @ Noon.

June 13, 2005
WUHF has added some more new graphics to their newscast. A new open and rejoin debuted Sunday night. NewsCentral is still using the "old" graphics in places.

Let's pretend just for a moment that this website isn't called Rochester, NY News. Next door in Syracuse, WIXT Channel 9 has made the switch to WSYR-TV. Sound familiar? It should. Back in January, sister station WOKR made the switch to WHAM-TV. Both stations are ABC affiliates and owned by Clear Channel Communications.

June 6, 2005
WUHF has had a minor change in the graphics department. On Sunday the station unveiled some newly updated elements. Most of the newscast consisted of L3s that were cut off half way by the oversized crawl. They did get it right on Monday night though. Check back with RNYN soon for some screencaps.

May 4, 2005
According to Eckhert Talent Management, Brian Martin has started working at KUTV in Salt Lake City as an evening anchor and reporter. KUTV is a CBS O&O.

May 2, 2005
Today @ 5 WROC unveiled new weather graphics and a remodeled newsroom.

April 28, 2005
This is pure speculation but I have a strong hunch that WROC may have something extra special planned for next week. RNYN could not get an answer from WROC staff as to if anything would be taking place. Considering that KTAL, a Nexstar owned station in another market recently unveiled new graphics and that their previous graphics were identical to WROC's I would say that there is a high likelihood that WROC will be picking up the new graphics package. WROC has used the same on-air look since February 2000.

April 23, 2005
An announcement should made soon concerning former WHEC anchor Brian Martin.

April 20 - 23, 2005
I'm a little late in reporting this, but I guess it's better late than never... Friday was Stephanie Simao's last day at The Ten O' Clock News (WUHF). This leaves the station with only three (3) local on-air talent. There are currently no new job listings on Sinclair's website for WUHF. Stay tuned...

Update April 23:
OK so WUHF actually has four (4) on-air talent. I had failed to realize that Jill Konopka joined the station earlier this month as a reporter. She comes to WUHF from KEVN Rapid City, SD.

April 15, 2005
As of Thursday afternoon WHAM-TV has replaced the sign on the front of their building. RNYN will have pictures as soon as they become available. In January, Channel 13 switched call letters from WOKR to WHAM-TV.

April 10, 2005
There is yet another change at WHEC. Tonight @ 6 the station showed off a re-vamped set, the second one in 6 months or so. The duratrans backdrop has been changed and some lights have been added to the desk.

April 4, 2005
The changes at WHEC went into effect today and the station is definitely promoting them. The newscast opens now contain the names of all the anchors since quite a bit of shuffling has occurred. I have also noticed a few minor format changes in the newscasts. The weather segments are teased from the anchor desk before the franchise open plays. In addition, Sports is teased before the break by the sports anchor. In the past it was the news anchor that did it. There seems to be more conversation going on between the anchors and perhaps a little commentary here and there.

Across the street,  WUHF reporter Lance Barry  departed from The Ten O' Clock News. Barry is headed to Cincinnati, OH for another job opportunity.

March 23 - 28, 2005
WHEC has announced that Sports Director Rich Funke will be changing rolls at the station. Starting April 4, Funke will become the station's primary news anchor. Funke has been with WHEC since 1974.

Update March 25:
So where's Brian Martin going? Martin will be a reporter for the time being and is supposedly looking for other job opportunities.

Update March 28:
Rick Hager will become WHEC's Sports Director next Monday. Hager will remain as Executive Producer on weekdays and continue to fill in as an anchor and regular sports reporter. Mark Gruba has been appointed as the main sports anchor, working Monday to Friday. Brett Stagnitti, WHEC's current sports producer and photographer will become the weekend sports anchor.

March 21, 2005
The results are in and while they still have to be approved by the FCC it looks like a few stations in Rochester will be changing channels. Back in February, TV stations all across the country had to choose their in-core channel number for final DTV operation. This is the channel that TV stations will be operating on when the transition is complete and analog is a thing of the past:

WHEC 10 | WHAM 13 | WXXI 16 | WUHF 28 | WROC 45

This means that when the year 2007 hits (or later, depending on if the deadline changes), Channels 8, 21, and 31 will all be but a memory in Rochester. Financially it seems more reasonable for WROC, WXXI, and WUHF to stay at their current digital channels. It would be more work to change back to the original analog channel in 2007. This is only the first round of Channel Elections and all still needs approval from the FCC. For more on the Digital TV transition you can check out these sites:
dtv.gov | fcc.gov

March 17, 2005
Nikita Hairston has joined WUHF's The Ten O' Clock News as a general assignment reporter. Hairston comes from WENY in Elmira, NY.

March 7, 2005
Pat McGonigle will be joining WHEC later this month as morning co-anchor with Rebecca Leclair. He will replace Gabe Dalmath who retired from the station a couple of months ago. At this point McGonigle will be anchoring in the morning while Brian Martin continues to co-anchor in the evening with Robin DeWind at 5 and Janet Lomax at 6 and 11. McGonigle has previously worked with WXMI Grand Rapids and KPTM Omaha. WHEC will also be welcoming reporter Kevin Jolly from News21Cable in Washington, D.C. Both McGonigle and Jolly start mid-month.

February 11, 2005
Last night I spotted a promo for the Ten O'Clock News on FOX Rochester. I think it would have been a better promo if it hadn't included talent that hasn't worked for the station in months. Sure enough the promo ran with Meteorologist Elizabeth Hart. Hart has been with WFOR (CBS Miami) since November 2004.

February 5, 2005
Nicole Johnson is no longer with WROC-TV. Word is that her contract was not renewed.

New EEO reports have been released by local stations. You can view them by going to a station's website and by looking under the employment section. The EEO is a neat document which shows who's been hired by the station within the past year and how they obtained the job (referrals or recruitment services). You can also view information about various Outreach Activities that stations have participated in.

February 4, 2005
It may not be long until Digital Television is available at full power across the Rochester television market. As of this point most local stations are operating their digital frequencies at low power on a special temporary authority. Since the status of Digital TV is always changing and hard to keep up with, I would recommend visiting RochesterHDTV.com for the latest news on the digital transition. If you would like to get more technical, check out the FCC Database.

January 26, 2005
WUHF has stopped airing SportsCentral and as far as I know the entire segment has been cut all across the country. The bios of Jonas Schwartz and Mark Armstrong (sportscasters with Sinclair) are no longer on the NewsCentral website. WUHF still has a brief Sports segment which is locally produced and anchored. Who knows what Sinclair will cut back on next...

A test pattern appeared on WROC for about 2 minutes earlier this evening during the 5:00 newscast. Maureen McGuire continued to anchor the newscast even though all we could see was a bunch of colors on the TV screen.

January 14, 2005
Today was Kristine Lopez's last day at WHEC. She and her husband are moving to the Atlanta, Georgia area. Lopez came to News 10NBC in February 2003 from WGXA Macon, Georgia. With that being said, WHEC is still looking for a new general assignment reporter to add to the team.

January 10, 2005 - 7:15pm
For those of you who are out of town I have uploaded the 13 WHAM News opens to the website. You can view them as well as a bunch of other material by clicking the 13 logo at the top of this page. On a side note, I've been hearing a lot of jokes about the WHAM call letters, mainly from people that live out of market. Only Rochesterians can understand the significance of these historical call letters. Here's the list of top 3 "jokes" that I've heard:

3 - This station should be for meat lovers... (come on I thought that about WHAM Radio when I was like 5.)
2 - I wonder when George Michael will be stopping by. (from the 1980's band WHAM)
1 - WHAMMY! (a reference from the 2004 movie Anchorman)

January 10, 2005 - 2:00pm
WHAM-TV has officially signed on the air. The new call letters took effect at 4:59am. With the new graphics comes a few new gadgets in the weather department. WHAM now has what they call the "Ultimate Doppler". It shows four live radar sweeps from around the area. It's basically just NEXRAD data from the National Weather Service, but it looks neat. WHAM also has their local-based radar. The extended outlook is now a 7 Day Forecast. These upgrades completely blow away what the other stations in town have. We'll have to wait and see if WROC or WHEC come up with something new and better, although I wouldn't put my money on it.

January 10, 2005 - 2:45am
About an hour ago, WOKR signed off the air for the final time. Jerry Carr, a former WOKR personality was the first and last voice heard on WOKR before the station ceased operation. WHAM-TV should sign on the air later this morning.

January 7, 2005
WOKR will sign off on January 10 at 1:40am. RNYN has been told that the same announcer who signed on WOKR back in 1962 will return to the airwaves to sign off WOKR next Monday. WHAM-TV will become the new call letters of Channel 13 in Rochester, NY as of 4:59am Monday morning.

December 31, 2004
All good things must come to an end. After nearly 29 years at the anchor desk, WHEC's Gabe Dalmath signed off for the final time tonight. Check out this special section on RNYN for a wrap-up of today.

December 11, 2004
Emily Smith joined WHEC as a general assignment reporter this past week. She comes to WHEC from WETM 18 in Elmira, NY where she was a weekday reporter as well as the anchor of the noon newscast.

December 5, 2004
WUHF failed to air NewsCentral last night. In fact I've heard that it failed to air everywhere across the country. Instead of getting our national news we were treated with a repeat of the local news segments. SportsCentral and the Weather did air, but why not NewsCentral? RNYN has e-mailed WUHF and should most likely receive a response tomorrow. I'll be sure to tune in tonight @ 10 to see if everything has returned back to normal.

Lately I've been questioning the whole WOKR/WHAM-TV call letter changes. I haven't been alive long enough to see a major local station change call letters (in Rochester) so I'm not entirely certain what is all involved in the process. Does WOKR need to apply with the FCC for the change to occur? If there are any technical TV experts out there with the answers, please e-mail me. As of this point there have not been any applications submitted by WOKR to the FCC for a call letter change. In addition to that, there is no mention of the change on Clear Channel's website. The only mention that I have seen or heard was on-air (WOKR) and on WOKR's website. Once again feel free to e-mail me with any input. I'll be sure to do some investigating on my own as well.

November 19, 2004
WOKR has announced that as of January, 2005 they will be changing call letters to WHAM-TV. If you may recall these call letters were first used in Rochester back in 1949 when WHAM-TV (later WROC-TV) signed on to Channel 6. For a more in depth look at the history of Rochester, NY stations please click the appropriate station logo at the top of the page. This expanded partnership between the two stations, WHAM Radio and WOKR/WHAM-TV will cause some minor changes in staff on WHAM Radio, but not WOKR/WHAM-TV. You should expect to no longer hear WHEC personalities on WHAM Radio. I assume that it will work both ways meaning WHEC will no longer have access to WHAM Radio's traffic reporters. At the end of this year there will be significant changes in this market between WOKR changing call letters and WHEC's veteran anchor Gabe Dalmath retiring. Who knows what else may come out by then? Keep it right here at RNYN for further updates.

November 5, 2004
WROC has started using new opens. I noticed this on Wednesday but I have been too busy with other things to update the site. I'll be sure to post some video of their new opens in the days to come.

November 1, 2004
RNYN has received confirmation from WOKR that they will be getting a new graphics package from Giant Octopus. These new graphics will be custom made for WOKR. Other Clear Channel station are expected to get new, but different graphics in the weeks to come. You heard it here FIRST on Rochester, NY News!

October 27, 2004
At this point, this has not been confirmed by RNYN. I have a great suspicion that Giant Octopus is working on a new graphics package for WOKR. According to the Giant Octopus website, they are working on a project for "4 Clear Channel top market stations." Assuming that these 4 stations are the Clear Channel NY group (the ones that currently have a news department), this would mean that WOKR would be getting the new graphics as well as WIXT Syracuse, WIVT Binghamton, and WETM Elmira/Corning. Keep it right here on RNYN for further information.

October 19, 2004
WOKR was once again delayed by Monday Night Football last night. The late news did not start until 12:46am. Chief Meteorologist Glenn Johnson joked with Don Alhart at the end of the weathercast and said "I'm out." He of course then left the building which meant Don had to do the final weather update.

WUHF will be airing "Stolen Honor" a so-called documentary about John Kerry's roll in the Vietnam War Friday night at 8pm. Sinclair Broadcast Group, the parent company of WUHF has come under fire for airing such a program which some believe to be politcial propaganda. Last night some local stations showed footage of protestors in front of Fox Rochester's studios downtown. They were equipped with everything except pitch forks and burning torches. Funny thing is, Fox Rochester failed to show the footage.

October 17, 2004
WHEC has done it again. This evening they unveiled a revised set. The new set features a cityscape backdrop with a peacocky touch to it. Click here to check it out.

October 10, 2004
This story is a little strange. I was watching Saturday Night Live on WHEC around 12:50am when WUHF started coming across. Someone at master control seriously messed up something. For about a minute this wrestling show was on WHEC instead of SNL. I can't say I've ever seen another TV station accidentally simulcast the signal from another local competitor.

August 19, 2004
WROC welcomes News Director Lee Eldridge from WNCT in Greenville, NC. Eldridge replaces Bob Kirk who left WROC in June.

WHEC has finally debuted their new look. With this new look comes an all new music package from 615 Music. Check out the Multimedia section to get a glimpse of the new look and sound of News 10NBC. Parts of the new set are slowly being added. The first on the list is the News 10NBC Weather Lab which is currently under renovations.

August 12, 2004
Tonight at 6, Gabe Dalmath announced that he will be saying so-long to News 10NBC and television at the end of this year. Dalmath claims to be shifting his focus to the business world as the VP of Business Development at local mortgage banker, Flaherty Funding. In addition to working with Flaherty Funding, Dalmath will be doing media relations with his wife's firm. He also announced that he will be moving from the 6:00 anchor chair to the 5:00, while remaining as co-anchor of News 10 Today starting a week from Monday, until his departure at the end of the year. This comes as a shock to the entire community of Rochester as Gabe has been with us for nearly a quarter century. Though, this isn't the end of this story... For the past week or so, Janet Lomax has been "on-assignment" or has had the night off. Gabe and Janet have shared the anchor desk for nearly a quarter century at 6 and they will no longer be paired together. What also strikes me odd is that Gabe made his announcement when Janet was not present. His mood towards all of this was quite careless and he asked "Who's going to be moaning and groaning about everything in the world? I'll spare you all of that..." Before any more "we'll miss you" comments could be made, Gabe went to break. So this leaves me a little baffled. Is there more to this story than the public is seeing? I'll do my own "digging for answers" and see what I can come up with. Stay tuned...

August 10, 2004
WHEC's new look was supposed to have debuted on Monday, but did not. Keep it right here on RNYN for further updates.

July 5, 2004
Has there ever been a time in life where you wish you just didn't have to work such odd hours? I'm sure Rich Caniglia feels that way. Last Friday Rich was the only meteorologist on staff from 4:30am - 11:35pm. He then worked all weekend 3pm - 11:35pm and then this morning from 4:30am - 12:30pm. Kudos to Rich for nailing this weekend's forecast, which probably was so accurate because he had practically never left the building since Friday.

June 22, 2004
Christine Crafts is back on the air at WROC. No word on whether Keith Eichner will stay with WROC is some form or another. As mentioned last month, Keith took on temporary assignment as weekend meteorologist while Christine was recovering from back surgery.

WHEC has started phasing in news10nbc.com. Anchors used to refer to the website as 10nbc.com. All three domains still work, including whec.com. If you take a look at the banner on News 10NBC's website, you will notice they put the new logo on there. I'm not quite sure why they did that since the "big change" isn't supposed to occur until August and the new logo hasn't even shown up on air.

June 17, 2004
Out of respect I was going to wait until August to unveil this story, but it seems that News 10NBC isn't doing such a good job at keeping their new logo a secret. So there you have it, an all new logo. Expect some major changes to occur at WHEC this summer.

May 27, 2004
Keith Eichner is on temporary assignment as weekend meteorologist at WROC. He is filling in for Christine Crafts who recently had back surgery. Keith is the former chief meteorologist at WHEC and he has also been seen on WOKR and WUHF is the past few years. I'd like to wish Christine the very best in a speedy recovery and I hope to see her back on TV soon!

Reporter Nikki Rudd joined News 10NBC this week. According to 10nbc.com, Nikki previously reported at KTTC and KXLT, both in Rochester, Minnesota. Nikki has agreed to do an exclusive one-on-one interview with Rochester, NY News. The topic will be about journalists who have to adjust after making a move.

According to Northeast Radio Watch, WHEC did not have an 11:00 newscast on Friday night. Instead, an episode of Drew Carey aired. No word on what exactly went wrong.

May 14, 2004
Elizabeth Harness is now WROC's Health Watch reporter. Katrina Irwin is now featured on Wake Up Rochester to take over Harness' former reporting assignment.

According to Northeast Radio Watch, Dayna Roselli has left WUHF for KLAS in Las Vegas, Nevada. She will be reporting from a helicopter in the mornings. Ty Chandler joins WUHF from KTXS (Abilene, TX) as "weekend" anchor and reporter. Fox Rochester considers a "weekend" to be Friday and Saturday.

April 28, 2004
Berkeley Brean is getting married. Here's the article from the "Times of Wayne County":
Mr. Archie Scott and the late Mrs. Joyce Scott of Palmyra, New York are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Renee Lynn to Berkeley Brean. Mr. Brean is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Berkeley Brean of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. A September 18, 2004 wedding is planned.

It's 10:17pm in the nation's capitol and the sun is still shining? Right now I'm watching NewsCentral on Fox Rochester and they are doing a 3-way with a couple of political analysts. One is standing in front of the white house and it is as bright as can be. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe the sun set over 2 hours ago. Gotta love Sinclair...

April 18, 2004
The News 10NBC Weather Lab is now put back into one piece. Engineers successfully repaired the blown out "Live Data" TV monitor.

Tricia Cruz joins us from an unknown location. WOKR has failed to put up her bio on their website and the only Tricia Cruz that I can find on Google is some sort of a VJ and host of LATV. New information will be posted as soon as it becomes available.

April 9, 2004
On Wednesday night, I noticed that WROC went through an entire newscast without any chyrons. The only assumption that I can make is that a computer had gone down. Normal operations resumed on Thursday.

It has been confirmed that WHEC will be launching a new graphics package sometime this summer. Rochester, NY News was the first to tell some 10NBC employees about this!

Wendy Wright has departed from WHEC-TV. No word on what made her decide to leave, but News Director Adam Bradshaw tells me that he "wishes her a well deserved break." Jennifer Johnson will take up the assignment of weekend anchor this Saturday.

The News 10NBC Weather Lab seems to be falling apart, once again. Rich Caniglia says that a television monitor blew out and the engineers are attempting to fix it. Earlier this week I noticed that part of the weather set was missing. Since then, the overhead shot has been tightened so the non-existant "Live Data" TV monitor is not shown.