Last one out: Amanda Salinas leaves CW33 for morning anchor job in Austin

They’re all out of the picture now. Amanda Salinas (3rd from right) is putting CW33 behind her, joining former fellow anchors (from left) Rebecca Miller, Walt Maciborski and Dave Crome. Photo: Ed Bark
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Amanda Salinas, who joined Dallas-based CW33 in February 2009 as part of an effort to overhaul the Tribune-owned station’s 9 p.m. newscasts, is the last of the original four-member anchor team to make an exit.

After remaining at CW33 to be part of the Nightcap edition (also soon to be canceled), Salinas is heading to Fox-owned KTVC-TV in Austin. Starting on Jan. 20th, she’ll join the Good Day Austin morning team of Dave Froelich, Zack Shields and Ken Bellacosa.

In a publicity release, the station said Salinas also will co-anchor KTBC’s noon newscast with Froelich.

“I thank God for the experience in Dallas and for the opportunity in Austin,” Salinas said in emailed comments to unclebarky.com. “My family and I are very happy.”

Salinas earlier told austin360.com (in partnership with The Austin-American Statesman) that “joining KTBC is a dream come true.” KTBC’s announcement describes the University of Texas grad as “the ideal person to lead our morning newscast and provide our viewers with the information they need to navigate their day.”

Nightcap premiered on CW33 in November 2012 as a comedy-infused spin-off the station’s early morning Eye Opener, which remains in place. Salinas, news anchor Walt Maciborski, meteorologist Rebecca Miller and sports anchor Dave Crome originally fronted a somewhat more conventional 9 p.m. newscast orchestrated by former WFAA8 news director David Duitch. After making numerous personnel changes and heavily incorporating “social media” into CW33’s newscasts, Duitch left after four oft-volatile years to join The Dallas Morning News in July 2012 as the editor of dallasnews.com.

Now Nightcap also is a lame duck, with its “Different Kind of News” set to be supplanted sometime early this year by the anchor-less NewsFix, currently in view on Houston’s Tribune-owned KIAH-TV (CW39).

Salinas and Maciborski originally replaced the longstanding CW33 anchor team of Tom Crespo and Terri Chappelle. Before joining CW33, Salinas hosted Dallas-based WFAA8’s since canceled La Vida program. She left WFAA8 in the summer of 2004 and arrived at CW33 in 2009 from WPBF-TV, the ABC station in West Palm Beach, Fla.

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