More changes at CW33's Eye Opener, with Danielle Vollmar off to Philadelphia and Zuri Hall already in play
01/14/13 04:10 PM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom
Dallas-based CW33 continues to be the market's pace-setter in moving parts.
Latest to leave is Nightcap co-host and weathercaster Danielle Vollmar, who began a bit over a year ago on the station's similarly themed Eye Opener program.
Vollmar, who said goodbye at the end of Friday's program, is returning to her hometown of Philadelphia to do weather reports for WTXF-TV, the city's Fox-owned station. Her successor is Zuri Hall, who was already on the air Monday.
"It has been awesome and made me realize how much I love weather!" Vollmar said on her Facebook page of doing double duty on Nightcap. "So friends in Philly, please tune in for my debut next Saturday night (Jan. 19)! To all my loyal Dallas peeps, I appreciate you all and I love your city!"
Tribune-owned CW33 launched Nightcap on Nov. 1st after dismissing many incumbent staffers and hiring new ones. The program is billed on the air by its hosts as "a different kind of news" in keeping with the parent company's view that there are too many similarly formatted local newscasts in D-FW and around the country. Vollmar moved from Eye Opener to the 5 and 9 p.m. Nightcap at its inception, joining original co-hosts Spencer Harlan and holdover CW33 news anchor Amanda Salinas.
Harlan lately has been absent from the air, with Charlie Berens moving up from featured contributor to co-host.
Vollmar was replaced on Eye Opener by Holly Morgan, formerly of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina's WPDE-TV and a graduate of Arizona State Univeristy's Walter Cronkite School of Broadcast Journalism. The program's current on-air staff also includes ex-CBS11 anchor-reporter Nerissa Knight.
On her website, newcomer Hall bills herself as an actress, TV host, singer and songwriter -- in that order. She most recently worked as host/producer of Living Dayton, a "one-of-a-kind local lifestyle talk show" that premiered on WDTN-TV of Dayton, Ohio in February of last year. Hall also has been one of the "official emcees" of the NBA's Indiana Pacers, according to her website bio.
PREGNANT PAUSE (updated) -- This is somewhat old news, but will serve as a catchup round on Dallas TV anchor pregnancies.
Lauren Przybyl of Fox4's early morning Good Day program is the latest with child. In a Dec. 14th post on her Facebook page, Przybyl announced, "Exciting news!! My husband and I have had our wish granted. We are expecting a baby this summer. We feel truly blessed!!" Przybyl was married late last year.
Over at NBC5, anchor Meredith Land is winding down her maternity leave after birthing her second child in mid-November.
WFAA8 remains the runaway leader in anchor pregnancies, with Shelly Slater, Cynthia Izaguirre, Shon Gables and Alexa Conomos all having one or more deliveries since unclebarky.com went online in September, 2006. Slater is still on maternity leave.
During that period, Fox4 anchor Heather Hays also has had a baby. And CBS11 kept the home fires burning with sports anchor Gina Miller's first child in October of 2011.
unclebarky@verizon.net