Saving primate Ryan, who's still upright after two decades of anchoring Fox4's early morning newscasts

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Tim Ryan, the early morning mainstay who makes Fox4’s Good Day percolate, marked 20 years with the program on Friday’s show.

The station aired a ”Once Upon A Tim” video package set to the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme song.

Ryan, who’s been with the Dallas-based station for a total of 25 years, began the early morning grind in 1995. It was a bit easier back then. Fox4 had separate news anchors for the 5 to 6 a.m. portion of the show. Now Good Day begins at 4:30 a.m., with Ryan there all the way to the daily 9 a.m. finish. He’s had three younger, prettier women co-anchors during that time -- Julia Somers, Megan Henderson and Lauren Przybyl, who’s been Ryan’s desk mate since September, 2009.

In just the last 10 years, all of the early morning shows at competitors NBC5, TEGNA8 and CBS11 have switched male news anchors multiple times while Ryan has stood the test of time at the still No. 1-rated Fox4.

“It’s been grinding,” he said in an interview after his first decade of waking up at ungodly hours. “I looked at this tape the other day. I’m like 20 pounds heavier and look 40 years older than I did 10 years ago.”

But he continues to age and wear well. Meanwhile, the last 10 years have seen rivals ride merry-go-rounds with Doug Dunbar (now CBS11’s featured P.M. anchor); Brendan Higgins (at both NBC5 and CBS11); Michael Rey, Justin Farmer, Chris Flanagan, Brad Hawkins and Jeff Brady (all formerly of TEGNA8); Scott Sams, Keith Garvin and Jason Allen (CBS11); and Scott Friedman, Omar Villafranca and Mark Hayes (NBC5).

Allen and Friedman have returned to their respective stations’ investigative units. Ryan’s current male news anchor competitors are NBC5’s Marc Fein, TEGNA8’s Ron Corning and CBS11’s Russ McCaskey. Corning, the longest--tenured of the three, has been with Daybreak since April of 2011.

Here’s the video from Fox4’s Friday morning commemoration of Ryan’s 20 years of coffee cup duty.



Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net