Fox4 goes to Battah with Hanna as new weekend Good Day anchor
05/23/18 09:01 AM
By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Dallas-based Fox4 has named Hanna Battah to succeed Jenny Anchondo as anchor of the station’s weekend early morning Good Day program.
Her first day will be June 11th, the station announced Wednesday. Battah also will be a general assignments reporter three days a week, as was Anchondo.
The University of Missouri graduate is pole-vaulting from the No. 126th TV market in the country, Bakersfield, CA, where she most recently worked as an anchor/reporter for KBAK/KBFX-TV. Before that she was on the news staff of KOMU-TV in Columbus, MO, the No. 135th market. Dallas-Fort Worth currently ranks No. 5, behind only New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia.
Fox4 vice president and news director Robin Whitmeyer said in a statement that Battah is a “multi-talented journalist with skills extending beyond the camera, often producing, reporting and anchoring all in the same day.”
Battah noted that “many of my friends” have settled in Dallas during her moves around the country. “I’m eager to join them in the city that has grown close to my heart, and continue to do the job that allows me to have a front seat to life.”
Anchondo left Fox4 on March 21st after joining the station in October 2013 from WXIN-TV in Indianapolis. She is now with the syndicated Morning Dose program, which originates from the CW33 studios in Dallas and also airs in six other markets.
Anchondo recently became embroiled in a spat with comedian Kathy Griffin, who will be performing in Dallas on Aug. 18th and earlier had been interviewed via satellite by Morning Dose’s Shane Allen. She followed up by posing a social media question: “Would you attend a Kathy Griffin comeback tour show?”
The comedian quickly took offense, responding, “Hey Jenny. It’s Jenny, isn’t it? You’re a real woman’s woman aren’t you? My show in Dallas is selling out quite well. So you can take your poll/question & stick it up your ass.” She added a heart emoji.
This lit what’s known as a social media “firestorm,” with Anchondo wondering, ‘What in the world? . . . I woke up to this (Griffin’s jab) and dozens of other attacks.”
In truth, Morning Dose loves any attention it can get while Anchondo defends herself as a steadfast and everlasting “advocate for women.”
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