WJLA Washington has revealed its new 4 p.m. anchor team. Victoria Sanchez and Megan Clarke are the anchors and John Rogers is Live Desk anchor, with Steve Rudin doing weather. The team debuts Tuesday, January 23 in a new studio. 

Sanchez will continue as WJLA’s health and wellness reporter. 

Clarke will anchor the noon news in addition to the 4 p.m. telecast. 

Rogers came on board WJLA in December while Rudin has been at the station for 18 years. He’s also on the noon news. 

“We are thrilled about this anchor team and all the news reporting caliber, experience and energy they each bring to the news desk. They all have unique backgrounds that will provide a fresh perspective to covering our early evening news,” WJLA VP and general manager Todd Bernstein said.   

Sinclair owns WJLA, an ABC affiliate known as 7News in DMA No. 8. Last week, WJLA announced that chief political correspondent Scott Thuman is being promoted to early evening anchor. He begins January 23 as well. 

Cheryl Carson, news director at WJLA, called the 4 p.m. team “phenomenal.” 

“Victoria, Megan, John and Steve are true journalists dedicated to telling the important stories that impact our local communities,” she said. 

Politics isn’t the only giant news story in our nation’s capital. In recent days, the newsrooms were all over the $6 billion sale of the NFL’s Washington Commanders. It’s been a bleak period for the D.C. sports teams, including the underperforming Commanders, Nationals, Capitals and Wizards, but the locals hope the new Commanders owner will shake things up for the better. 

“Maybe the sale will reinvigorate the Commanders,” said Patrick Paolini, WTTG-WDCA senior VP/general manager. “Having a strong NFL team in the market certainly helps.”

Also Read: Check Out Our Local News Close-Up Profiles on Dozens of U.S. Markets

Besides covering the news, the D.C. stations are making some news. NBC station WRC and Telemundo sister WZDC debuted new studios in March. The stations’ building in the Upper Northwest neighborhood is being renovated, which sees staffers moving around a bit until their end of the edifice is completed. The project should be completed by next spring. 

“We like to say we’re changing the tires as we’re rolling down the road,” Jackie Bradford, WRC-WZDC president and general manager, said.  

In September, WTTG launched LION Lunch Hour in the 11 a.m. slot. A spinoff of Like It Or Not (LION), the weekday show features a chef cooking a meal, and the hosts, Marissa Mitchell and Erin Como, discussing the issues of the day while sampling the victuals. “It’s trending topics and different issues around food,” said Paolini. “It is authentic and fun, and it has exceeded expectations.” 

WJLA, for its part, celebrates 75 years on the air in the fall. The station has a new partnership with WTOP, providing weather to the D.C. news radio powerhouse every 10 minutes. “It’s a great opportunity for us to enhance our brand,” said Todd Bernstein, WJLA VP and general manager. 

NBCUniversal Local owns WRC and WZDC. Fox Television Stations holds WTTG and MyNetworkTV station WDCA. Sinclair Broadcast Group has ABC affiliate WJLA and cable channel 24/7 News. Tegna owns CBS affiliate WUSA. Nexstar Media Group has The CW station WDCW and independent outlet WDVM. Univision owns WFDC. 

Washington is Nielsen’s No. 8 market. The major pay TV operator is Comcast. 

The ratings race is a hot one. In March, WRC won the 6-7 a.m. household race, according to Nielsen, and WTTG took the 25-54 contest. WRC was tops at 5 and 6 p.m. in both households and 25-54. At 11 p.m. in March, WRC averaged 53,000 households, while WTTG had 29,000, WUSA scored 28,000 and WJLA had 22,000. In the 25-54 race at 11, WTTG scored 17,000, WRC had 16,000, and both WJLA and WUSA had 9,000. 

Anchor Arrivals

Known as News4, WRC thrives on capital J journalism, anchors with local roots and a robust investigative team. “We have people with really strong ties to Washington, D.C.,” said Bradford. “We continue to do strong journalism day in and day out.”

WRC has had major changes in the anchor team. Wendy Rieger died of cancer a year ago, Doreen Gentzler retired in November and Pat Lawson Muse retired in March, wrapping up 40 years at WRC. Shawn Yancy arrived at WRC after a long run at WTTG and Tony Perkins, a veteran of WTTG and Good Morning America, joined the station earlier this year. 

LION Lunch Hour isn’t the only new show on WTTG, known as Fox 5. DMV Zone, a cross between TMZ and a newscast, according to Paolini, launched in October, and holds down the 3-4 p.m. weekday slot. DMV is short for D.C,., Maryland and Virginia. 

Paolini mentioned nearly 90 hours a week of original programming, including an 8 p.m. news, among other newscasts, on WDCA, known as Fox 5 Plus. 

“There are very few gaps where we are not producing original content,” he said. 

Paolini hosts the weekly podcast The Paolini Perspective, with Sarah Fraser his co-host, as they break down the major issues of the week. In the fall, Fox 5 debuts a digital-only newscast at 1-3 p.m. 

Shomari Stone, formerly a correspondent at The News with Shepard Smith, joins Fox 5 as a reporter and anchor May 1. 

Bernstein was named WJLA general manager in January. He’s been at the station over 18 years, in sales leadership positions and then as station manager, before his latest promotion.  

WJLA has a 7 News On Your Side branding and swears by the motto. “We aim to hold people, both consumers and those in the government, accountable,” Bernstein said. “We live and breathe this brand.”

Veronica Johnson was named chief meteorologist in December. She’s the first woman to hold the position at WJLA. 

Last fall, lifestyle show Good Morning Washington shifted from Sinclair’s 24/7 News to WJLA. “It has become a fixture in our lineup,” Bernstein said. 

Richard Dyer is WUSA president and general manager. It’s the fourth stint at the station for the Washington native, who initially joined WJLA as an account executive back in 1983. 

WDCW Washington and WDVM in Hagerstown (MD) brand themselves as DC News Now, and Ben Dobson is news director. Both stations operate from a DC newsroom that opened last year, with bureaus around the market. In July 2022, WDCW launched a nightly 10 p.m. newscast. Also in July, WDVM launched a weekday 9 p.m. newscast, expanded its morning news another hour, and added a sports highlight show at 11 p.m.

Noticias on Multiple Platforms

Both WZDC and WFDC offer Spanish-language news at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. Washington’s Telemundo station has T44 on Top at 5:30 p.m. on linear, and streaming on OTT platforms. “We’re always looking at the best way to tell our journalism stories in new forms and formats,” Vince Lattanzio, director of digital media, WRC-WZDC, said. “Streaming is the future for our business.”

WRC and WZDC share a newsroom and an assignment desk. “Having a Telemundo station has become a differentiator,” Matt Glassman, assistant news director, said. “We have access to stories we wouldn’t have had before.”

The station leaders said Washington’s economic footing is solid, and ad categories, including auto and tourism, are picking back up. As the pandemic dominated news stories and conversations in recent years, and politics continues to relentlessly pop up in both, Paolini believes the nation’s media epicenter has shifted from New York down to D.C. “I firmly believe D.C. is the media capital of the world and certainly the media capital of the United States,” he said. 

The D.C. station chiefs mentioned a smart and engaged audience in and around the District that eagerly consumes news. Washington is unique in that it features stories that are street-level, national and even global. “Doing local news in Washington, D.C., is the best of both worlds,” Bradford said. “What is local here is national.” 

WJLA Washington, the Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned ABC affiliate in the nation’s capital, has named Veronica Johnson as its new chief meteorologist, the first woman to hold the post in the station’s 75 years on the air.

Johnson has been WJLA's lead morning meteorologist since 2016 and has been reporting on the weather for over three decades.

Her resume includes stints at The Weather Channel and ABC-owned WABC New York, as well as E.W. Scripps’s WMAR Baltimore and NBC-owned WRC Washington.

She was also the meteorologist on the initial newscast for Sinclair’s WBFF Baltimore in 1991.

She is the past chair of the American Meteorological Society’s Board of Enterprise Communications and participated in then-Sen. Barack Obama’s Task Force on Climate Change in 2007.

The station has also promoted meteorologist Eileen Whelan to morning news meteorologist. She has been with the station since 2011. Whelan will continue to co-host lifestyle show Good Morning Washington. ▪️

Husband and wife Washington TV news anchors have gone viral with an August 14 Twitter video lampooning the day's new baby related news as delivered on BNN, the Baby News Network.

At press time the video had over 10 million views and was the subject of news stories on some real networks, or at least the websites of NBC News and Good Morning America, as well as on WTTG-TV, ch. 5 in Washington.

Jeannette Reyes, morning news anchor at Fox's WTTG-TV begins the video by picking up her new baby, Bella, and saying she hoped the baby had slept well since "certainly no one else did."

As Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star changes to upbeat music, Reyes hands off the morning baby news duties to husband Robert Burton, morning anchor at ABC affiliate WJLA-TV, also Washington, for "more on the weather."

Burton notes that while it is a beautiful day outside, they probably won't get get out of the house until midnight, and then only if spit-ups, feedings and diaper changes don't get in the way."

And speaking of diapers, Burton throws it back to Reyes for "breaking news" about an "explosion" at the diaper station, though fortunately with no injuries. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group named Todd Bernstein station manager of WJLA and WJLA 24/7 News in Washington, D.C.

Bernstein is the station's director of sales and he will continue reporting to senior VP and general manager William Fanshawe. The station manager position had been vacant. 

“As director of sales, Todd has done an outstanding job leading the department. With over twenty-five years of broadcast, digital sales and sales management experience, he is the ideal candidate for the station manager position,“ Fanshawe said. ”In his elevated role, Todd will continue to oversee the sales department as well as have oversight of Government Matters and Good Morning Washington.” 

Bernstein joined WJLA in 2005. He started his media career as an account representative at Harrington, Righter & Parsons responsible for Sinclair stations. 

“I’m both humbled and honored to take on this important management position. I feel like I’ve been preparing my entire career for this leadership role, and I’m thrilled to lead the best team in the Washington region,” Bernstein said. ■

Doug Hill, who spent 33 years doing weather forecasts in Washington, D.C., has died. Hill was chief meteorologist at WJLA Washington until his retirement in 2017. He was 71. 

The Washington Post called him “a giant in TV weather broadcasting in the Washington region.”

Hill grew up in Baltimore and was a police officer before becoming a meteorologist. He worked at stations in Richmond and Detroit before settling in Washington, DC. Hill worked at WUSA for 16 years before putting in 17 more at WJLA. 

WJLA Maryland Bureau Chief Brad Bell said on Twitter, “He was a warm and caring man and exactly the same person in ‘real life’ you saw on TV all those years. I’ve missed him since he retired. This hurts.”

Sinclair owns the station, an ABC affiliate. “He was a mentor second to none, always willing to listen and make suggestions--always with an even and reassuring tone,” said the WJLA website.

Upon his retirement, Hill said he would focus on family and Christian ministry. 

Anchor Alison Starling shared her thoughts on Twitter as well. "I am in shock over the loss of this wonderful man. Doug Hill was so many things. He was a talented meteorologist, the best of the best. He was a kind, funny family man deeply rooted in his faith. It was an honor to work with him, and Doug, we miss you so much already," she wrote. ■

Sinclair's WJLA-TV Washington, D.C., has scheduled its second virtual town hall on race relations.

The hour program will air July 7 at 7 p.m. on WJLA.com and co-owned regional cable news channel WJLA 24/7 News. It will not air on the main channel (WJLA carries the blockbuster syndicated access block of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy at 7 p.m.-8 p.m.).

“The Racial Divide: Time for Change" will be moderated by WJLA anchors Jonathan Elias and Michelle Marsh and will feature religious leaders and health professionals.

“We feel it's important to keep this conversation ongoing," said WJLA News Director Cheryl Carson. "That's why we're dedicated to providing this series of virtual town halls to drive an authentic and candid exchange of ideas on all of our platforms and hopefully provide positive takeaways."

Sinclair is changing the name of its NewsChannel 8 regional cable news network to WJLA 24/7 News.

Sinclair bought the news channel when it bought the Allbritton stations, including WJLA Washington, back in 2014, a deal that went a little smoother than Sinclair's current effort to add the Tribune stations and their cable outlets to the company fold.

NewsChannel 8 has long shared the TV station's news resources, including reporter and anchor teams, so now the branding will match up with that reality, as well as spotlighting the TV station's news resources at a time when Sinclair has been pointing out that commitment to Washington.

"[T]he new name is a logical brand evolution for the nearly 30-year-old Washington-area cable news institution," the station said in announcing the change.

That change is effective Tuesday, July 24, four years to the day from when the FCC approved Sinclair's purchase of the station and cable news outlet.