A source who wishes to remain anonymous tells me:
Kristina Cruise found out this morning she will not be anchoring the 12N and 5P at WVIR anymore. Sharon Gregory will be taking her place on these shows and Laura French will be back next week to anchor the 6 and 11.
This was all, of course, done in the absolute worst fashion. Kristina’s distraught, Sharon’s stuck in the middle…and the fact that most of the newsroom knew this would happen months ago doesn’t make things any easier. To make matters worse, rumor has it they’re only telling her now because she shot a story for The Hook on friday about going head-to-head with Duffy.
But, wait, it gets even more scandalous. From a second source:
The Hook article is supposed to run on Thursday. WVIR managers found out about it and threw a fit. The writing on the wall is that Kristina will eventually be demoted to a reporter…. [M]anagement told her to leave the building today because she is suspended and not allowed back until they decide what to do about the whole mess.
Beth Duffy will be anchoring a pair of daily broadcasts over at the competition beginning on the 16th, though it’ll be the noon and 5pm broadcasts, oddly, and not the 6pm. When she left NBC-29, one of the chief reasons that she cited was a desire to stop working the crazy hours required for her to swing the morning shift. Gray wanted her because they knew she’d be a draw, siphoning off viewers from NBC-29 looking for a familiar face. But it seems odd that they’d put her up on the broadcasts while most people are at work, rather than at what I assume is the more widely-viewed 6pm.
All of this presumably leaves The Hook with a front-page article about a match-up between the two perky young white female anchors, a match-up that may well never happen.
9:25pm Update: I’d been wondering why Sharon Gregory would leave WZVN, in a large market in Florida (64th largest market) to move to a little station in Charlottesville (182nd). Turns out it was her DUI arrest that did it.
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