EXCLUSIVE: Valicenti Out as 11pm Anchor at Channel 10
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
An announcement has just been made to the staff that main anchor Gene Valicenti is being moved off the 11pm newscast.
In his place will go 7pm anchor Dan Jaehnig. Station insiders tell us that Valicenti will work day-side doing some reporting and then will anchor the 6pm with Patrice Wood. It’s not clear if Valicenti will continue to anchor his 5:30pm newscast. Jaehnig, who came back to 10 after a stint at Fox 25 in Boston, also anchors the station’s 7pm broadcast.
Observers say part of the move here is to help attract a younger audience at 11pm and also compete with Channel 12 which in the last ratings period won the 11pm show. We’re told the changing of the guard will happen very soon just in time for the crucial February ratings period.
Valicenti, to his credit, has more than 20-years at Channel 10 after starting as a free-lance reporter. He rose up the ranks at Channel 10 and then eventually took over for legendary anchor Doug White. Valicenti is very active in the community and certainly made a name for himself as an aggressive street reporter with a unique style that is memorable with the viewers.
Comments:
Heat MiseR
7:21pm on Tuesday, January 17, 2012
This seems like a major mistake! WJAR has really been slipping over the past few years and moving Gene to a lesser role is not the answer!
It's too bad the ratings don't actually reflect the work WPRI has been doing compared to WJAR.
Get rid of Patrice, and the entire Sunrise show staff! They are the dinosaurs!!
John Montecalvo
7:39pm on Tuesday, January 17, 2012
I really like Gene, I thinks he does great work. I'm glad he has his nights off now. BTW His radio show is great too. One more thing...wjar management...Stop trying to fix the sunrise show, each time you do it gets worse.
Rufus Mikatis
9:03pm on Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Their slogan is the Team You Trust; well I dont think so
anthony genzale
12:49pm on Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Don't forget the other station in town that has made improvements to their newscasts - ch 6. They anchors are excellent - this is not the ch 6 of years ago.