Risky Business

Jan Jeffocat has been holding down co-anchor duties on WFLD's Good Day Chicago for several months. Viewer reaction has been somewhat mixed. JFBWB staffers find her to be acceptable, but in no way a true replacement for Tamron Hall. We came across a Texas blog post from 2005 which suggests that Jan flew off the handle on a critical blogger. Is JFBWB tempting the fates by running this photo of JJ in a Chevy Malibu wearing Tom Cruise's glasses and a jacket from the H. Clinton Collection? Time will tell.

Ice Cold Fashion

Can someone please get Channel 32's Amy Freeze a stylist? She's on TV for crying out loud.

Stop the Insanity

I'm not sure I knew what madness was until I read a few of the crazy posts on the WFLD message boards. Wow.

Goodbye Texas' Rose

Tamron Hall, Fox News in the Morning anchor and former Bruce Wolf foil, has joined MSNBC. Today was Tamron's last day at WFLD, and she will be replaced by Jan Jeffcoat, shown above. According to Yellow magazine, Jeffcoat was voted the "Sexiest Woman in Charlotte, North Carolina." Really?

Mea Culpa

In an earlier post, the JFBW Blog pooh-poohed the advent of the Ginger Zee Era on WFLD-TV. Maybe you can chalk that up to sour grapes because we were upset at Channel 32 for revamping the morning news team. In any case, we were wrong about Young Zee. Although Mark Strehl is still the people's choice, Ginger is Totally Legit™ and would have been an upgrade to Tammy Souza. Fox News in the Morning is on the precipice of unwatchability and would have benefitted from Valpo's Finest.

Andrew Finlayson is Ruining Fox's Morning Show

In an effort to avoid mincing words, we'll just say it: Andrew Finlayson is single-handedly ruining Fox News in the Morning. No two ways about it. Our inside sources are saying that he is solely responsible for the termination of Bruce Wolf. Word is that he's also behind the sackings of Doctors J and Laura Berman. Our colleagues at Save Michelle Leigh! have fingered Finlayson as the hatchetman on the Michelle Leigh firing. What is he trying to prove? That he can ruin the best morning news show in Chicago? Done and done.

At this point, Fox News In The Morning is becoming unwatchable. Some of the best talent is being shown the door for no good reason. Throbbing graphics and spinning icons join a busy scroll bar to dizzy even the most sure-eyed watchers. Tamron Hall is doing the sports. David Viggiano is ... um, yeah.

Now comes word that Michelle Leigh is going to be replaced by small-market darling Ginger Zee. What? Like the homie John McEnroe once said, you can't be serious.

Send Fox a message by signing the petition to save Michelle Leigh.

The People's Champ

Robert Feder continues his Pulitzer-level coverage of the sacking of Bruce Wolf. In today's Sun Times, he reprints notes from fans (and enemies) of Bruce. You can read Feder's column here. Clearly, viewer sentiment backs Bruce.

The authors of JFBW ride for the Sun Times, but our man Teddy Greenstein came through with the Tribune's investigation into this matter. His column can be found by clicking this link. TGreens suggests that Bruce's firing was motivated by Channel 32's interest in cost cutting. If that is the case, you would think that they would have looked at some of the fungible, non-spectacular talent on staff (e.g., Corey "Don't Call Me Bobby" McPherrin, the only Chicago sportscaster giving Jack Nicholson's Joker a run for his money in the perpetual grin department).

Although neither Bruce nor WFLD have discussed this matter publicly, one thing is clear: new WFLD news director Andrew Finlayson is emerging as the villain here. If TGreens' money motive turns out to be true, it would not square with the "we need to spend more money to make better newscasts" attitude Finlayson originally brought to WFLD.

Sun Times Covers Brucegate

Robert Feder's column in today's Sun Times covered WFLD's cowardice. You can read his article by following this link.

St. Valentine's Day Massacre

This blog is dedicated to Chicago sports broadcast legend Bruce Wolf. Bruce was unceremoniously dumped by the management at WFLD-TV Fox Channel 32 on February 14 after 18 years of lighting up the Chicago airwaves. WFLD management has refused to comment on why Bruce was fired. One theory is that he was actually talented and entertaining, two attributes which do not fit into typical newscasts (yes, I am talking to you Larry Potash). Until we get some real answers from WFLD, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section of this blog.