Two familiar Chicago faces are headed to New York. WMAQ meteorologist Ginger Zee (left) and WMAQ sports anchor Paula Faris (right) are both set to join ABC News in New York. Robert Feder, who knows about all things Chicago TV, has been reporting the developments of both.
ABC News tells TVNewser Zee will join “Good Morning America” weekend this Saturday.
GMA weekend has been without a regular weather anchor since the departure of Marysol Castro last September. (Castro jumped to CBS’s ‘Early Show’ but that only lasted 9 months.)
Meanwhile, Faris is expected to be named co-anchor of “World News Now” later this year, when her WMAQ contract ends. She will join Rob Nelson on the ABC overnight show.
Faris has been with WMAQ since 2005, Zee since 2006. A third WMAQ talent, morning co-anchor Zoraida Sambolin, is joining CNN as part of the revamp of their “American Morning.”
The Zee and Faris hires at ABC have the added benefit of taking top talent away from an NBC O&O which can help their competitors, including Chicago’s ABC station WLS (which doesn’t need much help since they’ve been #1 forever).