According to a report by Buffalo News media critic Alan Pergament, WKBW sports director Jeff Russo may be thinking about a move to news. Russo recently anchored the 5:30 p.m. newscast at the Buffalo ABC affiliate, which may suggest the station is considering the sports-to-news shift:
Why would Russo consider the move?
It could be because there is a much better opportunity to increase one’s salary as a news anchor than as a sports anchor that is on the air for only a few minutes a newscast.
AdvertisementIn addition, if Russo is any good at news anchoring and gains credibility, he could become the heir apparent to Keith Radford once he retires from Channel 7. It won’t happen any time soon. Radford recently signed a new deal.
Russo has been at Channel 7 for 11 years and was named sports director in December of 2007 when John Murphy went to Channel 4. If he were to switch anchor posts, the station would have an opening in the sports department.