Laurel Sauer, who was a fixture on South Florida TVs for 28 years before being let go by West Palm Beach’s WPTV in 2009, is returning to TV.
Sauer has joined WPBF, WPTV’s crosstown rival, where she is providing special reports for the February sweeps period. Sauer, 55, did a similar run with the ABC-affiliate during the November sweeps.
“It’s been fun,” Sauer told The Palm Beach Post in a recent interview. “I get my hands back in, certainly show my face back on TV.”
It’s certainly a familiar face for West Palm Beach viewers. Along with Jim Sackett, Sauer co-anchored WPTV’s top-rated newscast for decades before being unceremoniously let go.
The abrupt exit from WPTV still rankles Sauer.
“I never got a chance to say good-bye on the air,” she said. “It was a very sad ending.”
Making her departure especially difficult was the fact that, as Saurer told The Palm Beach Post, she never received a call from her longtime co-anchor after she left the station.
Sackett still remains with WPTV and it only seems natural that the two are now rivals.
“I wish her luck, just not too much,” Sackett says.
(Video of Sauer’s “On Assignment” series from last November can be seen here).