WJAR anchor Gene Valicenti is leaving his longtime seat at the 11 p.m. anchor desk, making room for the NBC-affiliate to move Dan Jaehnig, who currently anchors the 5 and 7 p.m. newscasts and often fills in for Valicenti, to 11.
Valicenti tells TVSpy that he will continue anchoring solo at 5:30 and alongside Patrice Wood at 6. He also says that he “will probably develop a franchise reporting piece.”
“WJAR remains my home, and I want the best for the station I’ve been with for 20 years,” Valicenti said today via email. “We’ve had anchor combos switched before. I don’t know if it rises to a ‘shake-up’ since I still have a full plate, and a lot of work to do.”
Valicenti will continue anchoring the 11 p.m. newscast this week until a switch is actually made.
WJAR’s decision to move Valicenti was first reported by GoLocalProv.