Chicago’s Mark Suppelsa, who left his main anchor gig at Fox O&O WFLD-TV in March, tells the Chicago Tribune‘s Phil Rosenthal that among the reasons for his departure was a wariness of “the direction of local news at my former employer based on what may be happening at the corporate level.”
Suppelsa would not give specifics. But Rosenthal speculates about one possibility: “a rising star within Fox at the corporate level is Joel Cheatwood, the former news and promotion boss at NBC-owned WMAQ-Ch. 5 during a tumultuous, tawdry, unhappy span in the 1990s while Suppelsa was there.” Suppelsa had been an anchor/reporter at WMAQ immediately prior to joining WFLD.
Suppelsa is now reported to be headed over to WFLD’s rival 9pm newscast at WGN-TV, where he would replace longtime main anchor Steve Sanders.