Joanna Pasceri is leaving Buffalo ABC affiliate WKBW after 22 years.
The Buffalo News reports sources tell them station gm Mike Nurse sent an email to staff saying tonight’s 6 p.m. would be Pasceri’s last at the station.
Pasceri, 50, has been teamed with co-anchor Keith Radford for the last nine years during the once-proud station’s ratings slide. She is a capable anchor and can’t be blamed for the ratings slide. It had more to do with the station’s mismanagement and operating on the cheap until Scripps took over.
AdvertisementScripps is believed to have unsuccessfully tried to persuade Pasceri to stay at the station in a reduced role until her contract runs out in April or May. Rather than accept a demotion to the noon or 5:30 p.m. newscasts, Pasceri apparently has decided to negotiate a contract settlement.
Almost a year and a half after Scripps bought Channel 7, it appears that it is shaking up the station’s anchor teams to try and get viewers to take a new look at the improved third-rated news station in town.
Scripps most likely has concluded that since its improved product hasn’t improved ratings significantly, a fresh face is needed to get Western New Yorkers to try the station’s newscasts again.