Report: WJAR Moving Longtime Anchor Gene Valicenti Off 11 p.m. Newscast

By Andrew Gauthier 

A major anchor shakeup is underway at WJAR, according to GoLocalProv:

An announcement has just been made to the staff that main anchor Gene Valicenti is being moved off the 11pm newscast.

In his place will go 7 p.m. anchor Dan Jaehnig. Station insiders tell us that Valicenti will work day-side doing some reporting and then will anchor the 6 p.m. with Patrice Wood.

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TVSpy spoke with WJAR news director Chris Lanni this morning about the reported shakeup.  Lanni wouldn’t comment beyond saying that he didn’t know if Valicenti was scheduled to anchor tonight’s 11 p.m. newscast.

Valicenti, who anchored the 11 p.m. news on Tuesday, has been with WJAR for 20 years, having first joined the station in 1992 as a freelance reporter.  He is the winner of four New England Emmys, including two for anchoring.  An annual Rhode Island Monthly readers poll has named Valicenti “Best Male Anchor” for seven years in a row.

Valicenti has not yet responded to TVSpy’s requests for comment.

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