Cincy Station Prepares for New Anchor

Sheila Gray

WKRC in Cincinnati doesn't want to tip their hand, but many see what is about to happen.

Starting Monday, WKRC will move its 7-8 a.m. “Good Morning Cincinnati” newscast from CW Channel 12.2 to WSTR-TV (Channel 64).

The Cincy Enquirer asks, are they preparing for the arrival of Sheila Gray late next month, when her ”noncompete” clause with WXIX expires? My guess is that WKRC will expand its morning show to 7-9 or 10 a.m., and she’ll co-anchor with Bob Herzog, going head-to-head with her old Fox 19 local morning show.

For now, Channel 12 news director Kirk Varner will only say they’re moving the 7-8 a.m. newscast co-anchored by Bob Herzog and Tiffany Wilson to Channel 64 because of the success of  the 10 p.m. news there.

Ratings have jumped for the 10 p.m. newscast since it moved Jan. 6 from Channel 12.2 to the more powerful Channel 64. Monday night the 10 p.m. half-hour news did a 4.8 rating on Channel 64, more than double its November average.  Fox 19  averaged a 4.6 rating for the hour Monday.

Varner didn’t want to talk about what could happen after Gray’s non-compete expires Feb. 23.

‘We are always looking at the possibility of increasing our footprint in the morning… But I don’t have any date that it might go to a different time period,” Varner said.

Gray has been working at the sister Sinclair Broadcast Group stations in Dayton (Channels 22 and 45) since early September. Her last day at Fox 19 was Aug. 23.  I can’t see Local 12 changing news anchors on its late newscasts, which have been No. 1 for more than 10 years. So I’m guessing Sheila will work mornings, where she was seen for 14 years on WXIX.

Stay tuned.