[tv] Houston Hottie News Anchor quits

If I'm not mistaken, Whitney Casey was married or dated Jason Seahorn at one time. I've never seen Jeffcoat's morning show so I won't miss her.

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/4834463.html



Lucy Noland pulls up the anchor chair

By ANDREW GUY JR.
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle


Here's a task: Replace a popular TV news anchor.

And, while you're at it, start a new job in a new city, buy a house, learn every nook of the new metropolis, find a groove with your new co-workers and make sure your three kids are adjusting to it all, because — don't forget — you are a single parent and have to run home and cook dinner for them every night before rushing back to anchor the late news.

"It's been a whirlwind," Lucy Noland says in her tiny office at KHOU Channel 11. "The airline lost my luggage, and I had no clothes the day before I was supposed to start. I've pretty much been thrown into everything."

She arrived in mid-April, the same week as the Virginia Tech massacre and the shooting at Johnson Space Center. This forced her to focus: She had to scurry to buy new clothes, learn as much as she could about Houston and jump on the air.

Noland came from WNYW in New York City, where she co-anchored that station's morning show, Good Day New York Wake Up. In Houston she has the dicey task of replacing the popular Lisa Foronda, who left Channel 11 in December after eight years.

On a recent afternoon, she scrolls through e-mails forwarded to her from KHOU's public relations department. She opens one e-mail with the subject line "Where's Lisa?" and finds a short note inside: "I know she's not Lisa, but she's a great replacement."

Noland smiles and says: "That was sweet."

"I know it's hard to replace another anchor," she says. "But I'm not necessarily trying to step into Lisa's shoes. Lisa was here a long time, and people are surely going to miss her. I understand how a lot of them feel."

She is hoping to win viewers with her personality and command of the news. But she's also crossing her fingers that they connect with her as a divorced mom raising three kids — Gaibel, 15; Christian, 14; and Bay, 6.

Noland won't give her age. But she does share that she was born in Vietnam. Her father was an American who worked for the CIA. He was stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. He met her mother, and the two married. They had three kids, Lucy being the middle child and the only girl. Her dad quit the CIA, and the family moved to Oregon a year after Noland was born.

"We lived in this federal housing project that had a great vibe," Noland recalls. "Everyone was always so cool. Because of my frugal upbringing, I still appreciate the smaller things in life. My parents taught me our culture was important. I was always so proud to be Vietnamese."

Her parents taught her philosophy and religion and stressed the need for an education. They also pushed her to be curious about the world and to ask questions. She watched the news with her parents, developing a crush on late ABC anchor Peter Jennings.

When it came time to think about a career, Noland was hooked on the news business.

After college at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, she worked at stations in Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska; Fresno, Calif.; Detroit; and New York.

In New York, she garnered a reputation for being a bright, witty morning co-anchor, said New York Daily News media critic Richard Huff.

And on many blogs and Web sites, she was often referred to as one of the most attractive news personalities in New York City.

Noland laughs about and shrugs off such labels. She said she tries to keep a sense of humor about everything. When two of her colleagues at WNYW asked her to appear briefly on their morning show (which followed hers), she agreed. When she walked onto the set, a female co-anchor said, "You're looking boobylicious."

Noland said she was caught off guard, but laughed, stood up and struck a pose.

It was a brief moment, but in this age of the Internet, it was one that didn't disappear. The video clip made its way around the country and until recently could be seen on YouTube.

"Their show is a little more irreverent," she says. "It's the last thing I want to be known for."

Still, in the TV news business, image is important. She successfully got Wikipedia to delete information in her entry that accused her of uttering an expletive on the air. "The fact of the matter is, they're out there with trivial things like birthdays, but they're also out there with things that could be slanderous and libelous," she says of public message boards and Web sites.

Keith Connors, KHOU's executive news director, said they considered hundreds of candidates to replace Foronda, including some from within the station.

Her audition was impressive, he says. They tossed her some unexpected breaking news, and she flawlessly switched gears from reading the news to ad-libbing an unexpected event.

"It allows us to see how people respond in a nonscripted environment," Connors says. "Anchors are sort of the quarterbacks in a breaking news situation. It was important that she ... had a background as a great reporter."

Noland's co-anchor, Greg Hurst, says Noland brings excitement and energy to the newscasts, as well as a command of news events.

"If you're sitting there and saying 'Oh, look, the building is on fire; look at the flames,' that's not going to help viewers at all," Hurst said. "But she adds depth and insight, and she clicked with everyone right away."

Noland says she liked New York but wanted regular hours and wanted to move to a place where she could afford to buy a house for her family. She hadn't ever thought about Houston before, but when her agent told her about the job, she was interested.

"People here are so friendly," she says. "At first my kids thought it was strange that people could be so friendly. They were used to being in New York and being around New Yorkers."

 

If you go to the stations website you can see her in action!



http://www.laurenjones.net/splash.htm

http://www.cbs19.tv/

http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/06092007AnchorWoman.html



Station expects criticism as bikini model becomes 'Anchor Woman'
Comedy/reality hybrid scheduled to debut Aug. 21


By By AARON BEARDEN

Saturday, June 09, 2007

With camera crews scurrying around Friday and directors tying up loose ends, Lauren Jones got another day closer to her CBS 19 anchor debut on Monday.

Don't let the blonde hair and modeling credentials fool you, though, says CBS 19 President and General Manager Phil Hurley. "She can do the job."

In a move Hurley acknowledges will draw criticism, CBS19 has hired Jones in conjunction with the filming of an upcoming Fox reality TV show, "Anchor Woman."

Jones, an actress, bikini model and former WWE wrestler, signed a 30-day contract with CBS 19 earlier this month. She will begin anchoring Monday night's 5 p.m. newscast. She has no journalism training or experience.

Hurley said he hopes people will tune in to CBS 19 to see Jones but continue watching after seeing the quality of the newscast.

"We think this will accelerate our growth and that people will see this as entrepreneurial," he said, waving off questions about credibility and citing ongoing Paris Hilton coverage. "That's not newsworthy," he said.

Fox is paying CBS 19 to film in its studios. Hurley declined to cite numbers. CBS 19 news lags behind regional leader KLTV 56.

"It's not about the money," he said. "We want our newscast to grow."

Josh Bingham, co-executive producer of "Anchor Woman," calls the upcoming program a comedy/reality hybrid. He said the idea came from the show's executive producer, Brian Gadinsky.

"The idea is to take somebody who has never had news experience and thrust her into the news environment," Bingham said.

Jones said the idea is a dream come true.

"Ever since I was a little girl, I have wanted to be a news anchor," she said. "We are not here to make a mockery of this station."

Jones said she has found newscasting to be much tougher than she expected.

"It's harder than acting," she said. "There is a lot more pressure."

Jones realizes there may be criticism of the undertaking, but she said she wants her work, not her looks, to do the talking.

"Look is malleable," she said. "I love working with people and I think I can do a good job. That will make me credible."

"Anchor Woman" Director Mark Jacobs thinks Jones has what it takes to make it in the news industry. "She is serious about this," he said. "She wants to be the next Katie Couric."

Bingham agreed.

"She has 100 percent conviction," he said. "Lauren was the biggest unknown about this project, but she has risen to the occasion."

Hurley said CBS 19 employees initially were apprehensive about the reality show coming to town. After seeing all the publicity, "they realized that it could help their own careers," he said.

Fox has scheduled a one-hour episode of "Anchor Woman" for 8 p.m. on Aug. 21.

Hurley hopes East Texans will tune in to CBS 19 to track and support Jones' progress throughout the month, "but more importantly, to get their local news."