THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 13, 1995 TAG: 9502130211
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
WHILE THE RATINGS for WVEC's local newscasts at 5 and 6 p.m. have soared like eagles of late, the numbers at 11 p.m. and early in the day are a different story.
They have news director David Cassidy reaching for the Rolaids.
He's bringing in a radio guy in hopes of ending the 6-to-7 a.m. heartburn.
Cassidy today launches a completely made over local ``Good Morning'' newscast with TV novice Jimmy Ray Dunn aboard as co-host. He'll sit elbow-to-elbow with weather reporter Rhonda Bentley, she of the voice as lilting as fingernails on a blackboard.
Dunn, who made his name in radio in this market as a morning-drive jock with WNOR-FM and WGH-FM, has nudged John Miller over to another studio on the Channel 13 morning show. Miller is there from 6 to 7 a.m. to deliver the news, but it will be Dunn and Bentley up front as the sunshine kids.
Anticipating Dunn's arrival, WVEC built a cozy new living room-and-kitchen set not unlike that of ``Good Morning America,'' which signs on at 7 after Dunn & Co. ``We wanted a different look and feel to our early-morning newscast,'' said Cassidy.
He intends for it to zip along, to be radio on TV with headlines, weather, traffic and patter by Dunn, who had the right stuff to keep early risers interested on WNOR-FM and WGH-FM. He helped to establish Eagle 97 as the area's hottest country-music station only to be fired three months ago.
Dunn won't roast his old bosses at WGH-FM for giving him the boot four days before Christmas. The Scrooges! Is it because he's a classy guy? Or because they gave him a substantial severance?
Cassidy said it's no mystery why WVEC went for Dunn. ``He has a following.'' Dunn is a 36-year-old local guy who said he made up his mind to work in front of a microphone when he turned 13.
At that age he first visited WNOR-FM's old carousel studios on Brambleton Avenue in Norfolk and became starstruck. It wasn't long after graduating from Lake Taylor High School in Norfolk that Dunn - real middle name, Richard - began his career in broadcasting. He's mastered radio.
But what does he know about doing TV? Very little, and he admits it. ``I plan to be me. I'll be spontaneous. I'll have opinions,'' he said. He'll take calls from viewers.
He won't masquerade as a newsman, which is what actor David Hartman did for years on ``Good Morning America.'' Dunn's job on WVEC will be to keep the morning show humming while good ol' solid Miller reads the headlines.
A radio show on TV. Why didn't Cassidy's rivals at WTKR and WAVY think of that? Probably because they are doing just fine with their morning shows.
Channel 10 is No. 1 by two ratings points and 10 share points over Channel 3 and a slightly wider margin over Channel 13. When WVEC's ratings at 11 p.m. came in third in the November sweeps period, Cassidy brought out the hammer and nails and remodeled the late news. He made Lauren Yee the night scene reporter and promised no more warmed-over 6 p.m. sound bites at 11.
There is a lot of money to be made in being No. 1 in local newscasts. To make those big bucks, local news directors often make big changes and roll the dice.
WTKR brought in anchor Tom Randles from Miami and built a gaudy set intended to show him off. Channel 10 imported a news director who decided that everyone and everything on camera should look as blue as the Caribbean.
And WVEC hired a radio guy who is still learning what it means when the camera's red light blinks on. Rehearsals went well, said Dunn.
The man believes that he was born under a lucky star. When things went sour with Henry ``The Bull'' Del Toro over at WNOR-FM, Dunn hitched up with Jay Francis at WGH-FM and helped to bring that station up from No. 17 in the ratings to a station favored by young listeners.
No sooner was Dunn let go by WGH-FM last Dec. 21 than Cassidy called with his idea for a radio show on TV at 6 a.m. Dunn said he also had job offers from four other radio stations after WGH-FM dumped him and Francis, who is now with WAFX-FM. ``The timing of WVEC's call was very fortunate,'' said Dunn.
Dunn expected that after he was let go as co-host of the morning show on WGH-FM, his days of rising before the sun were over. The alarm rang at 3:15 a.m. then.
It will still ring early in Dunn's house because he has to be up, smiling and at least half as perky as his partner Rhonda on WVEC's morning show starting today. by CNB