THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996 TAG: 9604170417
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
Carol Hoffman, who as co-anchor of WAVY's local early morning news strip helped the NBC affiliate post ratings twice as good as the opposition, will bring her wake-up call to WVEC beginning in July.
Less than a month after Hoffman resigned from WAVY because she was not pleased with the terms of a new contract offered to her, WVEC vice president and general manager Richard J. Keilty offered her the anchor job on Channel 13's ``Good Morning'' local news show. Keilty on Tuesday said he was delighted to welcome such a competent, experienced anchor to the WVEC family.
Helped by Hoffman's strong on-air presence - she's regarded by many in the business as the best news reader in the market - WAVY's local morning show in the latest Nielsens was 5 rating points and 5 share points better than the WVEC newscast at that hour.
Keilty and WVEC news director David Cassidy expect WAVY's lead in the 5 to 7 a.m. time slot to shrink if not disappear now that Hoffman has jumped to the ABC affiliate. They expect her to steal away viewers from ``News 10 Today.''
There is a clause in Hoffman's last WAVY contract which prevents her from joining another local station until July.
WAVY this week named Christy Carlo to replace Hoffman on the early shift, and announced that a nationwide search has started to find a replacement for Carlo as weekend anchor.
As for joining WVEC, Hoffman said she welcomes the opportunity to challenge the WAVY team she was a part of for most of her 11 years at Channel 10. ``I'm thrilled,'' said Hoffman, who came to WAVY in 1985 from WWNY-TV in Watertown, N.Y.
On the WVEC morning shift, Hoffman will join John Miller and weather reporter Rhonda Bentley. Miller and Bentley have been working without a third team member since Jimmy Ray Dunn left WVEC to resume his career in local radio. Hoffman marks the fourth WAVY staffer to jump to WVEC in recent years, following Terry Zahn, Barbara Ciara and Lauren Yee.
She likes the morning shift - it means rising at 3:30 a.m. - said Hoffman, because it gives her more time at home with her three young children. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Carol Hoffman says the morning shift gives her more time at home
with her three children.
by CNB