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Lia Lando has left Channel 4 after almost three months as a temporary anchor to take an anchor job in Rochester, where she lives.
According to sources, Lando has signed to become an anchor at WHEC-TV, the NBC affiliate in Rochester.
Sources said that Lando gave the Buffalo station a chance to match the latest Rochester station offer but Channel 4 declined. She anchored her last newscast at Channel 4 on Monday.
Lando had commuted from Rochester since July to become the temporary anchor of Channel 4’s 5:30 p.m. newscast and the 10 p.m. newscast on sister station WNLO-TV after Lisa Flynn retired.
The two newscasts had strong ratings in July and primary night last week, which made Lando the favorite to keep the job.
This morning, two Channel 4 producers posted Facebook comments praising Lando.
“She is a first class anchor in every respect,” wrote producer Vic Baker on Facebook. “I will personally miss working with Lia.”
To which Channel 4′s Aaron Mason added: “Ditto, Vic. Buffalo’s loss is Rochester’s gain.”
Lando’s departure should heighten speculation that Channel 4 will strongly consider hiring Emily Smith, a former overnight anchor for CBS News’ “Up to the Minute” who returned home to her native Buffalo several weeks ago.
The station might also consider morning reporter and anchor Melissa Holmes for the anchor jobs.
Sources have said that Smith, a former WBEN reporter and former Channel 4 intern, wants the Channel 4 anchor jobs but decided to move home even with no assurances that she’d get it.
* Western New Yorkers joined the nation Monday in making ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” the most-viewed show of the opening night of the official fall TV season.
“DWTS,” which featured the David Hasselhoff (who was ousted Tuesday), Bristol Palin (see above), and Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino from “Jersey Shore” among others, had a 17.9 rating from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday on ABC affiliate Channel 7.
However, its lead-in was unable to help ABC’s “Castle” (9.2) hold off a 10 p.m. challenge from CBS’ new version of “Hawaii 5-0” (10.8). As expected NBC’s lame newcomer, “Chase,” finished third with a 5.1 rating at 10 p.m.
The season’s best new series about a Texas con man, Fox’s “Lone Star,” couldn’t get arrested locally or nationally in a head-to-head battle with NBC’s heavily-hyped “The Event.” “Star” had a weak 3.1 rating on WUTV, losing two-thirds of the lead-in from “House” (9.3). “The Event” (6.9) was the highest-rated show on local NBC affiliate Channel 2, finishing second locally in the time slot to “Two and Half Men” (13.8) and newcomer “Mike and Molly” (12.2).
“Mike and Molly” — the CBS comedy about members of Overeaters Anonymous — was Monday’s highest-rated new show locally even though it also was the worst new show. It had its lead-in from “Two and a Half Men” to thank. Of course, the big challenge for all the new shows is keeping the audience that tuned in to the opener. I would think “Mike and Molly” has a fat chance of that.
Alan Pergament was the television critic for The Buffalo News for 28 years. He currently is an adjunct professor at Buffalo State College and Medaille College, teaching courses in communications. He also writes a monthly column on the media for Buffalo Spree magazine.
Brief correction: WHEC is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. It’s the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper that’s owned by Gannett in that market, and as we know, the FCC tends to frown upon co-ownership.