TXA 21--the former UPN affiliate stranded by the merger with WB that birthed the CW--has announced the lineup of talent for its new TXA 21 News: First in Prime daily prime-time newscast. Most of the folks won't be recognizable to locals: Anchor Tracy Kornet comes from Phoenix, anchor Chris Salcedo comes from a Fox affiliate in San Diego, anchor Kaushal Patel was hired out of Tucson, while anchor Kenneth Taylor once "served as the TV Guide Channel's senior celebrity interviewer," says a press bio. Kornet and Taylor are the main anchors; the others will fill the weekend spot. And at the moment, they're all living together, more or less, in a local hotel. Bonding, I think they call it.
The only person on the broadcast with any local ties is former WFAA-Channel 8 sports anchor and reporter Gina Miller, who's been at KTVT-Channel 11 since October 24 of last year. (I considered it a birthday present.) The Dallas-born Miller says she decided to move to TXA on her own, and while she won't "be abandoning 11, I will be doing primarily 21," which means no more playing second fiddle to a grown man named Babe. TXA 21 News won't share much content with the CBS affiliate--it'll happen when there's breaking news, for the most part--but Miller says Steve Dennis will show up on both Channel 11 and Channel 21. That's because TXA's broadcast, which runs from 7 to 9 p.m. seven nights a week, will allow for as much as 10 minutes' worth of sports coverage, which is one of the main reasons Miller says she decided to move to the sister station.
"Personally, there are few women in the main sports anchor role, and I thought it would be an amazing opportunity," says Miller, who will still co-host Dallas Mavericks pre- and post-game shows with Derek Harper. "And we're doing five to 10 minutes Monday through Friday and 15 minutes on the wekend, so the opportunity to do that would be so different. I mean, we could fill 30 minutes." TXA 21 News debuts Monday at 7 p.m. On, ya know, Channel 21. In case you were not paying attention. --Robert Wilonsky
