Catching up on local TV news:
WKBW-TV (Channel 7) recently lost one of its strongest reporters, Kristen Mirand, to a bigger market.
A Western New York native, Mirand is now a reporter and fill-in anchor at WKYC-TV, an NBC affiliate in Cleveland owned by Tegna, the owner of WGRZ-TV (Channel 2) in Buffalo.
It is a big move up in market size for Mirand. Cleveland is the No. 19 market in the country. Buffalo is No. 54.
I’m not surprised that she left. A year ago, Mirand was on my list of local TV reporters and anchors who were good enough to leave.
Who is the next to leave? The question concerning local news personalities was renewed recently when WKBW-TV (Channel 7) sports anchor-reporter Briana Aldridge announced after only two years here that she was headed to a station in Dallas, the No. 5 market in the country.
Here is what I wrote about Mirand in August 2024: “Another impressive Channel 7 reporter who occasionally gets to anchor. She was born and raised in Buffalo and graduated from the Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart, so that may give her more reason to stay.”
In a brief interview telephone interview Monday, the Ithaca College graduate acknowledged that it was tough to leave her hometown.
“It’s always difficult to leave home,” she said. “Buffalo will always be home. My family, my friends are there. The community supported me from the very start of my career. So, obviously, it’s not easy to leave, but in news, sometimes you take a chance, and moving to a bigger city with newer challenges and newer opportunities, and that’s something that I couldn’t pass up.”
She enjoyed working at Channel 7.
“I absolutely love that station,” she said. “I love the people there, all incredible people there. I just had the right opportunity pop up, and I couldn’t pass up on it.”
The only other reporter to leave for a better job on last year’s list of 13 is former WGRZ-TV reporter Andy Paden. When he recently left, he didn’t say where he was going.
Here’s what I wrote about him:
“Another quality Channel 2 reporter. He is from the Chicago area, which may make him more likely to leave after he gets a little more seasoning.”
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Western New York has become a steppingstone market for young reporters and anchors to get experience before they leave for higher paying jobs in bigger markets, or they realize the industry isn’t for them.
Former Channel 2 sports reporter-anchor Lindsey Moppert also was on the list. She hasn’t resurfaced in another job since leaving the station.
Interestingly, Channel 7’s newest reporter, Jiovanni Lieggi, previously worked at WKYC, Mirand’s new station. He is covering the Southtowns for Channel 7.
On the night that Jimmy Kimmel returned after his brief suspension, his rating soared to a 5.6, which is almost five times his average during the May sweeps.
Interestingly, the ratings for the late-night shows hosted by Stephen Colbert (2.1) on WIVB-TV (Channel 4) and Jimmy Fallon (Channel 2) were about what they normally receive.
A rating point in Western New York is equal to 6,370 households.
Buffalo Toronto Public Media confirmed that the classic PBS series “Reading Rainbow,” which it produces, is returning Saturday as a digital series via KidZuko, a YouTube channel operated by Sony Pictures Television. Mychal Threets, a librarian and digital creator, is the host of the series that will have a four-episode short-form run, accompanied by companion vertical videos. The episodes will appear on Saturdays through Oct. 25. They will become available at 10 a.m. Saturdays and also will be embedded on ReadingRainbow.org.
“Creating Reading Rainbow” is designed to give more of Buffalo’s side of the story in convincing PBS to get behind a series designed to get children to read over the summer when they were off from school with the help of popular host LeVar Burton.
Ideally, “Reading Rainbow” would have returned to PBS stations that have a wider distribution.
LeVar Burton was the host of the original version of the series that celebrated reading and literacy and aired from 1983 through 2006 on PBS.
Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“The Bear’), Adam Devine, John Legend and his wife, Chrissy Teigen, are among the celebrity readers of the new digital series.
The Emmy Awards were about as predictable as could be, with “The Pitt,” “Adolescence” and “The Studio” dominating. I was more enthralled by “The Pitt” and “Adolescence” than Seth Rogen’s “The Studio.” But I understand that Hollywood loves shows that skewer Hollywood.
Western New York didn’t pay much attention to the Sept. 14 celebration of television on Channel 4.
The telecast, with Nate Bargatze as host, averaged only a 2.0 rating here.
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Alan Pergament
TV Critic
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