KCBS/KCAL Shuffles Anchor Teams; Pat Harvey Paired with Paul Magers

The new KCBS/KCAL duopoly management has made changes to its key news teams on both Channel 2 and Channel 9.

In the biggest switch, Pat Harvey -- who just celebrated her 20th anniversary as anchor of KCAL's primetime newscasts -- will now move to KCBS, where she'll co-anchor the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. broadcasts with Paul Magers.

As part of the change, Laura Diaz -- who had anchored the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. since moving to KCBS from KABC in September 2002 -- will now anchor the 6 p.m. newscast solo.

According to KCBS/KCAL, that makes Diaz "the first Latina to solo anchor a nightly newscast for a major station in Los Angeles." (On the flip side, it means that Los Angeles has lost its only Latino anchor on an English-lingo station at 11 p.m.)

Diaz will also now "devote more time to preparing her signature brand of award-winning news features and interviews with local heroes, newsmakers and community leaders," the station added.

As part of the change, Sharon Tay will replace Harvey on KCAL, and now co-anchor that station's 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts with Rick Garcia. Tay had served as a reporter and weekend anchor for KCBS/KCAL since 2007, after returning to the L.A. market (where she'd previously been at KTLA for years).

Additionally, with the retirement of KCBS weathercaster Johnny Mountain, KCAL's Jackie Johnson will also move to Channel 2, where she'll serve as the meterologist on the station's 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. Josh Rubenstein will take over the KCAL weather slot on a temporary basis.

Johnson had been KCAL's primary weathercaster since 2004.

KCBS/KCAL also confirmed our earlier report that Channel 2 sports anchor Jim Hill had signed a new contract with the station.

The shuffles were announced Wednesday by new KCBS/KCAL president/general manager Steve Mauldin.

"We are extremely fortunate to have an abundance of incredibly smart, talented and popular broadcasters on our team," Mauldin said. "The moves we are making today will allow our best people to become even more successful while also driving ratings growth for both of our stations."

Changes At KCBS/KCAL: Johnny Mountain Retires, Jim Hill Reups, Others Let Go

CBS' Los Angeles KCBS/KCAL duopoly has handed out pink slips to staffers -- including morning co-anchor Suzanne Rico.

Simultaneously, KCBS weathercaster Johnny Mountain has announced that he will re-retire from TV (having already announced his retirement once, at KABC). And the duopoly has signed longtime sports anchor Jim Hill (now in his 34th year as an L.A. sportscaster) to a new multi-year contract extension.

Moves are among the first made by new KCBS/KCAL prexy/GM Steve Mauldin, as well as recently hired news director Scott Diener.

According to insiders, the decision to let some staffers go came after Maudlin and Diener evaluated the news team and decided to make some changes in several positions. The station plans to re-fill most of those jobs.

That includes Rico's position, which will temporarily be handled by reporter Lisa Sigell. Rico had served as weekday 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. and 11 a.m co-anchor, alongside Kent Shocknek.

As for Mountain, the weathercaster retired in 2005 after 27 years at KABC -- but then was soon swooped up by KCBS as part of its new anchor team.

Mountain has served as KCBS' 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. weather anchor since May 2005.

“I have been blessed to have had such a long and wonderful run on Los Angeles television and I feel fortunate to have been part of a team that includes many dear friends both in front of and behind the cameras," Mountain said.

More here.