WBZ-TV’s ratings struggles yesterday claimed news ?director Gary LaPlante, who was let go from Channel 4 ?after a year and a half at the helm of the news ?department.
LaPlante’s assistant news director, Johnny Green, is serving as interim news ?director while the search is on for a replacement, a ?station spokesgal confirmed.
“They had to do something, the ratings were horrible,” said one station insider. “But that wasn’t ?entirely Gary’s fault; he ?inherited his anchor teams.”
LaPlante came to WBZ after a three-year stint as assistant news director at Fox 25 but was unable to turn around the longtime dominance of rivals WCVB (Ch. 5) and WHDH (Ch. 7). For the all-important February sweeps period, WBZ finished in third place ?behind Channel 5 and Channel 7 for the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts, both in numbers of viewers and in the all-important 25-54 ?demographic.
As WBZ news director, ?LaPlante made some bold moves: he axed veteran newsman Joe Shortsleeve back in 2014 and realigned the station’s anchor desks, giving more prominent roles to David Wade, Paula Ebben and Danielle Niles.
Also, veteran broadcaster Jack Williams was phased out during his tenure.
But his failure to land former co-worker Maria Stephanos ultimately may have been the reason for his demise.
When Stephanos left Fox 25 at the end of her contract last year, she was wooed by all three Hub stations. Early on, pundits expected Channel 4 to have the upper hand: LaPlante had been Stephanos’ boss at 25 and her former co-anchor Wade was at ’BZ. But it’s unclear how hard Channel 4 pursued Stephanos before she landed at archrival Channel 5.
LaPlante’s replacement, whomever it turns out to be, will have to battle not only Channels 5 and 7, but another new player in the local news game: NBC ?Boston.
The network is set to launch a new Boston station when its affiliate agreement with Channel 7 runs out in January, complete with its own local news division. Channel 7, which is trying to halt the move with a lawsuit, will stay in the local news business even if the station ultimately loses that battle.
Things are getting interesting …
As always, do stay tuned.
