Chicago countdown Continuing
-- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/23/2000
Asha Blake, late of Later Today , met with WBBM-TV news management last week as the station prepares for the probable exit of Carol Marin and her late-news program. Station management believes that Marin's ambitious newscast needs change, at the very least. But Marin will likely bolt if substantive changes are imposed; although she would remain at CBS as a Chicago-based correspondent for 60 Minutes II.
WBBM-TV confirmed that Blake is being considered for a job there and has met with key people, but said there has been no decision regarding the late news.
Marin's attempt at a newscast free from tie-ins and fluff has drawn praise and encouragement from colleagues across the country, but its ratings are below past versions of WBBM-TV late newscasts. Newswatchers have speculated about the end of the newscast as it is at least since the summer, when General Manager Hank Price left the CBS station for Hearst-Argyle and News Director Pat Costello left to work for A.H. Belo. Price and Costello, who have been replaced by Walt DeHaven and Craig Hume, respectively, were big supporters of Marin's newscast.
