Don Lark is Back

By
dubymcd
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13
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DON LARK (2)

Last we heard from Don Lark, a major presence on the WFSB anchor desk in the 80s and 90s, he was doing some communications work for Linda McMahon’s U.S. Senate race;  his tenure in Syracuse (his market after Hartford/New Haven) had ended. Tonight comes this word from the WTNH newsroom where the following memo was issued:

Folks: A familiar face is returning to the Connecticut airwaves and to News 8 this weekend. Please welcome Don Lark, former main anchor at WFSB and most recently Syracuse , NY . Don was the 5p/6p/11p anchor at Channel 3 for more than 15 years before leaving for WSTM in Syracuse . Don knows and loves Connecticut , has family in the area and will be joining Sara Welch on the anchor desk at 6pm/10pm and 11pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Don will be here this Friday to meet everyone.

That pushes Ted Koppy out of the weekend co-anchor spot (or perhaps that had happened already).  Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown at WTNH these days.

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13 COMMENTS

  2. Last I watched WTNH on weekends Ted was on Saturday mornings and Sunday evenings, but I’m not sure how it has been recently. Maybe WTNH will have Ted and Annie on together both Saturday and Sunday mornings?

  3. Finally WTNH makes an intelligent move. Don Lark is a terrific anchor. When he was with channel 3 he was a definite class act – especially in contrast to the brash O’Reilly. I will definitely tune in… Welcome back, Don!

  5. No one is happy about this here at Channel 8 because Don Lark won’t be doing weekends for very long. He will be M-F by the May book. Bet on it. If I were Chris, Darren or Keith I would be very nervous. Ask Gerry Brooks when Don came to 30 how he pushed to replace Gerry. No way I guy comes out of retirement to coanchor weekends and no way the station actually believes a boost in weekend numbers will make them number 1.

  7. WTNH is pulling a “Rachel Frank” with Don. They start him on weekends, and once he proves to be all they think he is, they’ll pull the rug out from the lead weekday personality and do the old switcheroo – a la Rachel and poor ol’ Garrett.

  8. Darren and Keith are good guys. But, since its all about business (ratings) and if Don Lark is better than Darren and Keith-which he is as all they can do is read a prompter, and Lark is a veteran journalist that can perform without a prompter, than Lark should get the fulltime anchor gig. You guys at 8 Elm need to take your personal feelings out of it. Bottom line is Lark has WAYYYY more experience than anyone there. You guys could learn from him. And, its a dog-eat-dog world of TV news…welcome to it!

  9. If I were a betting person I would be worried if I was Keith. Since they just moved Darren and Sonia a year ago to the evenings and seem to be a great team (also a younger, more hip combination than the aging Ann and Keith) I would think it would be Keith that they would be looking to move out of position. They moved him last year out to noon and six like they were throwing him a bone much in the same fashion they did to Diane Smith when Ann Nyberg came along.

  10. I can see it so clearly — here is the CT news picture one year from today: 8 Elm: Weekdays 6 & 11 with Ann Nyberg & Don Lark & anyone other than Geoff on weather. WFSB 3 – Weeknights 6 & 11 with Dennis and Denise with Geoff Fox weather! 30WVIT – Same ol’ same ol – and Fox 61 with Brett Hardin & Rachel Frank (they’ll promote her to anchor) with Scot Haney weather. Save those predictions and read this again in one year. I know things.