Jan Jeffcoat Exits WFLD-TV; Will Co-Host New National Show

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Published on Friday, 27 July 2012 13:10

WFLD-TV/FOX Chicago News Anchor Jan Jeffcoat announced today that she is exiting the station she has worked at since 2007 to join a new nationally syndicated news program, which launches in September. Her last day on the air with the station is today.

On her Facebook and Twitter accounts this morning, Jan Jeffcoat asked her fans and friends to tune in to today's Noon newscast on WFLD-TV because she had a "big announcement" to make. Near the end of the news hour, a teary-eyed Jeffcoat revealed that she is leaving WLFD-TV. She will be the new host of a syndicated weekday news magazine show entitled "The List."

No replacement for Jeffcoat's news anchoring position has been named by WFLD-TV yet. It is expected that co-anchor Patrick Elwood will work solo for a short while until a decision is made.

Jan Jeffcoat began anchoring on WFLD-TV on June 25, 2007. Initially, she was co-hosted the "Good Day Chicago" morning program. In August 2010, she was moved up to co-anchor of the station's Noon newscast. Prior to coming to Chicago, Jeffcoat worked three years as morning news anchor at KRIV-TV in Houston, TX, and before that, worked numerous shifts as a reporter and/or anchor at stations in Charlotte, NC, Charleston, SC, and Tallahassee, FL.

Her very first time on television was well before her Tallahassee reporting job, though. When she was just 12 years old, Jan Jeffcoat hosted a local children's program in her hometown of Greenville, SC. From that point on, she knew what she wanted to do when she grew up.

She has won numerous awards throughout her television career, including winning an Edward R. Murrow Award and Emmy Award for her 2010 coverage of the Haiti earthquake devastation.

"The List" is a brand new show that will make its debut on September 17th. The program will be a 30 minute nightly news & entertainment magazine show, described as "the intersection of news and pop culture." In addition to Jeffcoat's hosting, "The List" will utilize a national network of vloggers (video bloggers) and multimedia journalists to help deliver content. The day's top trending stories will be told in the form of lists. The plan is to air the program in the late afternoon/early evening, following a local newscast and replacing syndicated game shows such as "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy."

The show was developed by the E. W. Scripps Company, a media corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, OH that owns newspapers in 13 markets and television stations in 19 markets. Scripps also operates the Scripps Howard News Service out of Washington, D.C. (which will contribute news items to "The List") and newspaper comic strip syndicator United Media. The Executive Producer for "The List" is Rick Joyce, who was News Director of "Entertainment Tonight" for a decade, and who created the entertainment website HollywoodIntel.com.

For the time being, "The List" will not be seen in Chicago. The show will premiere in mid-September, seen weeknights only on Scripps-owned television stations nationwide, in markets including Baltimore, Denver, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Phoenix, Tampa, and Tulsa. The Scripps Company is planning on making the show available to stations outside of markets where they own stations, via an arrangement with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, starting in September 2013. Scripps has not ruled out the possibility of allowing some stations in other markets obtaining the show before next year, however.

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