TV Q&A: Did KDKA's Lauren Linder leave?

Q: Did Lauren Linder leave KDKA-TV news?

— Dave, via Facebook

Rob: She did not. Linder simply moved from mornings to the dayside shift.

It happens often that viewers question if a reporter left a station when the reporter just moved to work a different shift, a news time the viewer may not routinely tune in to watch.

Yes, young local news reporters do tend to come and go — see last week’s column — but that’s not always what’s happened if you notice a reporter no longer on a newscast you watch frequently.

Q: We all know local TV news operations like to use catchphrases to differentiate themselves, but it seems to me that some of them are ridiculously superfluous.

For example, KDKA uses the term “First Alert Weather” when there’s a chance it might rain a little. WTAE calls that an “Impact Day.” It now seems WTAE is having its reporters add the phrase “Covering (name of county)” at the end of every story. For example, this morning I heard a reporter end her report with “Covering Allegheny County at the Allegheny County Jail, I’m … ” Come on. We all know Pittsburgh is the location of the jail and it’s in Allegheny County. Is there really any value to this?

— Joe, Nyles, Ohio

Q: I wanted to find out why, when local TV news stations are talking about areas in Pittsburgh, they differentiate the areas of the neighborhood. For example, “Homewood South,” “Squirrel Hill North” and so on and so forth. When I was growing up in Greenfield, they didn’t identify it as north, south, east or west, just the name of the neighborhood. Why did they start it now?

— Kevin, Cranberry

Q: Recently, I’ve noticed that WTAE field reporters now say, “reporting from xxx county” at the close of their segment. What is the reasoning behind this versus just reporting from the location of the town?

— Mark, Beaver Falls

Rob: Three separate but related questions.

On the question of “First Alert Weather,” “Impact Day,” etc., that seems clearly to be branding initiated by consultants (you can see the same branding used by local stations in other cities). A 2022 blog post by Magid consultants suggested it was imperative TV stations change how they present weather because many people now use weather apps instead of watching local newscasts.

“Consumers are as interested in local weather information as they always have been. But viewers tell us that the current weathercast is mostly a repetition of what they already know — and the things in the segment that are new don’t have value,” explained the Magid blogpost. “The value is in the impact. An app or a website can give you a lot of data, but it can’t connect the dots to your life. The daily weather consumer is looking for the value a television meteorologist can bring by explaining what’s going on and how it will impact their life.”

That’s how we ended up with “Impact Days” and the like.

The same former local TV news producer who pointed me to that Magid blog post also addressed the specificity in naming neighborhoods.

“Stations want viewers to know that they’re covering news wherever it happens, and repeating the place names can certainly drive the point home (even if the Allegheny County Jail example is overkill),” the former TV news producer wrote in an email. “I would actually call the neighborhood thing a result of constant Google Maps usage. Every producer has Google Maps at the ready to see where a particular story is taking place, and that can lead to names that you wouldn’t often hear unless you were looking at the official name on an online map.”

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Q: Why did the Syfy channel put “Resident Alien” on Friday nights at 11 p.m.? That’s a horrible time slot for a returning series.

— Chad, via email

Rob: I also found that odd but it turns out even in 2025 lead-ins matter and the three-hour “WWE SmackDown” (8 p.m. Friday) rates well on USA, which simulcasts “Resident Alien” alongside Syfy.

That said, effective July 4, wrestling shrinks to two hours and “Resident Alien” moves to 10 p.m. Friday, still airing on both USA and Syfy.