Robservations: Another shakeup at Fox 32

Fox 32 News

Fox 32 News

Robservations on the media beat:

Jill Manuel

Jill Manuel

Once thought a leading candidate to become news director of WFLD-Channel 32, Jill Manuel now finds herself looking for work. Manuel exited the Fox-owned station Thursday after two years as assistant news director. She was passed over for the top job when Matt Piacente, just in from NBC-owned WVIT in Hartford, Connecticut, was hired to replace Tom Doerr as news director. Manuel, who joined Fox 32 from WEWS, the ABC affiliate in Cleveland, previously had been news director at Tribune Media CLTV and an executive producer at CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2. She declined to comment about her plans.

Alan Krashesky

Alan Krashesky

Alan Krashesky is a textbook example of patience, loyalty and ultimate reward. In 1982, he joined ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7 as a 22-year-old reporter from KTBC, then a CBS affiliate in Austin, Texas. On Thursday Krashesky ascended to the top job in Chicago television news when he was named to succeed the retiring Ron Magers as 10 p.m. news anchor at ABC 7. (He’ll also anchor the 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts.) Even as they bowed low to Magers, colleagues cheered the promotion for Krashesky, universally admired as a consummate professional and a first-class guy.

Rob Elgas

Rob Elgas

The only unanswered question in ABC 7’s succession plan announced Thursday was the future of the top-rated 4 p.m. weekday newscast, currently co-anchored by Krashesky and Linda Yu. Next month Krashesky will move to 5, 6 and 10 p.m., while Yu has taken the first step toward eventual retirement from the station. Insiders say reporter and fill-in anchor Rob Elgas is the odds-on favorite to get the 4 p.m. slot. Elgas joined ABC 7 last July from NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5, where he anchored late afternoons. Judy Hsu, who’s been morning news anchor at ABC 7 since 2001, could be in line to succeed Yu at 4 p.m. — but that’s still a long way off.

Angela Miles

Angela Miles

Angela Miles, who was host and managing editor of Weigel Broadcasting’s “First Business” until its cancellation in 2014, is back in business in a big way. Since last September she’s been producing and self-syndicating “Business First AM,” a half-hour daily financial news show originating from the trading floors of Chicago Board Options Exchange and CME Group. It currently airs on stations in 50 markets, including City Colleges of Chicago’s WYCC-Channel 20 at 5 a.m. weekdays.