Another Channel 5 anchor change

This just in…. Despite a second-place finish at 11 p.m. in November and May sweeps, Channel 5 will shake up its anchor team again on Jan. 2. Co-anchor Dave Wagner, whose tenure dates back to 1999 (with Norma Rashid), moves to day shift, at his request. He wants to do more reporting and see his kids. He’ll continue to anchor with Sandra Ali at 6 p.m.
Sheree Paolello will anchor at 11 p.m. with Ali, as she already does at 5 and 5:30 p.m.

Kiese-watching
Hasn’t “The Amazing Race” been fun to watch this fall? The Linz kids really made Cincinnati look good. They had a grand time on the adventure, and viewers had a sweet ride too. And then they give a half-million to their parents, and split the balance with the 3 brothers who couldn’t come along? Amazing, wasn’t it?
It will be interesting to see if P&G or other local companies sign up these kids for TV commercials, endorsements, etc. I think we’ll see them a lot on TV in the next year…. Wanna suggest some endorsements the kids would be perfect for?

“Race” results
Yes, Cincinnati was CBS’ No. 1 market for “The Amazing Race” finale Tuesday. (Duh!) But the 15.9 rating here was about 27% lower than Cincinnati’s first-place ratings for CBS’ “Survivor.” “TAR” ranks No. 32 for the season, while “Survivor” still hangs in the Top 10 -- at No. 7. It’s still TV’s No. 1 reality show, despite a loss of 2 million viewers from May.

Life After Howard Stern
When Howard Stern leaves WAQZ-FM (New Rock 97.3) at 10 a.m. Friday, so will all the other DJs. In a publicity stunt to promote new branding, the station will be “put on shuffle” without any music hosts through the end of the year. The station will add more cuts by current bands, and “older alternative” music, says GM Mike Fredrick. Gone is the “New Rock” label. Station will be called “97.3 everything alternative.”
“It’s not a format change,” he says. Listeners will be asked what they want to hear.
Jocks probably return to the air on or about Tuesday, Jan. 3, when new “Rover’s Morning Glory” show from Chicago officially replaces Stern.
More about satellite radio and Stern Friday in The Enquirer and on line.

Looking into the future
No blog on Friday, taking the day off…. A couple of reminders:
--Cindy-Ann Thomas from Highland Heights appears on "The Price is Right" Friday (11 a.m., Ch 12).
--“Skeleton Stories” (10 p.m. Friday, Discovery Health) does a report on how area authorities identified the burned corpse found New Year’s Day 2003 on the Butler-Preble county line. But you may not know it… because producers disguise the case (out of respect for victim, they say). Names, location and even date changed (to Halloween!). Look for Butler County detectives or Beth Murray from the College of Mount St. Joseph.
-- Shane Woods, a U.S. Army soldier from Hamilton, plays poker against actress Estella Warren (“Planet of the Apes”) for charity on “Bodog Salutes the Troops: A Tribute To American Heroes” late Sunday/early Monday (12:30 a.m. Monday, Spike).