http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_localto/20110217/ts_yblog_localto/abc-7-picks-chiaverini-warner-as-oprah-talk-show-replacements



ABC 7 picks Chiaverini & Warner as Oprah talk show replacements

EmailPrint..By Time Out time Out – Thu Feb 17, 7:11 am ET
Robert Feder, Time Out Chicago

Oprah, meet your replacements.

The hottest Chicago talent search in years has come down to two winners: Ryan Chiaverini, the weekend sports anchor at WLS-Channel 7, and Valerie Warner, the early morning news anchor and traffic reporter at WGN-Channel 9.



Sources said Chiaverini and Warner have been chosen to host the live, local morning show expected to air at 9am weekdays in place of The Oprah Winfrey Show on ABC 7. After 25 years in syndication, Oprah is ceasing production of her Chicago-based talk show in May.

Officials of the ABC-owned station could not be reached for comment late Wednesday, but insiders said an announcement could come as soon as Thursday that Chiaverini and Warner had landed the coveted roles. They emerged from a field of more than 500 applicants nationwide and an audition process that tested more than two dozen hopefuls in various combinations on camera.

Executive producer Marlaine Selip and supervising producer Cindy Patrasso, who are developing the show under the working title of Morning Rush, are expected to produce it each day in front of a studio audience at ABC 7 headquarters at 190 N. State. It's the same place Oprah began as host of the local A.M. Chicago on January 2, 1984.

Chiaverini, a native of Corona, Calif., and a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, joined ABC 7 as a sports reporter in 2006 from KUSA-TV in Denver. He was promoted to weekend sports anchor in 2009.

Warner, who also grew up in southern California, graduated from the University of California at San Diego. She joined Tribune Co.-owned WGN in 2005 from WEYI-TV in Flint, Mich. Last July she was named anchor of WGN's expanded morning newscast at 4:30am while continuing as morning traffic reporter.

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Sweet! That's great news for Ryan. I play hockey against him tonight so I'll be sure to congrat him unless he's still in Arizona covering spring training.


I know a lot of you don't care for him, but he really is just about the nicest guy out there so kudos for him. And he gets more hot tail than anyone I've seen.

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I don't mind him.

Good for him.

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Maybe this is in addition to his weekend duties...

The show is destined for failure btw... But ABC7 will save money on a low rent sacrificial lamb

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