When WPVI’s legendary Jim Gardner in Philadelphia retired after 44 years anchoring the 6 and 11 o’clock newscasts, the station turned to humor to promote his replacements.
WPVI (Action News), the ABC O&O in Philadelphia, is historically considered the most dominant local TV news organization over the past 50 years in terms of ratings and revenue.
For 44 of those years, Jim Gardner was the main anchor for the station’s 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts.
Gardner announced his intentions to retire from broadcasting in November 2021; he vacated his anchor chair at 11 p.m. on Jan. 11, 2022, but remained anchoring the 6 p.m. until Dec. 21, 2022.
Rick Williams was named the new anchor at Action News at 11 p.m. Williams co-anchors Action News at 5 p.m. and has been an anchor and reporter at Action News for more than 25 years.
“It’s no small thing to be able to follow a news icon and, in many ways, a role model,” Williams says about replacing Gardner. “Jim set the journalistic bar very high at 11 o’clock, and I hope I can maintain the same standard of excellence.”
Mike Monsell, WPVI’s creative services director, says the promo highlighting Williams as the new anchor at 11 was spawned by feedback.
“[Senior Creative Services Producer] Troy Bauer was combing through comments on social, and he noticed a lot of interest and intrigue,” Monsell says. “[He] took the chatter and tried to have a little fun with it,” Monsell says.
Brian Taff was named as Gardner’s successor for Action News at 6 p.m.
Taff came to WPVI in 2009 when he initially anchored the noon and 4 p.m. newscasts.
On his being named the new anchor, Taff said, “Jim Gardner has become much more than a mentor to me – he’s been a dear friend, a trusted confidant and a guide for which I’m unendingly grateful. He will never be replaced on Action News at 6, but it’s the professional honor of a lifetime to be asked to succeed him.”
It is a little bit unusual to replace the main news anchor for the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts with two different anchors. WPVI saw that as an opportunity for a humorous promo.
“We did a pitch session back in April,” Monsell says. “Everyone comes with one or two ideas. We liked Troy Bauer’s concept the best. I, honestly, was not 100% sold on it. But we kept massaging the scenes and added new lines, and by film day, I was all-in that it would work.”
Monsell says at WPVI, we’re trying “to do emotional advertising whenever possible. These ads are more memorable and build our brand much better than a traditional promo.”
Speaking of emotional advertising, perhaps the most beloved star for Action News fans is the station’s news van.
Since the mid 1980s when this promo aired, a new phrase was added to Philadelphians’ lexicon, one that endures to this day: “There goes that news van again.”
The premise of this spot is a family goes on vacation to the Philly area and shoots some home movies on film, which they are showing at home.
One of Action News’ brands is that they are everywhere. They live that brand in every newscast with a high story count.
Here’s the latest news van spot from the spring, one of many promos over the years that have focused on the news van while commenting “there goes that news van again.”
Jim Gardner says this is his favorite Action News promo.
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