Anderson, Greber, Tuskes and Preval promoted as WIVB anchors

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Western New Yorkers suspected there would never be another anchor team like Jacquie Walker and Don Postles at WIVB-TV (Channel 4) after the members of the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame left their posts in the past year.

They were right.

As expected, Kelsey Anderson and Dave Greber will have the most prominent roles as co-anchors of the weekday newscasts at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m.

Dave Greber and Kelsey Anderson get top anchor posts at Channel 4.

But they won’t anchor at 11 p.m., which Walker and Postles had done for most of their decades together before they reduced their workload in their final years.

Channel 4 General Manager Joe Abouzeid has named Marlee Tuskes, who most recently has been the station’s weekend anchor, as the 11 p.m. weekday anchor. She also will anchor the 10 p.m. newscast on WNLO-TV (CW 23), the sister station of WIVB owned by Nexstar Media. Anderson previously anchored those newscasts.

The announcement by Abouzeid of changes that recast current anchors at the station illustrates that multiple members of the news department will fill the roles that Postles and Walker held for decades when they were the faces of the station. The changes include a couple of surprises.

Marlee Tuskes

It no longer is that unusual for stations to have different co-anchors at 6 and 11 p.m. WKBW-TV (Channel 7) has been doing that in recent years. The trend comes as audiences at 11 p.m. have diminished and stations want their anchors more involved in covering news, rather than just reading it.

For decades, anchor teams were consistent at 6 and 11 p.m., which also made it easier to promote them.

In another minor surprise, Jeff Preval is replacing Greber as the 4 p.m. co-anchor alongside Jordan Norkus. Norkus also anchors the 7 p.m. newscast on WNLO.

All the changes involve anchors and reporters who have worked at Channel 4 for years.

Jeff Preval

“We are committed to providing Buffalo and the Western New York community with the best news coverage in our area,” said Abouzeid. “With these experienced journalists anchoring our newscasts, we will continue to do that.”

The internal promotions of anchors and reporters Western New Yorkers are familiar with aren’t surprising. Since Walker left her anchoring duties in May and Postles left the station in December there haven’t been any weekday anchor job postings on Channel 4’s website.

Anderson is an Orchard Park native who has been at the station for seven years. She has filled most of Walker’s anchor duties since the veteran stopped anchoring.

Greber is a Cincinnati native who has been at Channel 4 for a decade and was widely viewed as Postles’ logical replacement for years before Postles left.

Tuskes is a Buffalo native who joined Channel 4 as a reporter six years ago.

Preval joined Channel 4 as a weekend anchor more than three years ago after a lengthy stay at rival WGRZ-TV (Channel 2).

Jordan Norkus

Norkus is a Connecticut native who joined Channel 4 more than three years ago.

A replacement for Tuskes’ weekend role hasn’t been named.

The changes are expected to start in the new few weeks.

More immediately, Channel 4 is has introduced a new streaming app that will include more news content and will enable viewers to stream Channel 4 newscasts live. Previously, newscasts have been only available to stream a few hours after they ran on the broadcast station.

Since they aren’t anchoring at 11 p.m., Anderson and Greber are expected to have time to provide content to the app.

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