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Erica Riggins leaves News 8 Austin
Erica Riggins is leaving News 8 Austin for a job with Time Warner’s original local cable news channel, Bay News 9 in the Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg, Fla., area.
News 8’s solo prime-time anchor was born and raised in Austin and graduated from the University of Texas in 1995. Except for a three-month stint at KXII in Sherman, Riggins, who signs off tonight, has spent her entire life and career in Austin.
“I’m a little bit anxious about reporting in a city I don’t know,” says Riggins, 34, whose family on her mother’s and father’s side, all live here. “But I’m excited, too. I love covering severe weather. It’s the one time viewers really depend on local news, and that feels good.”
Riggins came to TV news on a slightly jagged road. Her degree from UT is in mechanical engineering, and her first job was in technology at Motorola. After a segue into public relations at Motorola, she decided to return to UT and study communications.
After the quick trip to Sherman, Riggins returned to Austin and joined News 8 as a reporter. She was promoted to weekend anchor and then to prime-time anchor. She received a Lone Star Emmy and a Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Award for her breaking news coverage of local Iraq war protests and a National Edward R. Murrow Award for a report on child abuse in Texas.
The move to Tampa Bay, the No. 12 television market in the country, is a career leap up from Austin, which is the 54th TV market.
Riggins leaves Monday, accompanied by her two dogs, and starts at Bay News 9 on Dec. 5.
“I’m guessing I’ll have a few days, but it’s a pretty quick transition,” said Riggins, who will be the the station’s weekend anchor and morning reporter.
Time Warner Austin has not announced Riggins’replacement here.
“Alias” is leaving … does anybody care?
ABC announced the pending demise of “Alias” at 5 p.m. Wednesday, the day before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Maybe the network was hoping nobody would notice.
The long-running spy drama, which airs Thursdays at 7 p.m., will retire after its run ends in May.
Jennifer Garner’s once-hot romp has been dragging in the ratings for a while and is currently ranked 75th among prime-time series. Not good.
ABC’s announcement was strange: “We’re devastated to announce the end of the longest running unsuccessful prime-time series on television.”
If they’re really, painfully devastated, ABC execs could always keep “Alias” going.
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