When Melissa Majkut tunes in to WCVB-TV (Channel 5) at 6 p.m., she's not just watching a newscast. She's witnessing an anchor audition.
Since veteran broadcaster Natalie Jacobson retired last July, Majkut has watched potential anchors fill in every week. The most notable candidates: Liz Brunner and Heather Unruh, who have anchored the newscast together or each with co-anchor Ed Harding.
"They always seem to be rotating," says Majkut, 29, of Allston. "They haven't found someone they really want in that spot. Liz is laid-back but still professional. Liz seems a better fit for that spot."
For months, loyal WCVB viewers like Majkut have been playing a media guessing-game: Who will replace Jacobson, WCVB's most famous face?
Unlike other local news stations in recent years, where prominent anchors were replaced quickly, WCVB officials haven't made immediate plans to fill Jacobson's slot. Industry observers say WCVB has been testing in-house candidates by pairing them with Harding at 6 p.m. Besides Unruh and Brunner, anchors such as Mary Saladna, Shiba Russell, and Bianca de la Garza, most recently of WFXT-TV (Channel 25), have alternated in the 6 p.m. anchor chair since the summer.
The station has also paired some of these female candidates as anchor teams, something WCVB president and general manager Bill Fine had initiated back at his previous Baltimore TV station. But in Boston, he wants to keep the male-female balance on the desk.
The former strategy has some viewers tuning in and chattering about whom they would like to see in Jacobson's old spot, one of the most coveted local broadcast jobs.
"There is no set timeline," Fine says. "It's a very important decision for us, and therefore it demands the time and attention necessary to make the right decision."
For 35 years, Jacobson helmed the 6 p.m. newscast, which brings in the highest ratings in all of the day's newscasts for any local channel. In the May sweeps, the last full ratings month that Jacobson anchored, the 6 p.m. newscast drew 188,400 viewers, beating all its competitors by a wide margin. In July, when summer viewership is generally down, WCVB's 6 p.m. newscast attracted a strong 187,900 viewers.
"The 6 o'clock is still, in the minds of many, the newscast of record. It has the most viewers available in that time period before it goes to the network," says Jim Thistle, a former news director of channels 4, 5, and 7, and a broadcast journalism professor at Boston University. "It has always been a battleground for bragging purposes. I think they are looking around to see which way they are going to go."
Jacobson signed off the air July 18 to pursue an unspecified multimedia venture aimed at baby boomers. She has recently begun airing a series of interviews with 2008 presidential contenders on Sundays on WCVB.
"When Natalie left, they lost a big part of NewsCenter 5, their image," says Michael Page, 16, who runs a popular Boston TV news site (hinghamweather.com/bostontvnews) where bloggers comment on WCVB's 6 p.m. newscast. "It will be interesting to see what happens. Liz has more of that evening news quality. Heather has done a good job of fitting in at night coming from the morning to the afternoon."
Local industry observers suspect WCVB officials are considering viewer feedback, from e-mails to responses from research focus groups, in making a decision.
Many, including WCVB fans, believe that Brunner and Unruh are the front-runners.
"Heather Unruh has a nice air of authority to her voice, and that's who I think is attractive to watch," says Richard Donahue, 60, a lifelong WCVB viewer in Weymouth. "She's much easier on the eye."
Unruh joined WCVB in 2001 as co-anchor of the morning newscast and medical reporter. Two years ago, she was named co-anchor of the 5 p.m. newscast. Viewers say she exudes a neighborly sunniness similar to the everywoman quality that made Jacobson relatable to viewers.
Brunner has been co-anchoring the 5:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts since April 2001. She stepped into the 11 p.m. slot after Jacobson cut back her anchoring duties. Prior to that, Brunner co-anchored the station's morning newscast at 5 and 7 a.m. She has been with WCVB since 1993, when she joined "Chronicle," the local TV news magazine.
Some WCVB fans say Brunner brings a serious manner to the newscast yet radiates a friendly edgy professionalism that works in the early evening news.
Complicating the decision: Both Unruh and Brunner have nice on-air chemistry with Harding, media watchers say.
"Heather is seen as the mom, the young mom," says Thistle, the journalism professor, "and Liz is seen as the professional nightbeat reporter, but they interact very well."
Other viewers feel the time is right for a new face in the anchor chair. Bianca de la Garza, for one.
"It's pretty much a no-brainer," says Thomas Lombardi, 39, of West Roxbury, who tuned in to de la Garza when she was an anchor on WFTX-TV before she joined WCVB as a freelancer. "She's a fresh new face there. They have her sitting on the sidelines, and this is the best opportunity to bring her into the mix."
Richard Vaughan, a salesman from Quincy, hopes former WCVB anchor Heather Kahn might stage a comeback to the station into Jacobson's slot. Vaughan used to watch Kahn on the channel in the 1990s and has seen her recent promotions for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. In 2001, Kahn stepped down from WCVB to spend more time with family.
"She was there before, and she did a good job," Vaughan says. "She's credible, and I think she would do a good job."
Fine, however, says the new co-anchor will come from in-house. Whoever takes the job, he wants to make one thing clear: "This person is not replacing Natalie Jacobson. They are succeeding Natalie Jacobson."