Chicago CBS finally fills lead sports anchor spot

By MixDex Article may include affiliate links

Chicago’s CBS owned station has hired a new lead sports anchor, reports Robert Feder.

Marshall Harris, who most recently worked at fellow CBS O&O KOVR in Sacramento, California, is joining the WBBM team and will appear at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. starting the week of July 12, 2021.

Harris effectively fills the spot vacated by Ryan Baker, who largely left sports for a morning anchor tryout two years ago — and move that was made permanent.

WBBM’s morning show saw a shakeup in 2019 when the station opted to part ways with morning co-anchor Marissa Bailey and main anchor Rob Johnson. Mike Puccinelli filled in temporarily next to remaining co-anchor Erin Kennedy, ending the station’s dual female morning  anchor team.

Kennedy would not survive a 2020 round of group wide cost cutting layoffs, but Baker stayed put at the morning anchor desk, with Puccinelli getting laid off as well.

Harris, meanwhile, will join a rather empty sports department. The station only lists Matt Zahn on its bio page for sports coverage as of July 14, 2021, and Zahn is only a freelancer, according to Feder.

WBBM has been plagued with low ratings for decades and tried numerous high profile and expensive experiments with different anchors, sets, formats and more — none of which managed to make much headway in viewership.