For the first time since the flood of 1997, viewers of WDAZ’s local 5 p.m. Monday broadcast didn’t see local Grand Forks anchors.
According to a press release, the 5 p.m. broadcast is now being anchored by WDAY in Fargo.
WDAZ and WDAY began collaborative weekend newscasts in 2011, which gave WDAZ more time and resources to cover more local news on weeknights at 10 and more regional news on the weekends, the statement said.
“We want to give North Dakota and Minnesota viewers the best we have to offer,” WDAZ and WDAY General Manager Mari Ossenfort said in the release. “By combining our teams, we’ll be able to make it happen.”
Anchor Terry Dullum was sad to see the broadcast go, as were his Facebook friends and followers.
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“We’ve focused on local, regional and community news and we’ve had a lot of fun along the way as well,” Dullum wrote in a Monday blog post. “We put a lot of energy into the broadcast in those seventeen years including a little bit of our heart and soul.”
The elimination of WDAZ’s local 5 p.m. broadcast will bring WDAZ’s weekly count of 30-minute newscasts to 10, when in the past it had been as high as 18.
The two stations are part of Forum Communications, as is the Herald.
