Ron Corning Will Save WFAA's Morning Show?

By Robert Wilonsky Mon., Apr. 25 2011 at 5:21 PM

Categories: Media

A few weeks ago, Ed Bark noted that WFAA-Channel 8 was moving Chris Flanagan, co-host of its morning-news show Daybreak, to Good Morning Texas, whatever that is. His replacement: Ron Corning, who's leaving Kabletown's Long Island affiliate to pair up with Cynthia Izaguirre, the sixth-most famous graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School.

Corning~~stone~~ (who was "infamously ousted from Fox 5/WNYW's Good Day New York while on vacation in April 2008") speaks today to MediaBistro's Fishbowl NY about why he's coming to Dallas. Long story short: They asked.

"When I met these folks in Dallas, it was like somebody who decides they're going to be single but they just reluctantly go out on one date, and it's such a match," Corning tells FishbowlNY exclusively. "How could I not pursue this?"

So after some cajoling, Corning accepted the co-anchor position for their morning newscast. Corning is proud to join the 'FAA news tradition (first TV station on the air to cover the President Kennedy assassination). But he'll need to help rebuild the ratings for the struggling morning show, a challenge Corning is more than up for.

"They're all about their legacy in journalism, and given that ... they are outside of that to create something that's a little more personality-driven, a little more casual, and a little more conversational," Corning says.

Corning, whose résumé includes stops at Extra, E! and ABC, starts this week. Delkus and Hansen are picking him up from the airport.

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