{"id":1486,"date":"2013-12-01T13:00:13","date_gmt":"2013-12-01T19:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=1486"},"modified":"2013-12-01T13:00:13","modified_gmt":"2013-12-01T19:00:13","slug":"insiders-line-up-to-replace-vatis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2013\/12\/01\/insiders-line-up-to-replace-vatis\/","title":{"rendered":"NBC 5 insiders line up to replace Vatis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kim<\/a>

<\/a> Kim Vatis<\/p><\/div>\n

Four reporters at WMAQ-Channel 5 will take turns filling in as weekend morning news anchor while the station seeks a replacement for Kim Vatis, who signed off Sunday.<\/p>\n

Michelle Relerford, Lauren Petty,\u00a0Emily Florez and Susan Carlson will anchor Saturday and Sunday mornings alongside Anthony Ponce in the coming weeks \u2014 although NBC 5 bosses say their search isn\u2019t limited to station insiders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe're looking at a number of candidates, both internal and external,\u201d Frank Whittaker, station manager and vice president of news at NBC 5, told me Sunday. \u201cA final decision is still a few weeks away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saying \u201cthe timing feels right for change,\u201d Vatis, 49, announced<\/a>\u00a0in October that she was resigning after 16 years at the station and nearly 30 years in journalism. Starting in January, she plans to spend two months in Thailand.<\/p>\n

Before her final broadcast, Vatis wrote on Facebook:<\/a> \u201cMoving on and so lucky to take nearly 30 great years of memories with me . . . 16 at NBC 5. Thank you Chicago! Will be so hard to walk away from this weekend team, and the best crews and journalists in the business, but a new door has opened and a new life outside of news. Certainly hope to visit now and then. I can't erase what I love. But . . . Life outside the box, here I come!\u201d<\/p>\n

Vatis joined NBC 5 in 1997 after working as anchor and reporter in Orlando, Jacksonville and Gainesville, Florida, and Bangor, Maine. She graduated from the University of Florida.<\/p>\n

Here is a gallery of the four inside candidates for the weekend morning anchor job:<\/p>\n\n\t