{"id":8090,"date":"2015-07-06T17:00:47","date_gmt":"2015-07-06T22:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=8090"},"modified":"2015-07-08T19:17:23","modified_gmt":"2015-07-09T00:17:23","slug":"rob-elgas-lands-as-reporter-at-abc-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2015\/07\/06\/rob-elgas-lands-as-reporter-at-abc-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Rob Elgas lands as reporter at ABC 7"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rob<\/a>

<\/a> Rob Elgas<\/p><\/div>\n

Four months after signing off <\/a>as a news anchor and reporter at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5,<\/a> Rob Elgas has turned up across town at ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7.<\/a><\/p>\n

ABC 7 announced Monday that Elgas was joining the station as a reporter and fill-in anchor, effective Tuesday. He's expected to make his first appearance on the air later this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cRob Elgas is an experienced journalist who has established a strong connection with Chicago viewers during his 13 years covering this area,\u201d Jennifer Graves, vice president and news director of ABC 7, said in a statement. \u201cWe welcome him to our newsroom with the knowledge he\u2019ll hit the ground running and do a great job on the street as well as filling in on the anchor desk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elgas, 41, declined<\/a> to renew his contract last March at NBC 5, where he most recently anchored the station\u2019s 4:30 p.m. weekday newscast alongside Marion Brooks. At the time he told colleagues he planned to \u201ccast a wide net and look at a lot of opportunities.\u201d NBC 5 sources said Elgas had made no secret of his ambitions to become a network correspondent.<\/p>\n

In an interview Monday, Elgas said he was pleased to continue to work in his hometown and considers the move to ABC 7 a step up \u2014 although it\u2019s not clear when if ever he\u2019ll become a regular anchor at his new station.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have any expectations in that capacity,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to go in and earn the respect of my colleagues, my new co-workers, and do whatever they need me to do. If they need me to fill in anywhere, I\u2019m ready to do it. . . .\u00a0In my mind, I want to perform at a high level at the No. 1 station in town. I\u2019m thinking about doing good work again. The rest will come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meteorologist Cheryl Scott made a similar move last December when she joined <\/a>ABC 7 after declining to renew at NBC 5.<\/p>\n

NBC 5 continues to interview candidates for the 4:30 p.m. anchor vacancy, according to Frank Whittaker, station manager and vice president of news at NBC 5. In the meantime, Dick Johnson, Rob Stafford and Lauren Jiggetts have been filling in with Brooks.<\/p>\n

Here is the text of Graves\u2019 memo to ABC 7 staff Monday:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m delighted to share with you that Rob Elgas is joining the Eyewitness News Team.<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nRob, a Chicago-area native, \u00a0has covered Chicago for more than 13 years.\u00a0 He joins us from WMAQ, where he most recently anchored the 4:30pm news and reported for the 10pm news.\u00a0 Rob garnered numerous awards for his work at WMAQ, including most recently Associated Press and Lisagor awards for his live breaking coverage of protests in Chicago in 2014.\u00a0 He\u2019s also won several Emmy Awards for work on Olympic and Chicago Marathon coverage.<\/em><\/p>\n

Before returning to Chicago in 2002, Rob worked for KVIA-TV, the ABC affiliate in El Paso, Texas, where he started as a weekend anchor and eventually moved up to anchor the morning newscast. Rob started his broadcasting career behind the lens, as a photographer at WICD-TV in Champaign-Urbana.\u00a0 Rob attended the University of Illinois, before landing that first job at WICD.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rob is a member of NAHJ, and as I mentioned an area native, as he was born in Arlington Heights and raised in Crystal Lake.\u00a0 He and his family live in the southwest suburbs.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rob begins his new role as reporter\/fill-in anchor here at ABC 7 tomorrow.\u00a0 He\u2019s thrilled to make the move to ABC 7 and I know you will join me in welcoming him to our team!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four months after signing off as a news anchor and reporter at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5, Rob Elgas has turned up across town at ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7. ABC 7 announced Monday that Elgas was joining the station as a reporter and fill-in anchor, effective Tuesday. He's expected to make his first appearance on the air later... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8090"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8090"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8131,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8090\/revisions\/8131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}