San Diego

Phil Blauer has been promoted to weekend evening anchor at KFMB, the CBS-affiliate in San Diego.

Blauer joined KFMB as a weekday general assignment and investigative reporter in 1998. Prior to that, he spent 15 years as the main anchor at KESQ in Palm Springs. Blauer will co-anchor the KFMB weekend newscasts at 5, 6:30 and 11 p.m. with Marcella Lee.

Blauer replaces Craig McKee, who joined Milwaukee’s WISN in March.

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Ron Burgundy, er, Will Ferrell appeared on “Conan” today to announce the glorious return of the Channel 4 News Team.

“I want to announce this to everyone here,” Burgundy told the “Conan” audience during the show’s taping earlier today. “Paramount Pictures and myself, Ronald Joseph Aaron Burgundy, have come to terms on a sequel to ‘Anchorman.’”

As the KSWB morning team teased an interview with the singer Meatloaf on Thursday, a graphic appeared with a photo of actual meatloaf.

“Hello, YouTube!” anchor Raoul Martinez said, laughing, “Nice to see you again.”

KSWB has become a reliable producer of YouTube-ready gaffes. Who could forget the time anchor Shally Zomorodi licked an iPad or the classic jet pack fail?

KSWB sports anchor Ross Shimabuku stopped just short of calling NASCAR driver Danica Patrick a bitch during a newscast last week.

Reporting on comments that Patrick had made about being called “sexy,” Shimabuku, who has been with the Fox-affiliate since 2009, suggested another word.

“It starts with a ‘B’ and it’s not ‘beautiful’” (video above). Read more

An apparent miscommunication led to a very awkward moment during KSWB‘s morning show on Wednesday.  After setting up a satellite interview with a sex columnist, anchor Erica Fox was plugged into a feed with the wrong people (video above).

Fox maintained her composure though, and her co-anchor Raoul Martinez displayed a sign at the end of it all saying “We <3 you!”

After three years at KHOU, Christine Haas will anchor her last broadcast at the Houston CBS-affiliate on Friday. She will join KNSD, the NBC O&O in San Diego, later this month.

Haas, who joined KHOU in 2008, told Houston media blogger Mike McGuff that she is “thrilled” about her new opportunity. She will be an anchor,  helming the early evening newscasts, and an investigative reporter, which she called her “passion.”

In a memo announcing her departure, KHOU news director Philip Bruce said the anchor “embodies quality in every facet of her professional and personal life.”

“While we’ll miss Christine, we’re very pleased she’s getting this great new opportunity,” Bruce wrote. Read more

When Jennifer Boll agreed to be interviewed on San Diego’s KUSI, she was happy enough that she and her two young daughters would get to speak to her husband, who is stationed in the Persian Gulf, via satellite. So imagine her surprise when her husband stepped out from behind the camera and surprised the family in person. Watch the segment — which includes grandparents, siblings, tears and even some festive Mariah Carey tunes — after the jump. Read more

Virginia Cha, an Atlanta-based anchor at HLN, has left the network to join KGTV, the ABC-affiliate in San Diego.

Cha will start at KGTV this week and make her on-air debut on Monday, December 5, news director Joel Davis confirmed to TVSpy.

Cha joined HLN in 2005 from NBC News, where she was a New York-based correspondent. Prior to joining NBC, Cha was an anchor and chief medical correspondent for WBZ, the CBS owned-and-operated station in Boston. She began her career at WFSB, the CBS-affiliate in Hartford.

Catherine Garcia is the new primary evening anchor at KNSD.  The NBC O&O announced today that Garcia, who has been with the station since 2003 and currently anchors the 4 o’clock hour, will begin anchoring the station’s 5, 6, and 11 p.m. newscasts.

“Catherine is a strong journalist, a terrific writer and a wonderful person, with a passion for her job and her role in the San Diego community,” said KNSD president and general manager Richard Kelley, announcing the promotion.  “We are fortunate that Catherine is already on our team and are excited she agreed to take on this important role.”

A California native and graduate of USC, Garcia replaces Susan Taylor, who recently announced she is stepping down from the anchor desk.  Her first day as marquee anchor will be Monday, December 5th.

More than a year after his departure from Fox owned-and-operated WFLD in Chicago, veteran anchor Byron Harlan has signed on to be a weekend anchor and reporter at KUSI, an independent station in San Diego.

Harlan started a career in financial advising when his WFLD contract was not renewed after 13 years with the station. According to TimeOut Chicago‘s Robert Feder, Harlan plans to continue his financial advising and have a “dual career path.”

“I really have been working intensely to develop these two careers, and for it to be happening here is almost unbelievable,” Harlan said. “I’m convinced that your life really will go where your mind takes you.”

Harlan, a San Diego native, was a CBS Newspath anchor before he joined WFLD in 1997.