Curran appeared today on NECN covering a story about a group of sick dogs that were brought into New England illegally. Anchor Mike Nikitas introduced her as “our Eileen Curran.”

Boston TV news blog btvn, which first reported the move, points out that Curran is a veteran of the New England area, having worked as a weekend anchor for WFXT before joining WBZ.

Curran is just the latest local talent to land at the Comcast-owned channel, which has been aggressively remaking its news lineup to compete with network affiliates in the area.  NECN’s new morning and evening newscasts, for instance, are anchored by alumni of Providence’s WPRI– Steve Aveson co-hosts NECN’s new 7 a.m. morning show and John Daly recently joined the channel’s evening newscast.

Video of Curran’s first NECN report inside… continued…

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NECN

The new show, titled “The Morning Show on NECN,” will be hosted by Steve Aveson, a former anchor at Providence’s WPRI, and Taryn Winter Brill, a former “Good Morning America” correspondent.

“Our traditional morning news show has been an anchor at the news desk going over the morning news,” said Bill Bridgen, NECN’s general manager. “This is much more conversational, much more informal.”

NECN has invested in a brand-new set that eschews the standard news desk in favor of comfortable couches and chairs, reminiscent of network morning shows such as “Today.”

The fact that NECN’s new morning show set-up resembles network shows is not a coincidence.  “The Morning Show,” with a 7 a.m. start time, will be going up against the likes of Matt and Meredith in the mornings.

“It’s really an opportunity to capture the local audience when the broadcast networks go to their national programming,” Bridgen told The Boston Globe.

NECN’s aggressive re-invention of its morning programming has led to the departures or demotions of several established anchors. continued…

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