Chicago’s WLS Chooses Ryan Chiaverini and Valerie Warner as ‘Oprah’ Successors

When stations around the country talk about “replacing” Oprah as she moves to cable, they don’t mean it quite as literally as Chicago’s WLS does. The station that Oprah has called home since the very beginning is now set to launch a brand-new live morning show in her soon-to-be-vacant timeslot.

The ABC-affiliate announced today that its Oprah replacement, the new 9 a.m. “Morning Rush” show, will be hosted by Ryan Chiaverini and Valerie Warner.

Chicago viewers are already familiar with Chiaverini and Warner, who both have worked in the market for the past five years.  Chiaverini comes to “Morning Rush” from WLS’s sports department and Warner joins the station after working as a morning anchor and traffic reporter for WGN.

“We looked at hundreds of tapes and scores of auditions and found we had two enormously talented people right here in our own backyard,” said Emily Barr, WLS’s president and general manager, in making the announcement. “We are thrilled to have Valerie and Ryan as the face of our new show.”

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.