NBC4, FOX 5, 7News or WUSA9? Alexandria, Tell Us Who You Watch
Who's your favorite anchor, reporter, meteorologist or sportscaster? From Channel 4, 5, 7, 9 and 44 to national news, The Zebra wants to hear from you
ALEXANDRIA, VA — Channel 4, 5, 7, 9 or 44?
For longtime Washington-area viewers, those numbers don’t need much explanation. They mean local news.
For years, people turned on the television to find out what happened that day, whether snow was coming or how bad the Beltway looked.
A lot of us don’t do that anymore.
News may arrive first on a phone, Facebook, YouTube or somewhere else. Some people still watch local news every day. Others tune in only when something big happens or bad weather is coming.
So we got curious.
What is Alexandria watching?
The Local Choices
NBC4, FOX 5, 7News, WUSA9, DC News Now, Telemundo 44 and WETA/PBS serve the Washington market.
NBC4 viewers know Jim Handly, Shawn Yancy, Jummy Olabanji, Eun Yang, Aimee Cho and Tracee Wilkins.
FOX 5 has Steve Chenevey, Angie Goff, Jim Lokay, Shomari Stone, Tom Fitzgerald and Marina Marraco.
At 7News, there’s John Gonzalez, Tom Roussey, Rebecca Turco, Robert Locklear, De’Anthony Taylor and Christian Flores.
WUSA9’s lineup includes Lesli Foster, Lorenzo Hall, Allison Seymour, Annie Yu, Larry Miller and Marcella Robertson.
Susan Tran, Mark Hall, Shennekia Grimshaw and Mariel Carbone are among the names at DC News Now.
Telemundo 44 serves the region’s Spanish-speaking audience. María Renée Barillas is among its news presenters, and Freixys Casado reports local stories.
Your favorite isn’t here? Tell us who we missed.
Weather and Sports Count, Too
For plenty of viewers, the weather or sports person may be the reason they turn on the station.
NBC4 has Doug Kammerer, Chuck Bell, Amelia Draper and Lauryn Ricketts on weather. JP Finlay covers sports.
FOX 5 has Tucker Barnes, Jennifer Delgado, Taylor Grenda and Mike Thomas covering weather. Chad Ricardo covers sports and entertainment.
At 7News, Veronica Johnson, Steve Rudin and Mark Peña cover weather. Scott Abraham leads sports coverage.
WUSA9 has Topper Shutt, Kaitlyn McGrath, Miri Marshall and Grace Thornton on weather, with Marshall Kramsky covering sports.
DC News Now has meteorologist Damon Matson and a sports team led by Derek Forrest. Telemundo 44 viewers may know meteorologist Joseph Martínez.
Who do you like watching cover Washington sports?
Who Do You Miss?
Brad Bell retired from 7News on Thursday, September 24, after 35½ years at WJLA and 42 years in journalism.
Maybe you miss Arch Campbell and his movie reviews. Campbell spent 32 years at NBC4 before later taking his reviews to 7News.
Greta Kreuz spent 26 years as an anchor and reporter at 7News before retiring in 2014. She died in 2021 at age 63.
And how about Jim Vance, Wendy Rieger, George Michael, Gordon Peterson, Maureen Bunyan, Glenn Brenner and Bruce Johnson?
Who do you miss seeing on Washington television?
And Then There’s the National News
There’s David Muir, Tom Llamas and Tony Dokoupil on the evening news.
Cable and public television bring plenty more choices, including Anderson Cooper, Jake Tapper, Bret Baier, Rachel Maddow, Geoff Bennett and Amna Nawaz.
CNN, Fox News, MS NOW, NewsNation, CNBC, Bloomberg Television, C-SPAN and PBS News are among the choices. There’s also ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and PBS News Hour.
Or maybe you don’t watch any of them.
Alexandria, Tell Us
There’s no online form and nothing to sign into.
Email your answers to [email protected] with “Zebra News Survey” in the subject line by midnight Saturday, October 10.
Answer all 16 questions or just the ones that interest you.
- What’s your favorite local television news station?
- Who’s your favorite local news anchor?
- Who’s your favorite local reporter?
- Who’s your favorite local meteorologist?
- Who’s your favorite local sportscaster or sports reporter?
- Who’s your favorite national anchor, reporter or correspondent?
- Which national or cable news outlet do you watch most?
- Do you still watch a network evening newscast? If so, which one?
- Where do you usually first hear about breaking news?
- Where do you go first for Alexandria news?
- Do you get news in a language other than English? If so, which language?
- Do you watch more or less local television news than you did five years ago?
- What should local television news cover more often?
- What does local television news do particularly well, or what could it do better?
- Have you ever contacted or used a consumer-help or investigative team at NBC4, FOX 5, 7News, WUSA9, DC News Now or Telemundo 44, including services such as 7 On Your Side, NBC4 Responds or Telemundo Responde? If so, what happened?
- Which retired, departed or late Washington-area television personality do you miss seeing most?
We’ll count the responses and report back on what Zebra readers told us.
This isn’t a scientific poll. It’s a snapshot of participating Zebra readers.
So, 4, 5, 7, 9 or 44?
Tell us.
Author’s Note
I don’t watch much television these days. I’ll catch the local news and occasionally one of the network evening newscasts, but that’s about it.
I remember being at WRC-TV when I was 4 years old, seeing Willard Scott as Bozo the Clown. The studio cameras seemed enormous.
I’ve seen the changes from the other side of the camera, too. Two FOX 5 reporters recently interviewed me using Zoom. We weren’t in the same room, or even the same part of the Washington area. It didn’t matter.
Today, a reporter can interview someone from miles away using a laptop or phone, and viewers can watch the finished story on a television, computer or device they carry in their pocket.
Times have changed.
Please vote today!
Patrick Malone
571-501-7726 (Cell)
