Following Michelle Wright’s Feb. 27 final broadcast before retirement, morning traffic reporter Elena LaQuatra will succeed Wright at the anchor desk as WTAE returns to a two-anchor morning format.
Janelle Hall will remain at the morning anchor desk alongside LaQuatra and meteorologist Ashley Dougherty but Ryan Recker will move to evenings, anchoring the 7 p.m. newscast on Channel 4.2, Cozi TV (Channel 1173 on Comcast). Mike Clark, who currently anchors at 7 p.m., will continue to anchor at 6 and 11 p.m.
Recker will also contribute reports to other evening newscasts, likely an effort on Channel 4’s part for succession planning so Recker will be familiar to evening news viewers when Clark eventually retires.
LaQuatra first joined WTAE in 2015 as a part-time digital content creator. After a stint reporting and anchoring in Erie, she returned to Channel 4 as a general assignment reporter in 2018.
In 2021, LaQuatra began delivering traffic reports during Channel 4’s morning newscast. LaQuatra also anchors the noon news, but with her new role, Channel 4 executives are on the hunt for a new morning traffic reporter/noon anchor.
In the station’s announcement, Wright praised the choice of LaQuatra, saying, “She is my colleague and friend, who is the same upbeat person you see on TV. Elena works hard and leads with her boundless energy — she is absolutely ready.”
In a phone interview, LaQuatra, a 2014 Point Park University grad, noted she’s worked mornings since joining WTAE full-time, first as a field reporter before moving into the in-studio traffic role.
“I was never a morning person; I was the person who was going to bed at 2 in the morning,” LaQuatra said, but that changed after college. Interviewing Wright for a college assignment also played a role in her reevaluation of the morning shift.
“I have been close with Michelle since I was 18 years old. She’s been a friend and mentor to me all these years,” said LaQuatra, a 2010 Mt. Lebanon High School grad. “I asked her about being morning news anchor, and I remember she told me, ‘Yeah, I get up at two in the morning. And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that sounds crazy.’ And she said, ‘You know what? I love it. It’s such a good shift. And if you can handle the hours and that early alarm clock, it’s a really special place to be.’ … After she said that I started thinking, ‘You know what, I feel like mornings is where it’s at.’ And I’ve loved the shift.”
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When Wright announced her retirement in December, the job was posted and LaQuatra applied for it.
“I’ve always been an advocate for myself,” LaQuatra said. “That was a skill I learned when I was a little kid after losing my hearing. That was actually part of the training I received: How to be an advocate.”
LaQuatra has shared with viewers the story of losing hearing in both ears at age 4 due to bacterial meningitis. She received a Cochlear implant.
LaQuatra said her interest in the morning co-anchor job did not come as a surprise to anyone inside Channel 4.
“When I was just a digital content creator for the station working part time, I was talking to whoever would listen – managers, colleagues, whoever — and saying, ‘I really want to be a morning news anchor here one day,’ so it was never a secret,” she recalled. “Everyone’s always known that was my goal from day one. … But anything could happen in this industry, so I certainly was not a shoo-in by any means. I was hoping that it would be my time and that I would have proved myself over the years to hopefully have earned that seat.”
In addition to anchoring, LaQuatra will continue to report for Channel 4, including medical stories. Later this week she has a report on what she’s dubbed “the Cochlear implant of the eye.”
She acknowledged some of her interest in medical stories stems from how her own life has been shaped by medical technology.
“Thirty years ago this month, I couldn’t hear anything,” LaQuatra said. “I was completely deaf. I was crawling again. I’d just survived meningitis. Never in a million years were my parents thinking, ‘30 years [from now] our daughter’s gonna grow up and be the local morning news anchor.’ They’re very proud.”
LaQuatra said she looks forward to sharing the morning headlines with viewers when she starts at the news desk on March 2.
“More than anything, I just hope to continue building on the legacy that Michelle’s created,” LaQuatra said. “I don’t look at it as replacing [Michelle]. She’s been a part of Pittsburghers’ morning routines for decades. My goal is really just to build on that legacy that she created. And I hope to bring a smile to viewers’ faces in the mornings while still telling them that important information they need to know to get their day started.”
Channel surfing
NBC Sports publicity said Pittsburgh ranks fourth nationally among viewership for NBC’s coverage of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, making Western Pa. among the top-rated markets behind only Ft. Myers, Fla., Minneapolis and Milwaukee. … The Descendants/ZOMBIES Worlds Collide Concert, which stopped at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh last August, was filmed at some point during the tour and will stream on Disney and air as special on Disney Channel at 7 p.m. Feb. 19. … NBC’s pilot of a proposed “Rockford Files” reboot will star David Boreanaz (“SEAL Team,” “Bones,” “Angel”) as Jim Rockford, the role originated by James Garner. … NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” returns Feb. 28 with Connor Storrie (“Heated Rivalry”) as host and Mumford & Sons as musical guest; Ryan Gosling hosts March 7 with Gorillaz. … Anderson Cooper will exit his second job with CBS’s “60 Minutes” but he’ll continue in his roles at CNN. … Disney will debut the “Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special” March 24, featuring Alex Cooper interviewing Miley Cyrus.