Tyrah Majors, KOMO morning traffic anchor and ARC Seattle co-host is entering the transfer portal, joining the KIRO morning news team on July 5 per her post on Instagram. Her last day at KOMO is June 26. It's the first big anchor move by 7's new news boss. Plus previously adding Nia Bliss (Wong-ex Fox 13) and Heather Bosch freelance (ex-Kiro radio).
Interesting to see exactly what her role there will be. KIRO has a morning traffic anchor and an established news team in Dee Dee and Linzi plus Nick Allard on weather. Waiting to hear more.
Majors also said she will continue teaching at Seattle U.
I have not been impressed by her work on ARC. Steve McCarron has carried her along. She's a strong brand builder, however. You can search my previous posts about her on the site. Could this also signal the end of ARC?
I posted last week that a major move was going to happen in the market. KING was my first bet to be involved but turned out to be KOMO/KIRO. It appears Majors made the move because her contract ended. Plus, non-compete clauses are not a factor. Her decision to move or MGMT
Whoa. Wonder what this means for ARC Seattle.
ReplyDeleteHolly may be forced into double duty. Maybe Waldenberger will have to do traffic for awhile like Allard did on KIRO?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, they should probably just cancel that show and turn it into a two-hour news block and compete with KING/Fox 13. Who knows though
DeleteIt's an inventory placeholder, but nothing more for sure. This move gives Majors much more exposure on a main channel, not that mess. Actually Steve could do one live hour alone and let it repeat.
DeleteSince the morning edition of ARC only has one live hour these days, Steve could easily do it solo. That being said, from what I've seen of Sinclair's various ARC shows around the country, the ones that air in the morning seem to always have two hosts (only one host for ones that air at Noon or later). So it does seem that a new co-host will be hired.
DeleteAs for traffic, Theron could do it three days a week until Tyrah's replacement is found. He has filled in on that beat before. George, Holly, Steve, or even Patrick could handle the other two days.
Good thought about Zahn. The ultimate multitasker. Hussion
Deleteno. Steve maybe, making it live desk, sorta.
Should BTW mention as well unrelated but something else in relation to KIRO - Linda Cohn, who worked there in the 1990's as a sports reporter before moving on to have a legendary career at ESPN, today announced her retirement from that network effective June 30. If I am KIRO's new ND, I'd be reaching out to her to see if she'd be willing to come in and help get that sports department back off the ground in a sort of "emeritus" role. Thoughts Wayne?
ReplyDeleteYes, just saw that posted. It would be a great move but she would need a dedicated producer for sure. The new boss is in a honeymoon period and may not know Linda is an alum. Maybe work Sunday-Thursday?
ReplyDeleteHmmmm
Cohn would bring serious knowledge and credibility to a relaunched KIRO sports department. But does she want to leave Los Angeles, where she is currently based? If I were KIRO management, I would certainly reach out and see for due dilliegence. But I wouldn't be placing all of my hopes on Cohn either.
DeleteThe morning ARC is only an hour and has been for some time. It’s on 7-8 am live. Repeats later. 10-11 pm is also live.
ReplyDeleteThis was not the move that I was expecting! Color me shocked!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, traffic is really unnecessary in 2026 on tv news. Apps have made it easy to check your phone and see where the back ups are located. Having a whole anchor position dedicated to telling you what route to take before you leave in the morning is very 1990s.
ReplyDeleteIt will last a while longer for those who don't want to make the effort to use their phones
DeleteYou make a valid point. Google Maps, WSDOT, and other apps make it easy to check the traffic anytime, anywhere. Television traffic reports aren't as necessary as they used to be, though I do believe that they can help draw attention to major accidents, lane closures, and other high impact events and offer information that not all traffic apps can offer, such as how long it might take for the incident to clear, whether or not lanes are blocked, details on the severity of a given accident, and so forth.
DeleteI have always wondered why they covered traffic in the morning but could care less about your car trip home.
DeleteI have always wondered why they cover the morning traffic so well but could care less about whether we can get home without major traffic problems.
DeleteWith streaming available a station could easily do afternoon traffic for drivers to hear in the car. The old reasoning for no afternoon traffic was that only people at home could see the TV, not drivers.
DeleteTara needs to learn how to "enterprise" her own stories instead of inserting herself when her colleagues pretty much did the legwork. Even her Instagram stories offer no context and not even a "tease" (if you know your TV news vocabulary). On top of that, her writing and diction is not what I expect for someone that is in Market 13 and a university professor.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that she is helping to teach future generations of journalists makes it all the more important that she regularly demonstrate that she has the skills needed to the job. Moving from KOMO to KIRO might actually help her in this regard since KIRO doesn't do anything like ARC. She'll be spending more of her time on hard news.
DeleteI worked at KGET here in Bakersfield and on one of my "rare" days off, found myself watching Tyrah anchor the morning newscast over at our "competitor" station KBAK. The less I can say, the better, but Tyrah is not cut out for hard news or TV news in general. She looks too Hollywood. She glamorizes or inserts herself to every story the reporters did without as much as offering any context. During a breaking news cut in, I don't think she was prepared and it was like she needed the floor director to cue her in. I know in smaller markets you can be easily forgiven for your mistakes, but my hot take is that Tyrah is more of an influencer looking for a platform to elevate her status. She can be a Tyra Banks wannabe but as a broadcast journalist she is not.
DeleteCould not agree more.
ReplyDeleteYou're spot on about her M.O., has been previously documeneted on my previous posts. She's a brand builder and out of her league doing any real reporting. Talks fast, says little and smiles a lot. KOMO folks seem to love her, I suppose for his personality. Just guessing, but I would expect KIRO to give her multiple morning segments on entertainment, pop culture and other soft stuff, and maybe a larger role on the 11 a.m. newscast they air before the soap opera. Co-anchor at 11?
ReplyDeleteLaunching segments on pop culture, entertainment, and other lighter topics would be a big change for KIRO, and for their parent company as a whole. Cox owned stations rarely do those types of segments. It will be interesting to see if KIRO goes down this path.
DeleteI don't know the role that Tyrah will have at KIRO, but it is hardly likely that it is going to move the needle. They said she is going to be involved on the morning show, so unless they are cutting back on DeeDee or Linzi's hours to only that of the early morning 430a-7a and have Tyrah flying solo on the 11a, time will tell. Long shot probability is that KIRO guts the 11a newscast entirely and inserts a talk/lifestyle/entertainment program hosted by Tyrah to compete with Kelly and "New Day" on KING. Tyrah's not cut out for any general assignment reporting or any news-related role, so KIRO will be playing to her strengths since all the other "in studio" or desk roles are filled.
ReplyDeleteWell, we know Studio 13 Live Fox goes away in the fall, KIRO might see that as a chance to jump more in to 'lifestyle' at 11 withTyrah boosting the female demos and keep them away from New Day swallowing them up. I'll be watching next week for sure.
DeleteI can't help but wonder if there is another shoe to drop here. Could someone be leaving the KIRO morning show in order to make room for Tyrah? In addition to their morning and midday anchor duties, DeeDee and Linzi both contribute to KIRO's current investigative reporting franchise. Could one of them be reassigned to investigative reporting full time?
DeleteIf you look at it, Linzi is more of the "face" of their so-called investigative unit, more than any other anchor or reporter there. The only problem is that their stories are not as hard-hitting pieces that KING and more or less have already been covered by the other stations. However that may be, no one really stands out in the mix and as much as their sports department is pretty much crickets, their investigative unit tumbled after they axed Jesse Jones. As for Tyrah's role, it will be an on-air position, but my money says its not going to be a news role.
ReplyDeleteLinzi is a strong investigative reporter! If given the chance, I reckon she would produce pieces that would rival those produced by KING.
DeleteAbout time-can start watching KOMO again
ReplyDelete