WTHR moves anchor Kopp as part of broader strategy

Bruce Kopp, an anchor on WTHR-TV Channel 13’s Eyewitness News Sunrise for more than 25 years, has been re-assigned.

“Bruce has been asked to help us out with our weekend morning shows, as well as report during the week in the evenings,” WTHR President and General Manager Larry Delia told IBJ. For the past several weeks, Kopp—who has been employed by the station for more than 30 years—has been serving as WTHR’s weekend anchor.

Bruce Kopp

The move “is part of a broader strategic plan,” said Delia, who declined to divulge details. Delia did not specifically say why Kopp, who also anchored Eyewitness News at Noon from 1990 to 2005, had been reassigned.

Kopp couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

WTHR is locked in a fierce ratings battle in the morning with WXIN-TV Channel 59, and local media experts think the change might be part of an effort by WTHR to go after WXIN’s younger audience.

For the last decade, WTHR has been the local television news ratings leader—including in the morning. But, in more recent years, WXIN has moved in front of WTHR in several TV news time slots.

WTHR weekend anchor Naomi Pescovitz, who joined the station in 2014, has replaced Kopp alongside Julia Moffitt on the Sunrise anchor desk, but Delia indicated that Pescovitz's move is a temporary one.

Delia said he’s interviewing outside candidates for Kopp’s permanent replacement and hopes to name a new morning co-anchor “soon.”

Moffitt, who joined WTHR in 1999, will remain on the station’s morning newscast, Delia said, calling her “an integral part of our team.”