CONFIRMED: Abati To Weekends At 5

UPDATE 1/13/10: We can confirm that WLWT will, indeed, retain the services of John Bateman to do weekend evenings. We didn't think WLWT wanted to have Abati work what would basically be a 43 hour shift...

We've finally been able to confirm, partially, the last piece of the Power of 5 puzzle.

As our readers are aware, Kevin Robinson starts today at WLWT-TV 5/Cincinnati. He's training on Channel 5's technology, and we'd heard he'll start no later than the end of this week.

We now know what happens to Valerie Abati, who will end her evening work when Robinson debuts.

It was announced today that Abati will make the move to do weekend mornings (a slot Eric Green actually did this past weekend, in most likely his final appearances for Channel 5 - we noted his departure Friday). That begins this weekend. (The first link above also confirms what we'd heard.)

What this means for weekend evenings isn't clear. We wonder if WLWT will retain John Bateman to do those shifts, but would assume so for now.

We also know that Randi Rico will indeed stay in mornings, doing "News 5 Today" weekday newscasts.

So, except for weekend evenings, Channel 5's weather rotation is basically filled in. We'll find out about that last piece of things this week sometime...