WGN's Larry Potash and Pat Tomasulo vying to co-host 'Live' with Kelly Ripa


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Posted by chicagomedia.org on July 29, 2009 at 10:57:07:

WGN's Larry Potash and Pat Tomasulo vying to co-host 'Live' with Kelly Ripa

WGN-Ch. 9's Larry Potash and Pat Tomasulo are among 10 male broadcasters vying for five slots co-hosting "Live With Regis and Kelly" with Kelly Ripa as part of a "From Local to 'Live' Co-Host for a Day" contest, while 10 women compete for a similar one-day shot opposite Regis Philbin.

Viewers are invited to log onto the show's Web site (or click on the image below) to vote for the five men and five women who will travel to New York. The voting ends at 9 p.m. Tuesday, with the winners announced on Wednesday's show, which airs at 9 a.m. in Chicago on Chicago Tribune-parent Tribune Co.'s Channel 9.

The men will co-host the week of Aug. 3. The women will get their shot the week of Aug. 17.

The finalists, all full-time staffers at outlets that carry "Live," were selected by producers from among several hundred nominated by viewers. One name that might seem vaguely familiar on the list of candidates below is the candidate from Kalamazoo, Mich.

Jeff Varner was a contestant on the "Survivor: The Australian Outback" alongside Elisabeth Hasselbeck, current co-host of "The View." A former entertainment reporter for KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, then E! Entertainment Television, then the TV Guide Channel, he now anchors in Kalamazoo's WWMT.

If Potash and/or Tomasulo do make the cut, they might want to seek advice from WFLD-Ch. 32 5 a.m. anchor Kori Chambers. As a 19-year-old student at Syracuse University in 2001, Chambers won a contest to fill in one morning for Ripa as Philbin's co-host on "Live."

"I'm not nervous," Chambers told Philbin, The Post-Standard of Syracuse, N.Y., reported at the time. "But I am a little worried because I'm also filling in for Kelly's character, Hayley, on 'All My Children.'"

"Boom! Kori comes in!" Philbin reportedly said. "That's a funny line."

"Live" is syndicated by Disney-ABC Domestic Television. Michael Gelman, who grew up in north suburban Highland Park, is executive producer.

The finalists:
Louis Aguirre – WSVN – Miami - Anchor
Charley Belcher – WTVT – Tampa - Reporter
Wendy Bell – WTAE – Pittsburgh - Anchor
Tom Brown – CTV – Ontario, Canada – Weather Anchor
Shaun Broyls – KCTV – Kansas City, Mo. – Reporter/Anchor
Lucy Bustamante – WWL – New Orleans - Anchor
Jason Colthorp – WILX – Lansing, Mich. - Anchor
Kimberly Gill – WEWS – Cleveland - Anchor
Fiona Gorostiza – KDFW – Dallas – Weather Forecaster
Pete Kenworthy – WEWS – Cleveland - Anchor
Tram Mai – KPNX – Phoenix - Anchor
Lynn Martinez – WSVN – Miami - Anchor
Chris Parente – KWGN – Denver - Reporter
Larry Potash – WGN – Chicago – Reporter/Anchor
Tisha Powell – WTVD – Raleigh/Durham, NC - Anchor
Sandra Shaw – WBAL – Baltimore - Weather Forecaster
Tamara Taggart – CTV – Ontario, Canada – Weathercaster
Pat Tomasulo – WGN – Chicago - Sportscaster
Jeff Varner – WWMT – Kalamazoo, Mich. - Anchor
Janelle Wang – KGO – San Francisco – Host



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