Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
WLOSers on Sunday told us that somebody vandalized Enka Middle School and a dude wrecked his truck on Hendersonville Road, but the best part of the show was the Jenny “Gettin’ it Dunn” Dunn goodbye. Ashvegas told told you last month that Dunn was leaving. The synchronized swimmer-turned-television sports reader will be working for the ABC affiliate in Orlando.
Jenny got a little misty-eyed as Russ “Beefcake” Bowen got all touchy feely on the 6. Then, at the end of the 11, Russ practically held Jenny’s hand as he said goodbye and wished her luck. Julie Blunder noted that she’s worked with Jenny for three years and managed to declare Jenny “my favorite co-worker of all time.” O, isn’t that sweet?
(Russ also noted that Monday is the last day for longtime WLOS director Jack somebody. Russ said WLOS and Jack are synonymous, that he’s worked for the station 40-some years. We’ll see what they do with his goodbye on Monday.)
Russ said Jenny started bringing us sports reports 10 years ago. But he ignored the fact that this is the second time we’ve said goodbye to Jenny, so we’re not sure why he was getting all worked up. Jenny left a few years ago for Raleigh – rumor had it that she was chasing love – but came back.
So at the 11, they had a nice little video montage of Jenny’s greatest hits – her snuggling wombats and swimming and with a horrid hair cut. It was all shown to Madonna’s “Ray of Light” and some Spice Girls tune, badly edited together and both of which we’re sure Russ must have chosen. Jenny, if those are you’re favorite songs, we’re sorry.
We’ve always liked Jenny. She looked good on camera. She did the news straight up. She had fun, and appeared genuine, in her “Gettin’ it Dunn” reports. What more can we ask of a news reader?
Jenny said her last day is Wednesday. Bye Jenny Dee!
So I guess Jenny and Tammy Watford aren’t married after all. So much for that twisted fantasy.
Which brings up one of my pet peeves: "That’s it for now; six is next." Hydeck did it, not Old Glory carries on the tradition. Just because you refer to it as "the six" (or "the 530" or "the eleven" or "the noon" or whatever), doesn’t mean your audience does. And especially if they’re filling out the ol’ Neilsen book, you need to give them the real name of your program. But even "the six o’clock news is next" would be better than "six is next." Say it like you have some pride in what you do, people. It’s supposed to be THE NEWS. If it’s just "six," I’ll go find a Law and Order rerun somewhere, thanks.
I can see why Julie "Blunder" will miss Jenny, they wore the exact same colors every weekend. I’ve always wondered about those two anyway. Reguardless, WLOS is losing a pretty good sportscaster, that Larry Hawley just plain reeks of something. When you have a sports anchor beginning the show by saying…"Hello, I’m Larry Hawley and this is sports." you know something is not right.