Khorrami’s out as Channel 8 anchor
Shauna Khorrami’s eight-month, eyebrow-raising anchor run at KLAS-TV, Channel 8, is over.
The morning show co-host left the CBS affiliate in tears on Monday after getting the news.
Emily Neilson, president and general manager of KLAS, confirmed Khorrami’s departure but said there would be no further comment, citing the station’s personnel policy.
Khorrami previously worked at KTLA in Los Angeles and KSTU-TV in Salt Lake City .
Khorrami and Cale Ramaker were announced as co-hosts of the morning show last June on the same day the station dismissed popular morning co-anchor Dayna Roselli.
After sending the new anchors to $1,000-a-day anchor school for a week, KLAS management moved quickly and aggressively to promote them in hopes of boosting the lagging AM ratings.
What followed was one of the most expensive promotional campaigns undertaken by a local TV station.
Sources said the push may have topped $1 million without a substantial move in ratings.
Meantime, Khorrami’s work habits were causing consternation in the newsroom, according to sources.
On occasion, she was known to show up shortly before the show started at 4 a.m. She tested the producers’ patience, one source said, when, “during breaking news, she would be singing show tunes at her desk.”
The breaking point may have happened on Super Bowl Sunday.
The plan was to expose Khorrami and Ramaker to more viewers by having them anchor the evening news coming after the Super Bowl, a major revenue generator for the host network and affiliate stations.
Sources said a few hours before the news broadcast Khorrami texted management, saying she was sick.
Management had her take the next week off, according to sources.
“That definitely did not bode well,” a source said.
CELINE VIDEO
Celine Dion shot a music video Monday in Las Vegas for her million-selling French album .
The video was shot on the same sound stage used by Michael Jackson for a video a decade ago.
Sales were so strong for “Sans Attendre” (Without Waiting) after it came out in November that Sony and Dion’s inner circle changed course for the English album, “Water and Flame,” which was to come out this month.
Instead, it will be released in October with all but two tracks featuring original songs, rather than six songs planned from her show at Caesars Palace.
The two songs from her show will be a cover of Janice Ian’s “At Seventeen ” and her “Overjoyed” duet with Stevie Wonder, with a new arrangement created by Wonder and produced by Tricky Stewart.
THE SCENE AND HEARD
Retired baseball slugger Frank Thomas debuts his Big Hurt Beer from 6 to 8 tonight at the Meatball Spot in Town Square .
SIGHTINGS
At STK (Cosmopolitan) on Monday for the second-anniversary party: pop star Taylor Dayne , artist Peter Lik, Lorena Peril and the cast of “Fantasy,” Chris Phillips from Zowie Bowie, magician Murray Sawchuck and his wife and assistant, Chloe Crawford, Doug “Lefty” Leferovich, comedian Jeff Civillico, actress Jaimyse Haft and acrobatic magician Seth Grabel.
THE PUNCH LINE
“After he dumped Cleopatra, there were rumors that Julius Caesar fathered an illegitimate child by a housemaid. But those rumors turned out to be false. It was actually Caesar’s cousin, Julius Schwarzenegger.” — Craig Ferguson
Norm Clarke’s column appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 702-383-0244 or email him at norm@reviewjournal.com. Find more online at www.normclarke.com. Follow Norm on Twitter @Norm_Clarke. “Norm Clarke’s Vegas,” airs Thursdays on the “Morning Blend” on KTNV-TV, Channel 13.
