My flimsy excuse to post photos of sultry SoCal news babes. As if I need a steenkin' excuse. . .

Sexy news babes, and it ain't even Univision: Lauren Sanchez and Maria Quiban of KCOP13 in Los Angeles.

Amid the clamor of the Presidential primary season, let's raise the level of discourse here on UTW: And what better way to pander to my audience than to mention News Babes. Actually, I didn't mention them. My photographic hero Dave Styffe did on his great new blog, The Unauthorized Observer. Last week he wrote on the storms in California, and his mention of the tight sweater of CBS2 weathercaster Jackie Johnson reminded me of some screen captures I made a couple years ago that illustrate just how different the TV news biz is in SoCal than it is here in Texas, where 40-ish Karen Borta has long held my interest on the 10pm news. But what do I know? She's in 30th place in the coveted voting for most babe-o-liscious Dallas news babe on the website wanderlist. Beats me why, but Macie Jeppson is in first place.

I guess Dallas viewers go for the MILF. That clearly ain't the case in LA, where I'd guess the proximity of the entertainment industry has created a sort of uber synthesis of hard-hitting newswomen and short-skirts. Well, short skirts, anyway. I was amazed--positively amazed--on a trip to LA a few years ago to see what passes for TV news, especially on the "lesser" networks like UPN and its affiliate KCOP13, which is light on traditional news and big on entertainment news, fast cuts between cameras, and techno music--part of its "news with attitude." Media blogger Brian Lowry wrote that "about the only thing that separates KCOP's rollicking news-lite-cast from a frat party is the absence of a keg." He wrote in 2004 that .

"L.A. possesses a well-deserved reputation for shallowness, but this is hardly a mere product of proximity to Hollywood. When the Daily News ran a "sexiest newscasters" poll last summer, the paper generated a vast response—mostly of the men-in-prison variety—and found no shortage of nominees."


Lauren Sanchez, sans cleavage, which isn't very often.

Macie Jeppson: The hottest DF-W news babe? So say the voters.

Consider the anchorwomen on the 11pm broadcast, Lauren Sanchez and Maria Quiban. Sanchez, who's news-gathering chops have included hosting FOX's "So You Think You Can Dance," as described by Daniel Cooper on his website Mediola:

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"(Sanchez) often appears in miniskirts, boots and revealing blouses, delivering stories at a hyper pace underscored by techno music. . . .the 11 p.m. UPN newscast has increased in ratings among the key 18-to-49 demographic group since last year, when Sanchez posed for a 10-page layout in Open Your Eyes (OYE), a magazine catering to Latino males. "America's Hottest News Anchor!" declared the article, which featured Sanchez in low-cut or tight-fitting blouses and dresses. "Newscasters just aren't supposed to be this hot," read an introduction to the layout. "It's downright distracting. How's a man supposed to pay attention to what's going on in the world when the news anchor looks like she belongs on the Big Screen or — better yet — the Victoria's Secret catalog."

Sanchez, a little Googling will reveal, was once a finalist for a job on "The View" and married a big fancy Hollywood agent in 2005 in a $2 million wedding. And not just content BEING an anchorwoman on a real newscast, she's had a good side career playing anchorwomen in big-budget movies as well.

I'm sure Maria Quiban's position directly above the eye of that hurricane was an unintentional accident. . .

The filipino weather-babe, Quiban, used to host a "food and fun" show targeted at the Gen X generation (*see post below!), and fans are so devoted they've created a Yahoo!group in her honor. She just completed an on-line meterology degree from Mississipi State University, which, among meterologists, is certainly not a sheepskin to hang on the wall anywhere near a met degree from Oklahoma University.

Well, I guess that shouldn't be a slam on her. Insufferable long-time WFAA weatherman Troy Dungan didn't have a meterology degree at all, and he was certainly considered to be authoritative when he read the forecasts ripped off the National Weather Service teletypes. Must've been his trademark bowtie. Which, I understand, some women find extremely sexy.

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Troy Dungan, who played a weatherman on television. . .