What Is Up With Philly News Anchors?

Something must be in the air. A little over a month ago, we learned that CBS3 news anchor Larry Mendte was being investigated by the FBI for allegedly snooping on his co-anchor Alycia Lane (herself no stranger to scandal). Today, the Inquirer reports that NBC10 is conducting an internal investigation into a kerfuffle between two of its anchors, Vince DeMentri and Lori Delgado.

What is going on here? Do the members of every current and former male-female news duo in Philadelphia TV hate each other? I enjoy a good Tom Tucker-Diane Simmons dynamic (see above for one of their more friendly on-air exchanges) as much as anyone, but I don't really think it's good for our local media. On the other hand, maybe if all these news anchors were actually allowed to vent their mutual disrespect on the air, they wouldn't be keying each other's cars or breaking into their private e-mail accounts.

Also, since I'm wearing my Providence t-shirt today, I must share a former Rhode Islander's perspective on the aforementioned fictional news anchors from Family Guy. Though Wikipedia disagrees, I think that Tom Tucker and Diane Simmons are based on Gene Valicenti and Patrice Wood of Providence's WJAR. Pretty similar, right? Slap a moustache on Gene and he fits the bill. And trust me, as with Tom Tucker and Diane Simmons, there is an occasional hint of mutual contempt when Gene and Patrice are on the air together.