Look who’s rising on Chicago TV’s dawn patrol

Stefan Holt and Daniella Guzman

It only took a year for Stefan Holt and Daniella Guzman to close the gap in Chicago’s early morning news race.

Anchored since last March by Holt and Guzman, NBC 5 News Today at 4:30 and 5:30am finished first among adults between 25 and 54 — the group most coveted by advertisers — in the just-completed February sweeps.

WGN Morning News leads from 6am on among adults in the 25-to-54 demo, according to Nielsen numbers.

Holt, the Chicago-born son of NBC News anchor Lester Holt, has been a rising star since he joined NBC 5 as a reporter and weekend morning news anchor from WPBF-TV in West Palm Beach, Florida, in June 2011. Guzman signed on last March from KPRC-TV in Houston.

Their rise coincided with declines of as much as 35 percent since last year for ABC 7. Hosea Sanders, who has anchored mornings at the station since 1994, was joined by co-anchor Judy Hsu in 2001. ABC 7 bosses said Wednesday they are not considering any changes to talent in their morning news lineup.

ABC 7 continues to lead in overall households in all local news time periods, and widened its margin in February at 4, 5, 6 and 10pm.