Philly TV: Brian Taff To Succeed Jim Gardner On 6PM Cast

Action News veteran Brian Taff has been selected to succeed retiring legend Jim Gardner in anchoring 6ABC’s 6 p.m. newscast, reports the Philly Business Journal.

Gardner, 74, will anchor his last broadcast on Dec. 21. 6ABC and Action News have had the top-rated newscast for the entirety of his 45 years in the anchor chair.

Taff has been with the station for 13 years and currently co-anchors the noon and 4 p.m. editions of Action News.

A 6ABC (WPVI-TV) spokesman confirmed that Taff will continue his duties at 4 p.m. while also taking on 6 p.m.

Rick Williams, who replaced Gardner as the 11 p.m. anchor earlier this year when Gardner announced he wanted to scale back his hours in the year leading to his retirement, will remain in that role and also continue as co-anchor at 5 p.m. The station said it will find a replacement for Taff at noon. Gray Hall replaced Williams in co-anchoring the 10 p.m. newscast.

6ABC President and General Manager Bernie Prazenica said in a statement that Taff “has displayed the knowledge, skill and talent that the Delaware Valley expects from Action News. Now, with Brian and Rick Williams in place, we can continue to serve our viewers for many years to come.”

Jim Gardner

During his time at Action News, Taff traveled to Florida and Alabama to cover the BP oil spill, went to Rome to cover the election of a new Pope and interviewed former President Barack Obama at the White House.

Prior to his time at Action News, he served as an anchor and editor of Capital Tonight, a nightly news and interview show seen all across upstate New York. Created as a weekly show in Albany, it morphed into a daily show that was syndicated to nine of 10 television markets in New York state. He began his career in broadcast journalism at WVII-TV in Bangor, Maine. Taff, 43, is a graduate of Boston College.

Gardner announced in November 2021 that he planned to retire from the station at the end of 2022, after a year of working only at 6 p.m. He joined the station in 1976 and has been the primary anchor on Action News at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. since May 11, 1977, replacing Larry Kane, who left for a stint in New York. Action News has topped the ratings for virtually his entire tenure, making Gardner one of the most successful and enduring local news anchors in the country.