Meet the News Team

August 13, 2008

Emily Frances is the Emmy Award winning Entertainment Anchor for "The CW11 Morning News," the weekday news program seen on Tribune Broadcasting's CW Television Network Affiliate, WPIX Channel 11 (The CW11).

Growing up in California, Emily Frances always wanted to be a news reporter and had a strong passion for travel. In her teens, Emily interned in the news department of KABC-TV in Los Angeles and while in high school, Emily, who is fluent in Spanish and French, lived in Ecuador and France as part of a foreign exchange program. She spent her junior year of college abroad in Spain, and while living in Madrid, Emily worked at the local television station Canal Plus, combining her interest in travel, with her enthusiasm for journalism.

After graduating Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Communications and a minor in Marketing from the Wharton School of Business, Emily joined the staff at CNN in Atlanta, GA as a production assistant. While at CNN, she also covered the Republican National Convention and did Spanish translations for its International Assignment Desk.

Emily spent almost 2 years at CNN before moving back to Los Angeles to join Univision's KMEX-TV, a Spanish-language TV station, an assignment editor and producer. At age 23, Emily won an Associated Press Award for producing a 5-part series on immigration and the Mexican border for KMEX-TV. Emily was also nominated for an Emmy Award for this series. After leaving Univision, Emily joined "Extra -The Entertainment Magazine" as a producer, where she helped to launch the syndicated program. The following year she joined "A Current Affair," a syndicated news magazine, where she produced feature stories and a daily entertainment news segment for Anchor Nancy O'Dell.

At this point, Emily had applied to business school and was accepted to Columbia University's MBA program, but decided to defer her admission to pursue her dream of obtaining a position in front of the camera. Emily then landed a job at KVBC-TV the NBC station in Las Vegas, where she was hired as an on-air reporter. While at KVBC, Emily Knew she was hooked when she did her first breaking news report covering the Las Vegas shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur.

Later that year she relocated to Tucson, Arizona, as a lead reporter at KOLD-TV the CBS station, where she continued her Spanish skills, covering Border Stories in Nogales, Mexico. In 1999, Emily moved across the country to New York, the number one market, to join WCBS-TV Channel 2.

Frances left WCBS-TV in 2001 to join the CW11 Morning News as a reporter, and by 2002, Emily was named the Entertainment Anchor for the CW11 Morning News. Emily can be seen each weekday morning anchoring 6 -10 entertainment segments including live on-set interviews with celebrities and musicians, red carpet premieres, junket interviews, and live feature segments. Each February, she can also be seen hosting a national, live 2-hour Oscar red carpet show, "Live From the Academy Awards" which won a Telly Award in 2004. She also hosted the two-hour "Visual Effects Society Awards."

In 2004 Emily won an Emmy Award for Best On-Camera Achievement: Entertainment Reporting. That same year, Emily was also nominated for an Emmy Award for Entertainment Producing and Hosting. In 2005, the "The CW11 Morning News" team was awarded and Emmy Award for Best Morning News Program.

In addition to her on-air reporting, Emily has experience in feature films and television. She has starred as a Reporter opposite Ralph Fiennes and Jennifer Lopez in "Maid in Manhattan." She also played a Reporter in the movies "Searching for Bobby D" and "The Narrow Gate." In addition, she has played herself on "All My Children" and on "Maury".

Emily is an expert skier and an avid scuba diver and tennis player. She regularly plays in softball leagues around the city and also loves running, completing her first marathon in 1996.

Passionate about charity, Emily regularly works with the City of Hope Cancer Research Center to raise awareness and funds for the prevention and cure of cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

LIST OF AWARDS:

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS)
Emmy Awards
2005: Best Morning News Program "The CW11 Morning News"
2004: Best On-Camera Achievement: Entertainment Reporting  

TELLY AWARDS
2004 Telly Award-"Live from the Academy Awards"

Los Angeles Associated Press Broadcasters Award
1994 Best Investigative Mini Documentary (KMEX-TV)