HARTFORD, April 15, 2009 –On Monday, Connecticut viewers will wake up to some exciting changes on the Fox 61 Morning News. Joy Lim Nakrin will stay with viewers an hour longer as her anchor duties expand from a half hour at 4:30 a.m. to include the 5 a.m. – 6 a.m. hour in which she will co-anchor with Logan Byrnes. Weekend Anchor Sarah French will make the move to weekdays and join the morning team as a co-anchor with Logan from 6 a.m. – 8 a.m. Sarah will also anchor the 8 a.m. – 9 a.m. hour with Byrnes and Rachel Lutzker.

“Joy and Sarah established a real connection with Connecticut viewers from day one,” said Richard Graziano, General Manager of Fox 61 and Publisher of the Hartford Courant. “They will bring a new energy and perspective to the morning news. I look forward to both of them playing major roles in the continued growth and success of Fox 61.”

Lim Nakrin came to Fox 61 to anchor and produce the 4:30 a.m. – 5 a.m. segment during The Fox 61 Morning News expansion in August 2008. She relocated to Connecticut from Singapore where she was an anchor for ESPN-STAR Sports broadcasting to 25 Asian countries.
French joined the Fox 61 news team in October 2008. Before joining Fox 61, she worked for the Olympic News Service in Beijing, China. Prior to that position, she was an anchor/reporter at KOMU-TV in Columbia, Missouri.
Fox 61′s commitment to starting local and staying local continues with live coverage of Connecticut stories starting at 4:30 a.m. as the first newscast on and ending the day as the last off. On Sunday, April 19 watch Fox 61 for live coverage of the UCONN Parade beginning at 3 p.m.

In addition, tune in to the Fox 61 Morning News to see one lucky couple win a complete wedding and honeymoon package. The selected couple will get married live during the morning news at The Society Room of Hartford on May 18. The Hartford Courant and Fox 61 will highlight the couple, the dress, the honeymoon and more – all so the public can log on and vote for their favorites. Also on the morning news this spring, watch every Friday for the return of “Zip Trips” as we broadcast live from towns across the state. The first “Zip Trip” of 2009 will be from West Hartford on April 24.

Fox 61 Morning News is the fastest growing morning news in Connecticut. Fox 61 News at Ten is a consistently leads the market and Fox 61 News at Eleven is growing month to month. This year Fox 61 was nominated for twenty-three Emmy Awards, more than any other news organization in Connecticut.

The winning Student News teams will be awarded scholarships in the High School Division and video production equipment grants in the Middle School Division.