9News again will have a "Stormy" weather connection beginning June 4.

The Gannett-owned station has hired meteorologist Becky Ditchfield, currently a weather reporter at KTHV in Little Rock, Ark. as Nick O'Kelly's replacement in the station's weekday morning news block.

In the '70s, 9News' main weatherman was the late Leon (Stormy) Rottman, a congenial talent who earned his forecasting stripes in the military.

According to a Web site, Ditchfield is very close to her cat, named Stormy.

A native of St. Louis, Ditchfield graduated from Valparaiso University with a bachelor of science degree in meteorology.

She joined KTHV, a CBS affiliate also owned by Gannett, in July 2004 after working for a station in Hastings, Neb.

According to several sources, O'Kelly, who left in February to enter private business, was unhappy with the increased workload during the morning shift.

9News airs a two-hour local newscast 5 to 7 a.m. and then shifts to KTVD-Channel 20 for an additional two hours of local news, weather and sports, using the same broadcast team.

News notes

Katie Couric can't win.

Her anchoring style on the CBS Evening News has been roundly criticized for being too soft.

There's not enough authority in her delivery, critics say.

Now she's being pounded by some for being "too harsh" during her Sunday 60 Minutes interview with presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, who has cancer.

The interview centered on their decision that Edwards will remain in the Democratic race for president despite his wife's illness.

Several critics complain that Couric was insensitive regarding the health of Mrs. Edwards, particularly since cancer claimed the lives of Couric's husband, Jay Monahan, and her sister, Emily, in recent years.

Others however, believe Couric was asking pertinent questions that had not been asked last week when the Edwards held their positive press conference (below).

I viewed only part of the interview.

My response: Couric's questions were legitimate - the type many potential voters have on their minds.

Was part of Couric' somewhat unexpected toughness a planned response to her critics who have complained about her recent soft demeanor?

Only Couric knows the answer.

• David Muir is the new Saturday anchor on ABC World News, the first to have the job full time since Bob Woodruff left in 2005 to assume the co-anchor job on the weeknight ABC World News.

Muir also will be co-host of ABC's Prime Time.

Dusty's picks for tonight

What do Erica Jong, Rob Reiner and Oliver Stone have in common?

Considered baby-boomers, they're part of The Boomer Century: 1946-2046, a two-hour PBS special (8 p.m., Rocky Mountain PBS-Channel 6). Viewers who consider themselves baby boomers can find out if they agree with the perceptions of those on the show.

• Were you a fan of Everybody Loves Raymond?

The final seasonal installment of Sit Down Comedy With David Steinberg (8 p.m. TV Land) features Ray Romano talking about how the show was created and how it survived early low audience ratings.

The channel swim

The Sci-Fi Channel is behaving more like a network operation.

Following the end of the third season of Battlestar Galactica on Sunday the cable channel announced the series would return early in 2008 with 22 episodes rather than 13, the number most cable series have during a season's run. The networks have long been producing 22 seasonal episodes of established series.

• While it's not official, don't look for ABC to renew Six Degrees, which got a chilly reception from viewers when returning Friday night. The drama, about intersecting lives of New Yorkers, finished in sixth place in the national network race, behind even The CW and Univision.

• Also a loser in the audience race is NBC's Sunday night reality-talent series, Grease: You're the One I Want. The series, looking for talent for a revival of Grease on Broadway, started strongly but faded weekly. By the time Sunday's finale aired, Grease had lost 58 percent of the audience it had during the January premiere.

Today's nostalgia

• The 10 most-watched network TV series in March, 1982:

1 Dallas (CBS)

2 60 Minutes (CBS)

3 The Jeffersons (CBS)

4 Three's Company (ABC)

5 Alice (CBS)

6 The Dukes of Hazzard (CBS)

7 Too Close for Comfort (ABC)

8 M*A*S*H (CBS)

9 One Day at a Time (CBS)

10 Archie Bunker's Place (CBS)

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