Patch Presents NYC Area News on WPIX-TV

If you tuned in to WPIX-TV, Channel 11, for the 5 p.m. news broadcast this past week, you found a familiar Darien face on your screen—Cecelia Smith, former Darien Patch editor, has started presenting television viewers with news from Patch.

Smith is featured in a segment that takes Patch stories from the New York City area to present a summarized report each weekday on WPIX. 

The “Patch on PIX” segments started this week on PIX11 News at Five. Eventually, they're expected to expand to the PIX11 Morning News. The feature is shot daily at the New York headquarters of Patch, which is owned by AOL.

"In our continuing goal to better serve our local communities, PIX11's partnership with Patch will deliver valuable content to our viewers, creating a richer and deeper news experience," said Bill Carey, PIX11 news director, said in a statement Friday in which the partnership was announced. Started in 1948, WPIX-TV is owned by Tribune Broadcasting, a division of the Tribune Company.

The partnership goes beyond the daily segment: "PIX11 and Patch news teams will also have access to each other’s content during breaking news situations, in order to bring their respective audiences the most up-to-date details on developing stories," according to the statement.

The segments are also expected to be added to WPIX's Morning News, along with some of Patch's top headlines in that show's news ticker.

Smith's role at Patch has changed more than once: She's gone from becoming Darien Patch's first local editor in July 2009 to working as regional video editor for southern Fairfield County and now as multimedia producer for Patch's East zone, where she develops and implements video strategies.

Smith said she's enjoyed presenting the segment, which, according to the Patch announcement, seeks "to highlight the most popular news and compelling stories from Patch sites in Westchester, Long Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey."