Inqlings: With Oprah gone, a call to 'Action'

Oprah Winfrey

is a tough act to follow after a quarter-century, and 6ABC has chosen to fill her top-rated time slot in September with an early edition of

Action News

.

Not only that, but the station also is planning to install an anchor threesome - Brian Taff, Shirleen Allicot, and Alicia Vitarelli - on the 4 p.m. newscast when Winfrey steps aside from her syndicated talk show. Weathercaster Adam Joseph also will be part of the show.

By naming the team more than seven months out, 6ABC seems eager to grant additional exposure to its newer faces. Taff started in October 2009, Allicot in May, and Vitarelli in October. The station is advertising in the trades for a reporter/anchor for an unidentified post.

News is also an economical approach to programming, as the station already has the staff and can collect ad revenue.

Monica Malpass and Rick Williams will remain at 5 p.m.

Oprah's departure for her OWN network will be only one of the changes in the daytime lineup after Labor Day. Because of a syndication deal, Fox29 wrests Dr. Oz from CBS3. Fox29 plans to air it at 4 p.m. CBS3 then will have a hole at 9 a.m. The station has not announced a time slot for Anderson Cooper's forthcoming talk show.

The indie-music scene in Philly should get a huge lift this fall from Union Transfer, a venue whose backers include New York-based The Bowery Presents, Philly's R5 Productions, and Four Corners Management's

Avram Hornik

and

Mark Fichera

. Union Transfer will occupy the recently shuttered Spaghetti Warehouse eatery at 1026 Spring Garden St., a cavernous space just moments from Center City. The partnership mixes a Philly indie-music star - R5's

Sean Agnew

, who has bootstrapped his business over the last decade - with Four Corners (which operates bars such as Drinker's, Lucy's Hat Shop, and Noche), and The Bowery Presents, a national-reaching operation that books into such NYC venues as the Bowery Ballroom, the Music Hall of Williamsburg, and the Mercury Lounge. Union Transfer, by the way, was the name of the building decades ago when it handled baggage for rail passengers.

When he's not traversing Antarctica or Death Valley on one of his iron-man solo journeys,

Todd Carmichael

roasts and sells coffee at Philly-based La Colombe. This month, business took him to Haiti, where he bought beans amid an economy devastated by the earthquake last January. "Part of ethics in business is to vote with our dollar," says Carmichael, who visited highland towns whose residents were wiped out by cholera and reported having been debriefed by actor/activist

Sean Penn

and his team. "The world needs to go in and buy," Carmichael says. "You can teach a man to fish, but be sure you return and

buy

the fish." The first of 40,000 kilos of Blue Forest beans should be arriving in Philly soon.

A contingent of hard-networking Philadelphians has returned from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, which saw the world premiere of the 9/11-aftermath docudrama Rebirth, featuring the stories of survivors and families as told by director Jim Whitaker, who lost his mother that day. Justin Wineburgh and Stuart Shorenstein of Cozen O'Connor, which did pro bono government-relations legal work for the filmmakers, hosted a Jan. 21 reception with Bob Lowery of DIVE, the Center City postproduction facility, and JP Cummins of Radnor's Janney Montgomery Scott. Greater Philadelphia Film Office head Sharon Pinkenson reports a couple of meetings that might yield more production work for the region. On a more definite front, Pinkenson says she met Adrian Grenier of Entourage, assessing him as "very tall, very handsome, and too skinny."

Starting this weekend, radio talker

Michael Smerconish

will columnize exclusively for The Inquirer on Fridays as well as Sundays. His weekday column had appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News.

About $340,000 rolled in on Tuesday as former Phillies centerfielder Garry Maddox, businessman/philanthropist Drew Katz, and Phils pitcher Ryan Madson hosted the 25th annual Celebrity Bowling Classic at 30 Strikes in Stratford. Attendees included ex-Phils Ricky Bottalico and Von Hayes, former Flyer Brian Propp, and broadcasters Merrill Reese, Chris Wheeler, and Scott Franzke. Beneficiaries are Katz's foundation and the Youth Golf and Academics Program.

Philly chef Michael Solomonov (Zahav, Xochitl, Percy Street) challenges local Iron Chef Jose Garces on Sunday's Iron Chef America (10 p.m., Food Network). Solomonov will host a viewing party at Percy Street, Ninth and South Streets.

The hard-rocking hometown heroes of Soraia have been added to the Bon Jovi bill March 2 show at the Wells Fargo Center.

New Miss America Teresa Scanlan followed tradition and visited Atlantic City after her Jan. 15 crowning. Wednesday, she ate at Tropicana's Fin restaurant and attended Marc Antonelli's show. Friday, she chatted up the young people and played piano at Holy Family Regional School in Ventnor, N.J. A planned trip Thursday to Shriners Hospital in Philly was postponed due to snow.

Paul Simon, in town Thursday to set up for the Academy Ball, joined Stephen Starr for dinner that night at Starr's Morimoto, where the blowfish carpaccio with monkfish liver ponzu sauce is one of 50 ways to love your liver.