The removal of host Chris Cuomo from CNN has created a programming hole that Doylestown media personality Michael Smerconish is now filling. Smerconish will finish out this week’s broadcasts, but no permanent decision has been made on his presence beyond that. Rob Tornoe covered the assignment for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Cuomo’s firing, now being contested on multiple levels, stemmed from twin accusations of sexual misconduct. One relates to his work with his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo; the other results from impropriety allegations related to a junior colleague at an ABC network event.

A Chris Cuomo spokesperson told the Associated Press that those contentions are untrue.

“I’m not celebrating anything,” Smerconish said of his latest, high-profile assignment. “The entire saga is sad on many levels. I consider Chris to be a friend of mine.

“I have a job to do, and I’ll do it for a couple of nights. And then I will go home. And I will resume my very normal life,” he added.

The Doylestown broadcaster is a Central Bucks High School – West graduate. He is a seasoned on-air host on both television and radio, an attorney, a columnist, and a fiction and nonfiction author.

More on the local connection to CNN’s host swap is at The Philadelphia Inquirer.