For a brief period in 1974, WNAC's 6 p.m. newscast jumped from third place to first. Ted O'Brien, who had replaced Scarborough as the station's primary anchor, remained as lead anchor until being paired with Jay Scott, a young reporter who was hired with a publicity campaign claiming that the news director, on a nationwide talent hunt, had found Scott in a hotel room in Denver, where he had watched television looking for talent. A few years later, John Henning returned to the station from WCVB-TV as Scott's replacement. Henning was joined on WNAC's newscasts by station standbys Eddie Andelman and Dr. Fred Ward and reporters Gary Armstrong, Gayle Sinibaldo, Charlene Mitchell, Tanya Hart, Mike Levine, and Sheila Fox. The station went through several News Directors and Station Managers. The RKO licensing difficulties over the next few years were accompanied by a drop in the ratings. In 1979, the station hired its first female lead anchor, when Mary Richardson was hired to co-anchor the 11 p.m. broadcast. In 1980, Brad Holbrook was added as Henning's new co-anchor. Henning left the station in June 1981 after his four-year contract was up. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the station's news department suffered a number of blunders. During a December 1977 broadcast, anchor Jack Cole stated "We'll be back with more alleged news" following a report on how to clean a chimney for Santa Claus. On April 1, 1980, the station aired a news report that stated that Great Blue Hill in Milton, Massachusetts was erupting. The story was an April Fools' joke, but the prank resulted in panic in Milton. The station's image was also tarnished by the arrests of reporter Charlene Mitchell for shoplifting and sports reporter Bob Gamere for drunk driving, as well as the revelation that former reporter Stephen Guptill falsely claimed two degrees on his resume. In the year leading up to RKO's sale of channel 7's assets to David Mugar after losing its licensing appeal, the station hired Susan Brady to co-anchor with Brad Holbrook. The changes did not cease during WNAC's remaining months. After RKO's loss of the WNAC license in 1980 was upheld by the Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Brady left for a position in Los Angeles. She was quickly replaced by young weekend anchor Susan Burke, who worked with Holbrook both during the transition from RKO to New England Television and for the first months of the new ownership.