Snubbed Scott Spikes Story

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Snubbed Scott Spikes Story

It appears that CBS Anchor Scott Pelley doesn't like being snubbed and he holds grudges.

Page Six says that Pelley was furious after John Miller’s scoop about the State Department sex scandal broke not on his “CBS Evening News,” but early Monday on “This Morning” hosted by Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell, network sources tell Page Six

There was no mention of the State Department story on “The CBS Evening News” Monday night — and sources say it was because Pelley and his EP, Pat Shevlin, were peeved. Pelley strongly denies this, insisting, there was simply “not enough time” on his broadcast to cover the story.

On Monday night Pelley had Miller in the studio and led with multiple pieces on the NSA leaker. Then Pelley said, “And now to the day’s other big story ......Nelson Mandela.”

What Pelley says about the incident after the  Jump. 

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18 Years Later and Still No Closer to Solving It

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18 Years Later and Still No Closer to Solving It

It's been 18 years since KIMT Anchor Jodi Huisentruit was scheduled to show up for her job as Morning Anchor, but never made it. 

It was still dark outside Huisentruit set off for her job in June 1995. She had barely inserted the key into the door of her red Mazda Miata when the 27-year-old woman was attacked from behind and dragged into an unknown vehicle -- never to be seen again.

Nearly two decades since Huisentruit disappeared, investigators are no closer to solving one of the state's greatest mysteries.

"It’s a cold case because it's 18 years old," Lt. Frank Stearns of the Mason City Police Department told FoxNews.com. "But it's not one of those cases that gets stuffed on the shelf. It gets worked constantly."

Huisentruit, had overslept on the morning of June 27, 1995. Her producer, Amy Kuns, called Huisentruit at 4:10 a.m. to check on her whereabouts. A drowsy Huisentruit told Kuns she had overslept and said she'd rush to the station in time for her morning broadcast.  

She never made it.

More on the story after the jump.   

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Former Sin City Anchor Tossed from Vegas Show

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Former Sin City Anchor Tossed from Vegas Show

It appears that Former Las Vegas Anchor Ron Futrell misses not being the center of attention.

Futrell was escorted out of liberal comedian Bill Maher’s show at the Palms Hotel on Saturday after a heckling incident.

The former sports anchor and daytime anchor who was fired from KTNV in 2008 says he was offended that Maher mocked special- needs individuals by using the “r word” against Sarah Palin’s special-needs son.

“I’ve got a son with special needs,” Futrell said. “It didn’t surprise me that Maher said it. It surprised me that a lot of people laughed at that joke.”

Futrell said he moved down from his original seats in The Pearl concert venue to “about the 50th row” to engage Maher.

More after the hop.   

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The Slow and Steady Climb

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The CBS Evening News continues to make it's way up the ratings mountain. 

The broadcast anchored by Scott Pelley posted year-to-year percentage increases in viewers (5.70m from 5.23m, +9%) and households (3.9/08 from 3.6/07, +8%), according to Nielsen for the week ending June 7.

The CBS broadcast also maintained its rating in adults 25-54 (1.3/05) from the same week last year.

The show added nearly half a million viewers (+470,000) compared to the same week last year.

Milwaukee Anchor Leaving the Business

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WTMJ anchor-reporter Melissa McCrady is leaving the station at the end of the month. 

"7 years at TMJ," she wrote in a message. "It's time."

McCrady is leaving the TV news business and will become the director of communications for the Mequon-Thiensville school district.

McCrady, a Cleveland native, joined the station in 2006 from WNWO-TV in Toledo.

While at WTMJ she worked as a reporter for "Live at Daybreak" and anchored "Live at Noon."

McCrady also getting married in August.

Busy Summer...  

 

 

John's Ratings Compare to Jon's Ratings

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If the early numbers are any indication, The Daily Show will do fine with Jon Stewart on an 8 week hiatus. 

Daily Show Correspondent John Oliver has taken over for Jon Stewart and the ratings stay about the same.  

Monday's episode of The Daily Show, which featured guest Seth Rogen, averaged 1.5 million viewers and a 0.7 rating among adults 18-49.

Not only are those numbers in line with the series' year-to-date performance, they mark a modest week-to-week improvement for the late-night flagship.

The initial returns are contrary to what the self-effacing Oliver recently told The Hollywood Reporter. "The ratings are going to go down," he said. "Ice is cold, and the ratings of this show are going to go down in the summer. Add to that the fact that I’m here, so you’ll have your regular summer decline and that will become a more elemental nosedive."

So far, that's not the case.  

Talking Turkey

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NBC's Richard Engel is in the middle of the protests going on in Turkey. Engel and his crew have had to add some new equipment to their coverage plans. 

Gas masks! 

Turkish police are using heavy amounts of tear gas, water cannons, and rubber bullets as they attempt to clear the area of the anti-government protestors who have occupying it for over a week.

Protestors responded with makeshift barricades, only to be overrun by the riot police.

For TV crews back here in the U.S., it makes covering Today's City Council meeting seem even more boring that usual.

Get out of Bed with Hottie Julie Durda

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Do you want to have weather hottie Julie Durda wake you up each morning? 

There's an app for that. 

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WPLG in Miami has released a new app called "Wake Up With Local 10." The app gives users easy access to the time, weather, traffic and a live stream of  WPLG all from its home page. 

But the most interesting feature has to be the alarm clock. You can set the alarm to play a pre-recorded wake up greeting from any one of the WPLG morning news anchors –
Jason Martinez,  Jen Herrera, Constance Jones or the very popular Julie Durda.

We haven't downloaded the app yet, so we don't know what sweet things Durda whispers in your ear to wake you, but were guessing it might not be as sexy as what many guys had hoped.

If you don't want one of the WPLG anchors to wake you...you can always pick a police siren. It is

Miami after all.

H/T SFLTV

The Missing 7 Minutes leads Atlanta Stations Newscasts

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Yesterday, FTVLive FIRST told you that WGCL in Atlanta was catching heat from viewers when they dumped out of The Tony Awards early to start their newscast.

Viewers lit the station up on social media and with phone calls to the station. 

Yesterday, after our story, the station released a statement as to what happened. Of course they put the initial blame on the network.

WGCL GM Trey Fabacher statement:

"Last night towards the end of the Tony Awards just after 11:00 p.m., WGCL encountered a few seconds of black and our local producers (as opposed to their national producers?)  accepted that trigger as the end of the network broadcast and began our 11 p.m. newscast. The network feed of the Tony Awards was not over and WGCL did not air the final seven minutes of the broadcast. This was a human error and action is being taken to guarantee this does not happen again. We apologize to our viewers who were watching the broadcast. CBS Atlanta News is a passionate supporter of the arts; this error in no way reflects the opinion of WGCL-TV, CBS Atlanta News or its employees. We will be airing the final segment of the Tony Awards at the start of all newscasts at 4 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. today."

It appears that WGCL wasn't the only station fooled by the "few seconds of black," word is that WDJT also dumped out of The Tony's telecast. 

Charlotte Anchor Leaving

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Charlotte Anchor Leaving

WCCB Anchor Morgan Fogarty is teasing viewers are her co-workers about her new job.  And it looks like she is getting out while the getting is still good. 

Fogarty said yesterday that she is leaving the station after eight years.

“I’m leaving WCCB at the end of July to pursue a national TV news opportunity (I can’t say where or what yet),” Fogarty announced on her Facebook page.

“Over the years, my managers and co-workers have given me incredible opportunities and an incredible foundation, both professionally and personally,” she said.

Fogarty is the latest high-profile departure at the soon-to-be CW network affiliate. Her co-anchor, Israel Balderas, was fired last month after he became involved in an office confrontation with a co-worker.

More after the hop.    

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Al Jazeera America Has a Launch Date

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If you're like me, you have been sitting on pins and needles wondering when Al Jazeera America is going to finally launch?

OK, so maybe you are really like me and could care less. 

Either way, the old Current TV channel will launch as Al Jazeera America the week of August 24th.

At launch they will have some shows already announced. Ali Velshi's show, called Real Money and air at 7PM., a nightly newsmagazine will be on at 9 and America Tonight, which will be a more in depth news show will also be in the prime time lineup.

But the network still doesn't have a President. 

Rumors have circulated that for CNN News Boss Jon Klein and former ABC news head David Westin are pitching the gig.

Word is that Al Jazeera is going to make a hire in the next couple of weeks.

Zimmerman Trial off to a Fast/Slow Start

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Zimmerman Trial off to a Fast/Slow Start

ury selection began yesterday in the George Zimmerman trial and it got off to a very fast start, or a really slow start....it depends which station or network you were watching. 

CNN's Sunny Hostin predicted it wouldn't be that difficult to find a jury.

"This judge … is moving so quickly I suspect that they will seat a jury at least by this week. I don't think we're going to be waiting two or three weeks to find a jury," Hostin said.

HLN's Ryan Smith told CNN that the proceedings were moving really fast. "Tough judge. I like this judge," Smith said of Judge Debra Nelson. "The judge wants to move this along."

After the jump,  many local Orlando stations saw the trial off to a slow start.  

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Don't let the Facts get in the Way of a Good Story

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During the May book, WSMV in Nashville spent a lot of time airing reports on a local woman gone missing. Now that the book is over, the station is correcting all the wrong information they gave in their reports.

They spent a good deal of the newscast eating crow as they read a statement that sounded like it was written by the station's attorney.  

Here's their on air apology: