Leaving the TV News Biz

In a staff meeting Tuesday, WSET (Lynchburg) General Manager Randy Smith announced to staff that News Director Bill Foy will be leaving the station for a new job at Virginia Tech. 

Foy is leaving TV news and will become the Director of Communications at Virginia Tech.

"Bill is the consummate professional. He and I have worked together since 1992 and he is one of the most experienced and highly regarded news professionals in the Commonwealth, if not the industry. Bill is one of a very small group of people in whom I have blind trust. I will miss him tremendously," Smith said of Foy.

Main Anchor Len Stevens will be the station's interim news director until further notice.

Foy leaves the station at the end of next month.  

Moving on from Milwaukee

A couple of on air staffers are leaving WISN in Milwaukee.  

Weekend meteorologist Luke Sampe and weekend anchor and reporter Shelby Croft are both packing up and moving on. 

Sampe is headed up the road to Green Bay. He will replace WFRV's chief meteorologist Tom Mahoney who retired. He is leaving Milwaukee in July. 

Croft leaves the station in August and is headed for WBNS in Columbus, Ohio. That move also will put her closer to family.

Paula and Matt on Today

This morning on Today.

Paula Deen, who is trying to save what is left of her career wil sit down and talk with Matt Lauer, who is trying to save what is left of his career. 

Stay tuned...  

Ann Curry to Get First Prime Time Special

Friday will mark one year mark that Ann Curry made her tearful farewell to the Today Show.

Curry say on the Today Show couch in her red dress and cried as she told viewers that she was being kicked to the curb. From that day forward, her co-host Matt Lauer became the bad guy.

At the time Curry was fired from the Today Show, NBC said she would become a world traveling reporter for NBC news and it would also include prime time specials (notice the "s" at the end of specials).

So how many Ann Curry specials have we seen so far? 

Zero. Zip. Nada. 

But, that will change on Friday night, when Ann Curry will have her first prime time special, exactly one year to the day she sat weeping on the Today Show couch. 

NBC writes in a press release: In an Ann Curry Report: A Face in the Crowd airing Friday, June 28 at 10p/9c, Ann Curry tells the remarkable story of courage, faith, improbable decisions, and an extraordinary transformation.

When he was 22 years old, Richard Norris suffered an accidental shotgun blast into his face that left him extremely disfigured. After living for 15 years as a recluse, Norris chose to risk a groundbreaking face transplant surgery with the hope that he and others like him, including America's wounded warriors, would benefit. For the first time, viewers will hear from Norris in his own words, the donor's parents, and the physician who made medical history.

So basically, NBC News is giving Ann Curry one prime time special on a Friday in June. 

God...how they must hate this poor woman. 

Anchor Shake Up At KCBS?

Sources tell FTVLive that an anchor shake up is on the horizon at KCBS/KCAL in LA. 

Word is that AM anchor Sibila Vargas and weekend anchor Rob Schmitt are said to be leaving the station.

There are also rumors that both are leaving to go to the same place.

Vargas (pictured) came to KCBS in 2010, coming from KRIV the Fox owned-and-operated station in Houston.

Prior to that she worked at CNN. 

So what's next? 

Stay tuned....  

Seriously... That's a lot of F-Bombs

The next time NBC shows a shot of Chicago Blackhawks player Andrew Shaw, they might want to turn the sound off. Shaw dropped F-bomb after F-Bomb all over the air. 

Next year the NHL will be changing the name to the Stanley "Fucking A" Cup Finals. 

That Didn't Last Long

Word out of the Big Apple is that Dan Mannarino is out as weekend co-anchor on WPIX.

After just anchoring 3 weeks on the Weekend newscasts, sources say This past weekend was Mannarino's last behind the anchor desk.  

He will stay on at the station as a Reporter.

Word is WPIX is looking for a replacement for Mannarrino's anchor spot and that News Director Mark Effron is committed to the the two-anchor format.

Something the station did not do in the past.

H/T Tuned In

Longtime Phoenix Anchor is M-I-A

Word out of the Valley of Sun is that changes are happening. 

Phoenix sources tell FTVLive that either new KTVK News Director Cameryn Beck is flexing her muscle or someone in the Gannett ivory tower is already 'suggesting' what happens to anchors even before the merger with Belo?

Either way, it appears that longtime KTVK anchorwoman Patti Kirkpatrick is reportedly OUT.

Insiders say her desk has been cleaned off and management isn't saying much.

Word coming down from the top is that Kirkpatrick is on an "extended leave."

But, sources tell FTVLive that her her contract is up at the end of August and some feel that she may not be back.

Kirkpatrick has been at KTVK 22 years, so it may also be a decision about $$ - she only anchors the early evening newscast.

Stay tuned...  

Rochester Anchor Leaving After Just a Year

Sometimes life changes your game plan. 

Don Hudson joined WHEC in Rochester a year ago, coming from KTVX in Salt Lake City. Now word comes that Hudson is leaving Rochester and headed back to SLC.

Word is that Hudson's mother-in-law has developed severe dementia which meant his wife could not relocate to Rochester. So, he has decided to return to Utah.

FTVLive hears that Hudson's replacement at WHEC will be KOLD Tucson anchor, Scott Kilbury.

The swap is expect to happen soon.

Come on ...Really?!

WCNC in Charlotte did a story last night about a man named Woody and look who they interviewed: 

So they were talking about Woody and they talked to Harry Beaver?! Seriously?!

Bounced in Beer Town

No one ever gets fired in TV News, they just "pursue other opportunities."

WITI  (Milwaukee) Morning Anchor Shawn Patrick has been fired...errrr... is pursuing other opportunities according to station GM Chuck Steinmetz.

Replacing Patrick is Jessob Reisbeck.

Reisbeck worked in Fresno, Calif., as a sportscaster. He also handled reporting duties and filled in as an anchor. 

As for Patrick? GM Steinmetz says "wish him nothing but the best." You know, as he pursues other opportunities.

He Died When?!

The media has been all over the sudden death of Actor James Gandolfini.

Gandolfini who was best known for his role as Tony Soprano died while in Italy. 

But according to WNBC in New York, this really should not be that big of news right now. WNBC's graphic shows that Gandolfini died back in 2012. 

So, why is this just making the news?! 

Pelley Heads to DC Bureau to Smooth Things Over

Word is that CBS Anchor Scott Pelley was dispatched to CBS News’ Washington, DC, bureau last week by CBS brass to apologize for rubbing staffers there the wrong way.

At least that is what Page Six is reporting. They say that dissension over pugnacious Pelley’s brusque treatment of them “had been building up for a long time.

Pelley was ordered to go to the DC bureau on Thursday to offer an apology.

Page Six says that it had gotten really bad in the past few weeks, and he was told by management to get his ass to DC.” 

 Pelley's Rep says: “Scott is often in Washington, was a correspondent there for many years, and talks all the time with members of the team.” A friend added, “Scott just went to DC to visit with the staff and speak to them.” 

Riots and Building Collapses are Funny

I don't know about you, but there is nothing funnier than a building collapse where children died.

OK...maybe not. 

But, an Australian Anchor get a case of the giggles while reporting on the building collapse and riots in Brazil. 

But at least she said she was sorry: