Leaving for the Law

Colleen McCarty, a member of the investigative team at KLAS in Las Vegas is leaving the TV business for what most likely will be a better paying job.

McCarty, who has been at the station since 2005 is leaving to join a local law firm. 

McCarty recently graduated from the William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV and is now taking an unpaid leave to study for the Nevada Bar exam.

Jenny for Joy?

Will Jenny McCarthy be the newest member of "The View"?

The former Playmate of the Year is in negotiations to join the morning show full-time, according to Us Weekly.

McCarthy is apparnelty angling for the spot that Joy Behar, 70, will leave vacant when she departs the show in August.

"She's in serious talks right now," a source told the magazine. The insider said that McCarthy, 40, is mulling a move after a disappointing ratings showing from her own VH1 talk program, "The Jenny McCarthy Show.

Of course the show already has a perky blonde in Elisabeth Hasselbeck. But rumors continue to swirl that she will be out this Summer as well.

Stay tuned... 

H/T NY Daily News

Breaking News! MSNBC Covers Breaking News

This just in...MSNBC decided to cover some breaking news over the Weekend. 

The struggling cable news network that has admitted they really aren't very good at covering breaking news, did just that when a plane went down at the San Francisco airport. 

MSNBC went so far as to push their season premiere of Lockup back one week, so they could devote more time to the crash coverage. 

MSNBC’s Craig Melvin anchored coverage of crash landing of Asiana Airlines Flight 214. Correspondent Noelle Walkeron reported from the scene.

This was a big step for MSNBC to not only acknowledge breaking news, but to actually cover it as well.

Of course, the George Zimmerman trail was off for the Weekend, so it was a much easier call for the cable net. 

The Top 5

Here's a look at the Top 5 most read stories on FTVLive this past week. 

No. 5 -  FIRST on FTVLive: Sources Say Dave Baer Out at WHP

No. 4 -  The Hazards of Live TV - Vol. 981

No. 3 -  Mole on Bill O'Reilly: Master of the Medium

No. 2 -  Reporter Says Chris Hansen Ruined her Career

And the most read story this week was: Tribune Buying 19 Local LLC Stations

Huge Anchor Shake Up Coming to Chicago?

It looks the struggling Fox O&O WFLD in Chicago is about to have a big anchor shake up in an effort to boost the ratings. 

Word is the station is looking to swap anchors for the 9PM newscast.

Current anchors Bob Sirott and Robin Robinson — both longtime local TV news talents — currently occupy those crucial anchor seats on the station's late newscast.

Robinson has been in the anchor chair since the 9PM newscast signed on the air.  

But it has become apparent over the course of several years that — at least as an anchor team — they haven't been able to move Channel 32 out of its perennial last-place position in the weekday late local newscast ratings competition.

In the most recent June Nielsen ratings book, Channel 32's 9 p.m. newscast fronted by Sirott and Robinson pulled a 2.5 rating Monday through Friday, while Tribune Co.-owned WGN-Channel 9's late news — a direct competitor at 9 p.m. — scored a 4.0. Top-rated ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7's 10 p.m. newscast notched an 8.3 rating in June. One rating point equals 35,000 households in the Chicago market.

Channel 32 General Manager Dennis Welsh has been in place since January, and he brought on board a new station news director Tom Doerr in late February. Sources say Channel 32 has been looking at potential anchor candidates in recent weeks from outside the Chicago market — always a dicey proposition in a town that seems to prefer known commodities when it comes to anchor talent.

Both Robinson and Sirott are veterans of the local TV news scene, but when they were put together as anchor team by former general manager Michael Renda, there was no on-air chemistry between the two that might have helped the station achieve better news ratings. It didn't help that Renda made many other personnel changes in the newsroom during his tenure that helped create a very unsettled environment.

If Walsh and Doerr do move to make a change in 9 p.m. news anchors, Anna Davlantes could be another option up for consideration. Davlantes jumped from NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 several years ago to take on a high-profile role on Channel 32's late newscast. But Renda made the decision to move her to an anchor slot on the station's morning show "Good Day, Chicago."

H/T Chicago Business Journal  

Media Executives Rake in the Big $$$$

While you toil away in the newsroom deciding what you will have on the value menu for lunch.  Your boss's boss boss is living the high life and making more money per year, than most of us will make in a lifetime.

After stock options, salary and bonuses, there are some media executives being paid obscene amounts of money.

Fox News Channel Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes received a $21-million pay package in 2012 and he's not even in the top 10.

His boss, Rupert Murdoch comes in at Number 5 on the list, pulling in $30 million. 

Topping the list is CBS's Les Moonves. 

Moonves pulled in $62.2 million bucks in 2012. Not bad for a guy that's network evening and morning newscasts are in last place.  

The full list at The LA Times 

Nancy Grace Banned from Good Morning America

Now that CNN has a morning show that they are trying to make successful, word is that Jeff Zucker is pulling the plug on his talent appearing on other morning shows.

Most notably, Nancy Grace's appearances on on ABC's Good Morning America.

Page Six says that Nancy Grace is banned from doing her highly rated segments on “GMA.”  

"We’re told CNN chief Jeff Zucker is “banning all CNN and HLN personalities from appearing on ‘GMA.’ A source adds, “The biggest issue is Grace, given her high-rated debates with Dan Abrams over legal issues.” " Says Page Six. 

A CNN rep said, “While it is true that Nancy no longer appears on ‘GMA,’ it has nothing to do with banning [particular] clients. Like every other cable network and broadcast outlet with a morning show, we ask that CNN/HLN talent not appear on other network’s morning shows, unless they are promoting a book or a personal project.”

Tampa Anchor's Jello Shot

Talk about a Jello shot.

Cameras caught WTSP Anchor Charles Billi going down a slide into and ice cold bowl of jello.

Billi took the Jello slide to raise money for children fighting cancer. Of course, ever the anchorman, Billi went into the chilly jello wearing a shirt and tie.  

Here's the video: 

Olbermann and Maddow Not Talking

Keith Olbermann and his former BFF don't talk anymore.

Olby is still bitter at MSNBC for getting rid of him and he's loving the fact that their ratings are falling.

Olbermann called out Rachel Maddow on Tuesday after he tweeted about MSNBC's falling ratings.

When Olbermann responded to a tweet about the network's ratings performance, another Twitter user asked if he was criticizing Maddow.

Last year, Maddow appeared on Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live" and was asked if she had spoken to Olbermann since he left MSNBC in 2011. "No," she said. "But it's not like we've been fighting. We just haven't been talking."

Rachel you need to call Keith....his feelings are hurt. 

H/T HuffPo

And the Hits Just Keep on Coming

Fox Sports report Amy Campbell proved she could take a hit for a story earlier this week.

Campbell was conducting an interview on the sidelines of The Opening recruiting combine at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., when she was run over during a play.

Here's the video: