News Management Changes in Seattle

KCPQ Assistent News Director Erica Hill is being bumped up the food chain to the ND job (not sure how all this fits in with your Today Show anchoring stuff?). 

Current News Director Jon Brady is being moved to the newly created position of director of content and news programming.

In this new position, Brady will be responsible for the overall supervision of the daily editorial content of the news department and oversee long-form news and sports programming. Brady will work in coordination with the news director — a position now held by Erica Hill. Hill will be responsible for the overall supervision and direction of the news department and for executing long term initiatives including specific digital goals. Hill will also continue as News Director for KCPQ’s sister station in Portland, Ore., CW affiliate KRCW.

The change is effective immediately.

H/T TVNewsCheck  

ESPN Host Off the Air after NABJ Incident

It appears some people may have enjoyed the NABJ convention in Orlando last week a bit more than they should have. 

Word is that former NFL player and now ESPN Host Hugh Douglas had too much to drink and threaten his “Numbers Don’t Lie” co-host Michael Smith.

Sources say Douglas called Smith an “Uncle Tom” and a “House N-----” at a party thrown by the National Association of Black Journalists at the House of Blues in Orlando, Fla.

Sources say Douglas also appeared drunk the day before at another function at NABJ Gaylord Palms Resort hotel, which hosted the convention. 

ESPN is not talking about the incident, but Douglas has not been on the air since coming back from the convention.  

Proving that what happens at NABJ, does not always stay at NABJ.  

Big Apple Anchor Takes a Buyout

Word is that WPIX Morning Anchor Frances Rivera is leaving the station at the end of the month. 

All kinds of changes have been going down at the struggling Tribune station and it appears that Rivera is just the latest one.

Sources say the morning anchor accepted a buyout of her contract.  

Rivera teamed with the popular Sukanya Krishnan for the three-hour morning program beginning in August 2011. It could be that viewers never warmed up to Rivera. As in the evening, the ratings have been poor opposite powerhouse Good Day New York at WNYW, although Channel 11′s best numbers have actually been in the a.m.

Insiders say that new News Director Mark Effron is looking to hire a male anchor to work with Krishnan.

WPIX has already been holding many anchor auditions for a male anchor to supplement Fadal at night.

Stay tuned....

H/T Tuned In

Miami Weather Shake Up Continues

It's hard to keep track of the weather people at WFOR in Miami without a scorecard. 

The CBS O&O is losing another one in their weather ranks. Meteorologist Jeff Berardelli is making the short trip up I-95 and headed to WPEC in West Palm Beach.

The news comes just one day after WFOR Main Weather Anchor David Bernard turned down a lowball offer from the station on a new contract. 

As for Berardelli, he is Joining WPEC which already has 4 weather anchors on staff. The Palm Beach station also announced that longtime Weather Anchor John Matthews has inked a new 1 year deal. 

“I’m thrilled to have Jeff join our already multi-talented weather staff at CBS 12,” said WPEC GM Michael Pumo.  “And, at the same time, I’m pleased to say we signed John Matthews to a new contract as well."

BriWi's Bust A Move

Not sure how many moves Brian Williams will be busting, since the star News Anchor  just underwent knee surgery.

But thanks to the staff at Jimmy Fallon's show, BriWi can still get down while he's out.

When it comes to the rapping BriWi, this maybe the best one yet:

Al are you Up?

Today Show Anchors Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie stopped by The Weather Channel's 'Wake Up with Al' to make sure that Mr. Roker did not oversleep again.

Yesterday, FTVLive told you that Roker overslept and missed his show on TWC. Roker says it is the first time he has done that in 39 years. 

Changing Channels

Napoli Management Group is proud to announce the following client placements:

Lisa Fletcher will anchor the American version of the award-winning program,  “The Stream”, on the new Al Jazeera America Network beginning  August 20. The daily, prime time program’s unique format will allow viewers to interact with Fletcher and her guests during the broadcast and will originate from Washington DC. The show moves from its current slot on Al Jazeera English.

Morgan Fogarty joins Al Jazeera America as a news anchor based in New York City.  Previously she was an anchor for WCCB in Charlotte.

Bryan Llenas adds Fox News Channel correspondent duties to his schedule two days a week.  For the last three years, Bryan has been a reporter for the Fox News Latino website.

Liam Martin becomes a full-time staff reporter for WCVB in Boston.  Liam has been freelancing for the station for the past year.

Kate Larsen moves to Southern California and KNBC to be a freelance reporter.  Previously Kate was a weekend morning anchor and reporter for KXTV in Sacramento.

Demetrius Ivory joins WGN in Chicago as morning meteorologist. Demetrius was morning meteorologist at WTAE for the past eight years.

Karen Brown joins KTVK in Phoenix as weekend anchor and reporter. Previously, Karen was a freelance correspondent for CBS News.

Jaime Cerreta will be going home to Phoenix to join KTVK as weekend evening anchor.  For the past seven years, Jaime has been the primary anchor for KOKH in Oklahoma City.

Nohelani Graf joins KNXV in Phoenix as an MMJ.  Previously, she had been an anchor and reporter for KMTR in Eugene.

Danica Lawrence moves to Tampa to be an MMJ for WTSP.  Previously, she was an MMJ for KOKI in Tulsa.

Ryan Recker returns home to Pittsburgh and joins WTAE as the morning sports anchor and reporter.  Previously he was the sports director for KVOA in Tucson.

Cody Alcorn has been promoted to late evening anchor for WHNS in Greenville.  Cody has moved up the ranks there and is delighted to have earned the lead male anchor role.

Reed Cowan is promoted to 11pm anchor in addition to his 4pm anchor duties for KSNV in Las Vegas.

Natalie Tejeda moves to WIAT in Birmingham as the weekend anchor and reporter. Natalie leaves KENS in San Antonio where she was the traffic anchor, fill-in anchor and reporter.

Stephanie Stone joins KFSN in Fresno as weekend morning anchor. Stephanie has been a freelance reporter for the station.

Susanne Brunner has joined KARK in Little Rock as the weekend evening anchor and weekday reporter.  Previously, she was the weekend anchor for KION in Monterey/Salinas.

Lisa Martone joins WTEN in Albany as MMJ. She leaves WOI in Des Moines where she was an MMJ for the last four years.

Martina Del Bonta moves to KOKI in Tulsa as the weekend sports anchor and reporter.  Previously, Matina was the weekend sports anchor and reporter for KMIZ in Columbia, MO.

Paul Cicala moves back home to Tucson to become the new sports director for KVOA.  He has been the sports director for KVIA in El Paso.

Leigh Paynter joins KGET in Bakersfield as weekend anchor and MMJ. Leigh leaves KXTV in Sacramento where she has been an MMJ.

The journalists in this post are represented by Mendes J. Napoli, Laurie Jacoby, David Ahrendts, Jean Sage, Sue McInerney, Liz Sherwin, Liz Hart, Al Corral and Gary Brown of Napoli Management Group.  You can reach Napoli Management Group by calling 310-385-8222 or by sending an email to nmg@tvtalent.com.  Please visit us on the web at www.tvtalent.com.

It's Shark Week

In honor of Shark Week (our second favorite week, just behind Toyota-Thon) we bring you a video that I guarantee will make you smile.

It's a cat in a shark costume, riding a Roomba. 

What more do you need? 

NBC Says BriWi's Surgery Went Well

Tonight you may have noticed that Lester Holt was in for Brian Williams tonight on NBC Nightly News. 

Williams finally had his knee surgery Today and according to NBC, everything went as planned. 

Williams is expected to be off the air for a few weeks while he recovers. 

Since August is usually considered a very slow news month, BriWi shouldn't miss much.

Ladies Night

The PBS sausage fest of Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil is a thing of the past.

Now it's time for the ladies to have a shot. 

Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff will fill those roles when they become co-anchors and managing editors of "PBS NewsHour" in September.

"Gwen and I love working together and appreciate the trust viewers put in the 'PBS NewsHour' both on TV and online," Woodruff said in a statement.

"We've successfully worked side by side for many years covering conventions, elections and countless other news events," Ifill said. "We make a great team."

They will be co-anchors Monday through Thursday. Woodruff will anchor solo on Fridays when Ifill will host "Washington Week."

On "NewsHour," the women are taking positions that were first held by men: Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil. 

H/T Orlando Sentinel  

Made in the Shade...NOT

Reporters, I could care less if you wear a bra or not on your live shots. In fact depending on how you look, I might prefer that you didn't. 

But please...I beg you, no matter how cool you think it looks, don't wear your sunglasses. 

WTLV in Jacksonville Sports Anchor Chris Porter hit the air last night doing a live shot while wearing his shades.  

Despite what he thought, it didn't look cool. In fact it looked more like they sent it out live to Stevie Wonder.  

So remember, No bra? No Problem. Shades? Problem. 

This has been an FTVLive public service announcement.  

Shuffling Shows at CNN

It looks like my 2 hour nap time is being cut to 90 minutes. 

On September 16th, CNN is cutting Wolf Blitzer's "The Situation Room" from two hours to 90 minutes.

Many a day when I was tired, I could flip to Wolf's show on CNN and fall fast asleep until it was over. 

But now, CNN Boss Jeff Zucker has decided to knock a half hour of Blitzer's show and that's not the only change.  

As CNN makes way for old/new Crossfire, changes are a coming. 

Crossfire will air at 6:30PM and Anderson Cooper will now be live @ 10PM. That slot was were CNN was airing repeats of Coop's 8PM show.   

Andy's 10M show will be called "AC360 Later" and CNN promises that Cooper will have a "provocative and informed panel conversation" on his new show. 

We can hardly wait.  

ND that Fired Bra-less Reporter is Quitting

WAAY (Huntsville) News Director Keith Lowhorner says he's leaving the television business.

This comes days after Lowhorner made the decision to fire Shea Allen.

Allen is the reporter that made gossip when she he personal confessions on her website. 

Lowhorner claims that the Allen mess had nothing to do with him leaving the station. Instead of overseeing news staff, in his new job Lowhorner be in charge of plants. He is becoming the director of development at Huntsville Botanical Garden.

Last we looked, plants don't wear bras either.  

H/T Kevin Eck @ TVSpy