It's a Girl

Weekend Today show anchor Jenna Wolfe gave birth last night to a baby girl.

Wolfe and her partner NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk are said to be very happy. 

He Looks Familiar

KTVX in Salt Lake City has hired a new anchor, but it is someone viewers have seen before.

Don Hudson, who anchored The station's morning show "Good Morning, Utah" and then KTVX's 5 p.m. newscast before leaving the station in September 2012, is returning as the main anchor.

He'll do the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts alongside Kim Fischer starting next week.

Let's cue up the obligatory soundbites.

"I have lived all over the country during my 24 years in television news, but coming back to work in Utah is like coming back home," says Hudson. "I'm excited about working at ABC4 Utah again and working for the people of Utah. I truly love that my job is to gather important information and have always felt it was a responsibility and a privilege to share it with our viewers."

"Having Don back is a big win for Utah news viewers," says George Severson, ABC4 Utah and CW30 News Director. "He's a great journalist with depth and a solid understanding of the interests, issues and stories that matter most to Utahns."

From SoCal to Philly

Fox Philly's WTXF has named a new anchor for their morning show.

Chris Murphy will co-anchor of the early edition of Good Day Philadelphia, which airs at the ungodly hours from 4:25 to 6 a.m.

Murphy comes to the Fox O&O from KGTV in San Diego, where he was the weekend anchor.

Out The Door In Miami

Longtime WSVN Reporter Derek Hayward has left the station and his bio has been pulled from the station's website.

WSVN is not commenting on Hayward's departure and Hayward is only saying that "the timing was right."

Word is that contract talks for a renewal did not go well and suddenly the Reporter that has been at the station since 1991 is out the door. 

“I leave with absolutely nothing but the highest regard for WSVN,” Hayward said to Gossip Extra. “They’ve treated me wonderfully in the course of the past two decades.”

We get the feeling, he may have made that comment through gritted teeth. 

Stay tuned...  

Interesting....

It seems that Fox News is doing their best to downplay Brian Lewis's role at the cable news channel. 

Greta Van Susteren wrote on her blog "The Greta Wire" "No one inside Fox ever talked about Brian as the #2 or the force behind Roger or the success of Fox News Channel. If he was the #2 at Fox News and and largely responsible for its success, that is a Fox News Alert to this prime time anchor of 11 1/2 years! Frankly, I don’t think I could pick Brian out of a line up!"

Earlier Fox News's Rick Sanchez posted this tweet.

Interesting that two employees are saying basically the same thing and trying to downplay Lewis' role at Fox News. 

By the way, in 2006, Fox News boss Roger Ailes had this to say about Brian Lewis "Brian is one of the best corporate communications professionals in the business. He has met with unparalleled success in helping to build and maintain the integrity of the Fox News brand from its infancy."

Now all the sudden, no one at FNC has ever even heard of the guy. 

The Fox machine at work.  

WTF?!

I know it is hard to walk through a store this time of year without seeing the back to school deals on just about every shelf. 

But, I'm fairly certain that Walgreens might have gotten a bit carried away their "Back To School" promotions. 

I know that school has changed a bunch since I went there, but really?! 

Holy Cow....

....if Rick Sanchez gets his head any further up Roger Ailes' ass, he's not going to be able to breathe.  

Guess he feels he owes Ailes, since FNC was the only cable net willing to hire him.  

Ax to Swing at ABC O&O's

It looks like the ax is about to swing at the ABC O&O's and close to 200 people will be let go. 

The LA Times is reporting that about 175 jobs (sources tell FTVLive, the number is a bit higher) are expected to be cut through layoffs or from not filling open positions, a person familiar with the matter said. 

“As technological advances continue to alter the competitive landscape and viewer habits, it’s incumbent upon us to stay ahead of the curve. To that end, we’ve undergone a review of our organizational structures and processes, and have re-imagined and realigned certain areas and functions to gain efficiencies and better position us for future growth," a Disney/ABC Television Group spokesman said.

The majority of the cuts are expected to come at ABC's TV stations and in technical operations for the broadcast and cable networks, the person with knowledge of the cuts who was not authorized to discuss details publicly said. ABC owns TV stations in several major markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia.

The restructuring follows similar moves at other units of the Walt Disney Co. and are part of a broader long-term effort to cut costs and slim the company down to better compete in a changing media landscape.

Earlier this spring, Disney's cable sports empire ESPN trimmed between 300 and 400 positions after its internal review. There have also been staff reductions at Disney's movie studio, consumer products and video game units.

The cuts haven't necessarily led to weaker performances, one ABC insider noted. In 2010, ABC News reduced its staff by 400 people, which was 25% of its staff at that time. At that time the network said the moves were necessary if the news unit was to survive. The cuts, while painful, did not stop ABC's"Good Morning America" from overtaking NBC's "Today" in the ratings. Its evening newscast "World News Tonight" is making gains on NBC's "Nightly News." 

Please Stand By....

KSTU in Salt Lake had a technical meltdown and it delayed the start of the newscast.  

The station started to replace the entire newscast with Dr. Oz.  

Co-anchors Bob Evans and Hope Woodside appeared briefly at 9 p.m. to announce they wouldn’t be appearing.

"Unfortunately, we are having technical difficulties tonight so we are not going to be able to air our program ‘Fox News at Nine’ at this point," said Woodside.

Evans offered a general explanation of what had gone wrong.

"We live by the computer and die by the computer," he said. "And we’re having computer issues."

They announced the station would air a episode of "Dr. Oz," but about a half hour later the technical staff cured what ailed the KSTU computer system. Or, at least, made it well enough to go on with a delayed newscast.

Station vice president and general manager Tim Ermish it's the first time it’s happened in 10 years."

H/T Salt Lake Tribune  

New Day, New Low

While the media appears to live on every breath of The Royal Family, the general public could seem to care less.

CNN was so excited that they landed the first interview with Prince William since the birth of his son George.

The CNN PR people were ferociously sending out releases and text alerts about this "huge get" for the new morning show.  

There seemed to be no doubt inside CNN, Prince William on the show would deliver some of the highest ratings since the show debuted.

So how did New Day fare with the Royal Prince?

They got their lowest ratings ever. 

The Chris Cuomo and Kate Bolduan anchored show pulled in just 60,000 in the demo demo and 216,000 viewers overall. 

Ouch! 

Back in The Saddle

After working 196 straight days, FTVLive took the day off Yesterday. 

Man, it feels good to come back from a long vacation.  

Phoenix Station Remains Mum on Missing Anchor

FTVLive FIRST told you that longtime KTVK Anchor Patti Kirkpatrick was off the station's air. 

And while Kirkpatrick has been not been seen on KTVK's air, the station has said nothing. 

Yesterday, KTVK gave another clue that it has completely severed ties with the veteran anchor.

The station was pimping their "Silver Apple Award" on their Facebook page. This station staple has been fronted by Kirkpatrick for years. Now the station is saying that Kaley O'Kelly will be doing the franchise. 

Here's a screen cap from the station's FB page, notice some of the comments and viewers still are in the dark as to what happened with Kirkpatrick: 

Anderson Cooper's Stalker Order to See Psychiatrist

CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper's stalker swears that he just has a crush of Coop and the anchor has nothing to worry about. 

Never mind the fact that he tried to kick down the front door while shouting: "I swear to fucking God, don't insult me." "I'm going to fuck you up!" Alex Hausner says is just a "harmless crush" and that Cooper's partner Benjamin Maisani is just trumping up charges because he's jealous. 

The judge in the case is not buying the "harmless crush" defense and ordered Hausner undergo psychiatric assessment and he is being held with bail set at $75,000.

Daughter Photobombs Anchor Mom During the Newscast

Anchors, you know how your kids always want to see and play with your phone? 

That's usually all fine and good, just make sure when they return it to you, you're not on the air in the middle of your newscast.