Sneak Peak at Today's New Set

Thanks to Newscast Studio we are getting a sneak peak at wat NBC's Today Show set will look like. 

It wil hit the air on Monday: 

Demoted in Cleveland

Viewers checking out WKYC Channel 3's morning newscast are seeing a new anchor team.

Chris Tye and Erin Kennedy have been replaced by former morning anchor John Anderson and the Gannett-owned station's morning and midday meteorologist, Hollie Strano.

Tye and Kennedy, who debuted as the morning team in January 2012 have both been demoted to Reporters at the station. 

"For right now, John Anderson and Hollie Strano will be co-hosting the morning show, and, obviously, neither is a stranger to that beat," said Brooke Spectorsky, Channel 3's president and general manager. "Going forward, that doesn't mean it will be permanent. There will be at least one more person added."

Channel 3's 4:30 a.m. news is running well behind morning juggernaut WJW Channel 8 in the ratings.

Strano, who is from Lyndhurst, is a familiar face to Channel 3 morning viewers. And Anderson was the station's morning anchor for seven years (2000-07) before a five-year stint in Philadelphia. He returned to Channel 3 last October.

Kennedy joined Channel 3 in late 2011 after a five-year stint as a news anchor in Rhode Island.

H/T Cleveland Plain Dealer

Miami Station Rolling Large in Tricked Out Mercedes

WTVJ in Miami got a new mobile newsroom, live van, satellite truck, digital mobile newsroom or whatever else stations call them now-a-days.

The NBC O&O will be rolling up to the scene in style.

It's a Mercedes!

Carson Daly Joins Today Show's Orange Room

Early this morning FTVLive posted a story with the rumor that Carson Daly's role was going to be greatly expanded on NBC's Today Show. 

Later this morning, NBC confirmed our story. 

And it looks like orange is the new Carson...or something like that. 

When NBC unveils the revamped Studio1A on Monday, Sept. 16, it will include the Orange Room.

NBC says it is "a space that connects the show and the audience like never before."

As the Orange Room host, Carson will allow viewers to weigh in and influence show segments and give them unprecedented access to our TODAY family and friends. The lineup will evolve as we continue to hear what viewers want, so speak up, share your ideas and stay tuned!

“I’m really excited to meet TODAY viewers – I want them to tweet at me and to look at the Orange Room as their room; I want to be their host,” he said.

And while the Orange Room features cutting edge technology, it’s also a welcoming place where people will want to visit and stay a while – letting you listen in on some can’t-be-missed conversation.

Carson Daly has no experience as a Journalist, but he says that his past has him ready for Today. 

“Everything I’ve done in my career up until this point has trained me for Today – the interviews, the live TV, the live radio – it all gets paid off,” Carson said.

“I was playing in the minor leagues and now I’ve just been called up to the big leagues. It’s amazing that I get to be a small part of the new era and generation of Today– not just to be here, but to be here to help build the future of Today and serve as the bridge between viewers and the show.”

David Brinkley flips over yet again. 

H/T NBC

Moonves: Some CBS Stations Not Run Very Well (Updated)

CBS Boss Les Moonves claims that his network “virtually nothing” from its recent principled standoff with Time Warner, to win higher re-trans fees.

In a conference call with investors, Moonves also admitted that some of the O&O's are not doing as well as he would like and he is placing the blame on management.  

“There are a few stations in the CBS affiliate group that we don’t think are particularly well-run,” Moonves says.  

Update: In an earlier version on the story we implied that Moonves was talking about the CBS O&O's in the above quote. 

FTVLive was sent the quote and while it is accurate, Moonves was talking about some CBS affiliates that CBS might look to purchase and then run better.

We listened to the investor call and got the correct context of the quote. The CBS Boss was not talking about the O&O's. 

Julie Chen Admits to Plastic Surgery

Julie Chen confessed on CBS's show "The Talk" about having to get plastic surgery on her eyes so she could achieve her dream of being a network news anchor. 

Chen was working as a 25-year-old local news reporter in Dayton, Ohio back in 1995 when she realized that she was at risk of not ever landing the anchor's desk because of her Chinese ethnicity.

She recalled how her news director at that time told her that standing in the way of her dreams was her "Asian eyes" and how she looked "disinterested and bored" in front of the camera because of them. 

After recounting her childhood in Queens where she experienced racism to recording her daily newscast and meeting with a big-time agent who recommended she get plastic surgery on her eyes to make them look better, the "Big Brother" host revealed how she eventually got the courage to discuss the matter with her parents. Sadly, the issue divided her brood, with the physical changes to her eyes being interpreted as her denying her heritage. 

But with very supportive parents who went as far as paying for her plastic surgery and standing by her side through the ordeal, Chen went through with procedure, saying that after she did it, that's when "the ball did roll for me." 

H/T AceShowbiz

Carson Daly Moving up at Today? (Updated)

It appears that NBC is quietly pulling the plug on the late night show "Last Call with Carson Daly." 

But, Daly's days at NBC might just be moving from nights to mornings.  

TV Guide says that NBC is looking to give Daly a much larger presence on the Today Show.

Daly has been popping up on Today more often in the 9AM hour. But, he also filled in for Matt Lauer on a day Lauer was off. 

Daly has no experience as a Journalist, something in the past that has been a prerequisite for hosts of Today.

David Brinkley just flipped over one more time.  

Update: Matt Lauer sent this tweet out shortly after we posted this story. Looks like it is now confirmed that Daly is getting a much bigger role at Today: 

Chicago Anchor Sells Home for Big Profit

Yesterday, FTVLive FIRST told you that WFLD had hired a new morning anchor at the Fox O&O. 

The Evening Anchor, Robin Robinson is also making a move. But her move is not at the station (yet) but she's moving out of her house. 

On Monday Robinson sold her five-bedroom house in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood for $1.175 million.

The anchor had lived in the home since 1997, when she bought it for $520,000. Nota bad profit there.  

On Tuesday, Robinson told Elite Street that with her youngest child in high school, she has wanted to downsize.  She said she is renting while evaluating her next move.

"It’s kind of refreshing," she said. "You feel a little lighter, with a lot less stuff.  A lot of my friends are doing the same thing.  But change is always hard.  My daughter's been there since she was born, and she doesn't like change.

H/T Chicago Tribune  

Preaching to The Choir

After a decade of being yelled at by those left wing bitty's on 'The View', the mothership has finally called Elisabeth Hasselbeck home.

Starting Monday, Hasselbeck will debut on Fox and Friends where she will be able to pick on President Obama and other Democrats without getting yelled at. 

Hasselbeck takes over for Gretchen Carlson who will be moving to a show later in the day.  

The perky blonde sat down with TV Guide and talked about her new gig at F&F: 

TV Guide Magazine: Even viewers who didn't agree with you politically liked your feistiness on The View. How are we going to get that spark out of you when you're sitting with a couple of like-minded co-hosts?

Elisabeth Hasselbeck: There is understandably the big misconception that controversy is what people enjoyed about [The View]. But there are numbers and focus groups and viewers who say they enjoyed the conversation. I'm a person who believes that if you are who you say who you are, it doesn't matter where you are or you're with — you can be full of spark. I have incredible co-hosts who have already been doing a phenomenal job. It's the least of my concerns.

TV Guide Magazine: The Daily Show picks on Fox & Friends a lot and there's a pretty rough parody of it on Saturday Night Live. Are you ready for that?

Hasselbeck: It's never easy being No. 1 [among cable news morning shows] as Fox & Friendsand has been for a long time. So there will be people in jest with satirical comments or with bad intent looking to chomp at the heels of the frontrunner. You can spend your time focused on that or just working hard with good attitude and ethic. The latter has been the rule for me.

TV Guide Magazine: Have you seen the SNL bit?

Hasselbeck: No I haven't. I think I would get a kick out of it. That's just what they do so I don't think that bothers anybody.

Why is Howie Kurtz Smiling?

If you run into Fox News TV critic Howard "I'm not Reliable" Kurtz and he has a big smile on his face...here's why.

Word is that Tina Brown, the woman that fired Howard Kurtz is about to have the tables turned on her. 

Buzzfeed is reporting that Brown's contract will not be renewed. The website writes "according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation, The Daily Beast parent company IAC owned by media mogul Barry Diller does not plan to renew Brown’s contract when it expires in January."

Back in early August Brown and Kurtz got into a bit of a Twitter pissing match. 

Today, it's a day of sweet redemption for Howie.  

Chicago Station Hires Houston Anchor

FTVLive has learned FIRST that WFLD the Fox O&O in Chicago has hired Natalie Bomke as the new morning anchor.

Bomke comes from KRIV in Houston where she spent the past 3 years anchoring the station's morning newscast.

Bomke has ties to Illinois, she's from Springfield and her parents still live there.

This reunites her with her News Director Tom Doerr, when came from WFLD from KRIV. 

NBC Remembers 9/11.....This Time

This is Matt Lauer on the Today Show breaking the news on September 11, 2001.

This is what the Today Show was showing last year at 8:46AM, the time when the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11. 

The Today Show and NBC took a lot of heat for blowing off the remembrance on 9/11 to talk to Kris Kardashian. 

This is the Today Show this morning.  

It appears that the Today Show has learned their lesson of last year. NBC produced a 4+ minute piece remembering the attacks of 9/11. 

A lot has changed in a year at NBC. A new Network President, a new Today Show EP and a number of other changes. But, give the Peacock credit for not dropping the ball this time. Maybe, just maybe...NBC is moving the Today Show back in the right direction. 

This Poor Kid is in for a Rude Awakening

You have to feel for this college student. Oh to be so young and naive. 

Big Apple Stations Tune to 9/11 Ceremony

Learning lesson from the past, all the New York stations will cover the events taking place around the 9/11 day of remembrance.  

All station's will cover the city’s most somber annual ceremony: the reading of the names of Sept. 11 victims in downtown Manhattan.

The NY Daily News says that New York 1 and Ch. 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 11 will cover much or all of the ceremony, in which families read the names.

The event starts with a moment of silence at 8:46, when the first tower was hit, and include three more moments of silence for the attack on the second tower and the two collapses.

Coverage will begin between 8 and 8:45 a.m., depending on the station, and run until around noon. Some channels intersperse other memorial coverage with the name reading.

National and cable news outlets also plan memorial coverage, though usually in shorter form. NBC’s “Today” took some flak last year for staying with a Kris Jenner interview rather than covering the start of ceremonies.

We're betting they won't make that mistake again this year.