MSNBC Looks to Hire Sinatra's Love Child

MSNBC the cable news network that doesn't cover news or hire news people is close to a deal to hire Ronan Farrow.

Farrow has been in the news lately when his Mom Mia Farrow came out and said that Ronan might be the love child of Frank Sinatra.  

Page Six says that MSNBC is looking for Ronan to become a news correspondent and a future Anderson Cooper-style “face of the network” anchor.

Farrow has been in talks with network execs for months, and is set to become MSNBC’s next new face after Alec Baldwin, who premieres his “Up Late” show on Friday.

Farrow’s deal is part of a move to inject new energy into the left-leaning channel, which has struggled due to its focus on opinion rather than breaking news during the election cycle.

While MSNBC reps declined to comment, a network source tells us, “They’re just finalizing the contract. Ronan is not going to get his own show off the bat, but they are going to develop him, have him work on stories and build his TV news credentials. He’ll work across the whole lineup. He’s 25, everybody knows he’s very bright, but he’s not getting his own show — yet.”

Another TV source told Page Six, “This looks very much like an attention-grabbing move. Just as when Anderson Cooper joined CNN, and ­everybody was talking about him being Gloria Vanderbilt’s son, Ronan may be very smart, but he is also a genetic prodigy.”

Megyn Kelly off to a Roaring Start

Megyn Kelly's move to prime time on Fox News got off to a great start. Kelly's“The Kelly File” handily beat rivals in total viewers.

According to early Nielsen totals, Fox News Channel’s “The Kelly File” lured nearly 2.1 million viewers between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m,. Monday evening, compared with 997,466 for MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” and 529,946 for CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight.” 

Maddow still pulled out a win in the demos, but FNC has to be happy with Kelly's break from the gate.  

In fact, FNC's new line up from 7 to 11 did very well on it's opening night. 

The four-hour lineup of “On The Record with Greta van Susteren,” “The O’Reilly Factor,” “The Kelly File” and “Hannity” brought in more viewers overall than the MSNBC and CNN lineups combined, according to the early Nielsen figures. Fox News Channel generated more than 2 million viewers, compared with 1,009,000 for MSNBC and 516,000 for CNN. Among viewers between 25 and 54, Fox News Channel attracted 329,000, while MSNBC attracted 314,000 and CNN generated 144,000.

H/T Variety  

A Newsroom Marriage

When you watch HBO's the Newsroom, you see office romances popping up inside the newsroom. 

It is one part of the show that the Newsroom's creator Aaron Sorkin got right. In fact every now and then, those newsroom romances blossom into a full blown marriage.

That's what happened in B-More, when WJZ sports director Mark Viviano said I do to WJZ executive producer Megan Walburn.

The couple was married last month and even though the Sports Director married the News EP, he's still not getting more time for his sportscast. 

Even in marriage, some things never change. 

Newscast Shake Up in Rochester

Rochester, NY television news will see a large shuffle Jan. 1 as WUHF ends eight years of running newscasts from WROC and starts carrying news from WHAM instead.

That swap, with ABC affiliate WHAM also taking over the sales operations for WUHF, a Fox affiliate, comes as a 2005 joint services agreement between WUHF and WROC expires.

The 10 p.m. news show WHAM currently produces for the local CW station, broadcast on Channel 13.2, WHAM's second digital signal, will move to Fox and be called "13 WHAM News at 10 on Fox Rochester"....which might go down as the longest name for a newscast ever. 

"We have the No. 1 news broadcast news brand in the market ... and we're going to continue to do that brand on Fox," said WHAM General Manager Chuck Samuels. "We're not going to pretend we're something else."

With WHAM news personnel doing the Fox newscast, he added, "Everyone's going to know it's 13 WHAM's production."

Similarly, WHAM's 7-9 a.m. newscast, also currently on CW, will likewise move to Fox and be renamed "Good Day Rochester," Samuels said.

The CW morning and evening newscast holes will be filled with syndicated programming, Samuels said.

The news swap was set in motion in December 2012, when Sinclair Broadcast Group, which already owned Fox Rochester, bought the non-license assets — including such physical assets as the studio equipment and building — of the Rochester ABC and CW affiliate from Newport Television LLC, which sold all its stations and dissolved.

WHAM expects to add six people in sales and three in news as a result of the WUHF acquisition, bringing its headcount to more than 100, Samuels said.

H/T Democrat and Chronicle 

Shuffling Off from Buffalo

WGRZ part-time meteorologist Mary Beth Wrobel is leaving the world of TV news.

Wrobel is signing off from the Gannett station on Saturday before leaving for a job outside of television on the West Coast.

WGRZ general manager, Jim Toellner, said that Wrobel has accepted a sales and marketing job in Seattle, Wash. In other words, Wrobel will be trading snow for rain.

She will be ending a lengthy career in the Buffalo market that spanned two stations.

Wrobel joined WGRZ as a fill-in weathercaster in December of 2009, about six months after she was let go by WIVB after nine years as the weekend meteorologist there.

H/T Buffalo News

CNBC Staffers Fired for Stealing

CNBC recently fired two employees for stealing after conducting its own in-house sting operation, according to sources.

The NY Post says that the network set up cameras to catch the thieves on tape pilfering cosmetics and camera equipment, one source said.

One female assistant was terminated for swiping makeup from the green room and reselling it, while a second staffer was let go after he was revealed to be running an outside studio using stolen CNBC equipment, the source said.

“They organized a sting operation where they went to the location and saw all the equipment,” said the source. “They have an NSA-style operation going on over there to catch people breaking the rules.”

The network, part of media giant NBCUniversal, confirmed the two staffers were no longer working for company but declined to comment on the circumstances of their departure.

CNBC is weeding out waste, fraud and abuse even as it struggles to sort out its own ratings woes.

The latest quarterly ratings show the business network hit a 20-year low in the key 25-to-54-year-old demographic, averaging just 38,000 viewers. Overall viewers averaged roughly 133,000.

Despite the ratings slump, NBC­Universal Chairwoman Patricia Fili-Krushel has renewed CNBC chief Mark Hoffman’s contract for another three years.

A CNBC spokesman declined to comment on employee contracts.

Ari Fleischer Leaves CNN....Wait! What?!

Former George Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer has left his contributor role at CNN and will be appearing on Fox News.

“Ari is no longer a contributor with CNN,” the Network said.

The funny thing is, FTVLive talked to two people that work at CNN and they didn't even know that Fleischer was affiliated with the network. Although many may have seen Ari walking around the network and thought it was Jeff Zucker. 

Fleischer’s sent out a Tweet saying that he would be appearing on Fox News’ “Hannity” and Fox Business’ “Cavuto.”

We expect you will see him pop up on other Fox News shows in the future.  

Stay tuned....  

Atlanta Anchor Signing Off

After 7 years at WXIA, Morning anchor Ted Hall says he's leaving the station at the end of the year

Hall broke the news on his Facebook page:

Hello friends, I want you to be among the first to know that I have decided to leave WXIA-TV at the end of the year.

I want to give my friends here as much time as possible to find a replacement.

We haven't decided what's next, or where.

Why? It's time to be a free agent and see what's out there, any ideas?

Hall came to Atlanta in 2006 after 18 years in Knoxville to be an evening anchor. He was moved to mornings as an anchor to replace retiring Jill Becker in 2011. 

His youngest son, Keaton, 16, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in the mid-2000s. Keaton had surgery at the time but the cancerous tumor came back earlier this year.  He again has succcessful brain surgery in May.

H/T Atlanta Journal Constitution 

Changing Channels

3 Kings Entertainment, LLC is pleased to announce the following job placements:

JEFF HERNDON joins FOX O&O WFLD-TV in Chicago as the main weeknight anchor of “FOX 32 News at 9pm” from anchor/reporter at KAKE in Wichita, Kansas.

JAN JEFFCOAT becomes evening anchor of the 5pm, 7pm & 11pmnewscasts for WUSA 9 in Washington, DC from host of Scripps syndicated news magazine, "The List."

LISA SYLVESTER joins WPXI in Pittsburgh as evening anchor of the 6pm,10pm & 11pm newscasts from anchor/correspondent at CNN in Washington, DC.

JOY LIM NAKRIN moves back to her hometown of Boston and joins FOX O&O WFXT as a reporter, anchor and legal expert from anchor/reporter at KSTP in Minneapolis.

KYLE MONTGOMERY becomes a host and reporter for "Clippers Live" on Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket in Los Angeles from anchor/reporter at KPRC in Houston.

AIYANA CRISTAL moves to Comcast SportsNet Chicago as an anchor/reporter for SportsNet Central from sports reporter at WPLG in Miami.

TODD KURTZ jumps 69 markets and becomes the morning anchor/reporter at KOAT in Albuquerque, New Mexico from anchor/reporter at WDAY in Fargo, North Dakota.

Jeff, Jan, Lisa, Joy, Kyle, Aiyana and Todd are all represented byMatthew Kingsley.

Matthew is the President & CEO of 3 Kings Entertainment, LLC. P: (713) 248-1210 

E: matthew@3kingsentertainment.net W: http://www.3kingsentertainment.net

Bumped Up the Food Chain in Motown

WJBK in Detroit has named Kevin Roseborough has been named the News Director. The announcement was made by WJBK GM Mike Renda.

“Kevin has played a major role in the success of FOX 2 news. His excellent editorial judgment and outstanding leadership made this decision an easy one,”  Renda said.

Roseborough joined FOX 2 in 1994 as Managing Editor. He then became Executive Producer of the Problem Solvers investigative unit for eight award-winning years. Since 2006, he has served as Assistant News Director of WJBK. Prior to joining FOX 2, Roseborough worked at the Detroit Free Press for 11 years in a variety of editing positions, including Night City Editor.

Added Roseborough, “It’s a thrill to be leading the outstanding FOX 2 news team I have worked alongside for 19 years. There is nothing more important to me than the trust we have established with our viewers by providing them with relevant local news coverage at a time when Detroit faces some of the biggest challenges in its history. I look forward to leading our team in keeping this commitment to edgy, interesting and exclusive journalism.”

He replaces Dana Hahn who was moved over to Fox's WTTG in DC.  

We Can't Stop Watching This Prank Video

A sequel to the movie 'Carrie'is coming out and the company promoting the movie used a very well done prank to drum up some attention for the movie.

It has already racked up over 3 million views on YouTube. Take a look: 

Anderson Cooper Takes Shot at Fox News, MSNBC

Props to CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Coop faced off with Republican congressman Raul Labrador on Monday night, telling him at one point during the back-and-forth on media bias that he should expect tough questions whenever he goes on a network that isn't Fox News or MSNBC.

Here's the video: 

Big Easy Station: We are NOT For Sale

WVUE in New Orleans says that reports that the station is being sold are "not true."

A number of websites reported that an Alabama TV station group is “closing in on a deal” to purchase WVUE.

“There is no sale pending,” said Greg Bensel, Tom Benson's  spokesman “The station is not for sale.”

Benson, who owns the New Orleans Saints, purchased WVUE in 2008 for Louisiana Media Company LLC, which he owns.

The reports were based on a brief item in the October edition of “The Advisor,” a publication of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, which trumpets the “proposed purchase” of WVUE by Raycom Media, described in the item as “one of RSA’s largest investments.” The publication states Raycom “owns and/or provides services for 52 stations in 36 markets.”

"The Advisor" reported the sale price as $55.6 million. Benson bought WVUE from Indiana-based Emmis Communications Corp. in 2008 for $41 million.

Calls for comment to Raycom and David Bronner, RSA’s CEO, were not immediately returned.

“There’s nothing to it,” Bensel said. “Mr. Benson plans to keep Fox locally owned in New Orleans.”

H/T The Times-Picayune  

Twitter Continues to Tee Off on Philly Anchor

FTVLive told you about Fox Philly Anchor Joyce Evans Tweet that was at the very least in poor taste.  

Evans compared some real life shootings in Philly to the TV show Breaking Bad in a Tweet. Here's the Tasteless tweet she sent out:

After getting slammed in comments on Twitter, now the Tweet Community is having a bit of fun at Evans expense. 

Here are some samples: 

Fired Anchor Was Highest Paid at St. Louis Station

Yesterday, FTVLive told you that a judge ruled that fired St. Louis Anchor Larry Conners could seek a job in radio.  

Circuit Judge Kristine Allen Kerr stripped the word “radio” from a no-compete clause in Conners’ contract with KMOV but preserved the rest, which bars him from working for another television station in the St. Louis market for one year after his firing from KMOV.

In the ruling there was an interesting tidbit that you don't get to see often. How much the highest paid anchor at KMOV was making. 

Here's a portion of the judge's ruling, obtained by FTVLive: 

As you can see, Conners was pulling down just over $260,000 a year. It's not a bad chuck of change but when you think about the fact that he anchored at the St. Louis station for 25+ years, it seems like it would be more.

It shows you that once you leave the very top markets, TV Anchors really aren't making the bucks that many think. 

And remember Conners was "without dispute" the highest paid Anchor at the station. Maybe that job in PR is looking better and better for some of you.  

Just saying.....