Former Chicago Reporter is Dead

Robert Feder says they don’t make reporters like Hugh Hill anymore.

A giant of Chicago journalism for 43 years, he practically invented the role of political reporter on local television news and played it longer and with more gusto than anyone.

Hill, who died Friday at 89, interviewed every U.S. president from Truman to Clinton and covered every Chicago mayor from Daley to Daley. His in-your-face style of interrogation and remarkable institutional memory made him a legend.

“When he talked, politicians listened,” veteran reporter Chuck Goudie recalled on Facebook Friday. “Hugh taught me this: at any news conference ask the first question, make it the only question that matters — and ask it loud enough that it has to be answered.”

More from Feder

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Les Smith is getting sucked back into TV News. 

The former Norfolk anchor is returning to the air this election season.

Smith will start Monday as a reporter for WTKR, covering races around Hampton Roads. “Finding out what they really think aside from a 30-second commercial,” he said.

Smith worked at WAVY from 1985 until he resigned in 2007. He worked briefly at WTKR the following year before exiting there. He’s acknowledged recently that depression was a factor in his departures.

Smith also is working as a real estate agent, so the television job is not permanent. It’s just a temporary opportunity he couldn’t pass up. He said he’s been covering politics since 1982.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “Politics is in my skill-set.”

In a bit of irony, one of the races Smith will likely cover is for Chesapeake sheriff. The challenger in that race also is named Les Smith. The two are not related, though.  

H/T The Virginian-Pilot

Could Disney Convert ABC to a Cable Channel?

Disney has seen huge success with their sports cable channel ESPN. 

But, could the Mouse be looking to turn ABC into a cable only channel as well? And it would have a huge if not devastating impact on their affiliates. 

And if you wonder who is to blame?  You can blame Aereo as one of the biggest reasons why ABC is considering this. 

The Wall Street Journal reports that even as major broadcasters fight Aereo in court, some have also pondered another way to fight the video streaming service – by converting to a cable network.

Chase Carey, chief operating officer of Fox network’s parent Twenty-First Century Fox publicly flagged that possibility last spring. Less well known is that ABC network’s parent Co privately considered a similar move for ABC around the same time, say people familiar with the situation.

That idea was one of many options considered as part of a strategic review “fire drill”, the people said. These included whether to sell ABC’s owned and operated TV stations while keeping the network, one of the people said, an idea that dovetails with converting ABC to a cable channel.

A cable network doesn’t broadcast its signal over the air like broadcast networks, preventing Aereo from taking the signal and re-transmitting it online to paid subscribers, as it is doing with the broadcast networks in certain markets. That has prompted legal action from broadcasters, including a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court asking for its intervention.

As part of the review, Disney considered other options as well. Bankers were involved, pitching various sale ideas, including of the stations, says another person familiar with the situation.

Disney ended up deciding a sale didn’t make strategic sense. That hasn’t stopped lots of rumors circulating in recent weeks – the New York Post reported on Friday that the company was mulling a sale of the stations, for instance. One person close to the situation says the stations are not for sale.

Rep. Bill Young is Dead - Fox News First with the News*

Rep. Bill Young passed away yesterday in Florida at age 82.

Fox News was first to report the news, beating the competition by over 24 hours on the story. 

Of course, their being first does come with a bit of an asterisk .

Sponsor Love - Mediastars

As another week wraps up (don't worry will still update stories this weekend), and it's another web traffic record for FTVLive.

We give a big shout out to the sponsors of FTVLive.

We reached out to only the best companies and asked them to help support this website and they stepped up in a big way.

One of those sponsors is MediaStars Worldwide. The main person behind MediaStars is Micah Johnson.

Micah is one of those guys that has done it all in this business. Working behind the camera, in front of the camera as an anchor and reporter and years in News Management. Johnson makes a great agent because he has been on the other side of the table. 

Micah is also a Social Media Guru. The guy has thousands of followers on social media and seems to post updates 24/7. As an early adopter of  Micah understands the power of Facebook & Twitter to brand and promote clients. This has resulted in many successes and an ability to mentor others in social media strategy. His own use of social media has allowed him to trend  #1 in Washington DC and the U.K.  Social media is an important part of MediaStars' recruiting and communication. 

Micah also knows how important it is to negotiating talent's control of social media in their contracts with TV stations. 

Speaking of your social media account. Check this out.

I'm sure you will learn something about your social media account and what it means to you and your station.  

On This Episode of Friends

The one thing that has been great about starting this website, is the people that I have met and or interacted with because of FTVLive.com.

After working in TV News for 20+ years and working in 13 different cities, I got to meet a lot of people along the way. But, because of FTVLive, I have had the opportunity to meet hundreds of new people as well.

There are some people that I have talked to or emailed with for over a decade and yet I have never met them face to face. I feel like I know them, but I have never met them. 

My top list of people I met solely because of FTVLive and those that I hope to finally meet in person one day. The list is posted in ScottLand.

Megyn Kelly's First Go Round with Sarah Palin

Megyn Kelly has come out of the gate like gang busters with her new prime time show 'The Kelly File.'

The ratings for the show has Roger Ailes dancing in the aisles.

Last night, Kelly brought on Fox News Contributor Sarah Palin for the first time to her new show. Kelly asked one simple question about President Obama and Palin answered with every talking point the Republican Party has ever come up with on the President.

Kelly did her best to get Palin back on topic (or just one topic) but it was a lost cause.  

We're guessing Kelly is smart enough to wait a bit before bringing Palin back on the Kelly File.  

Let's roll the video: 

Disney Looks at Selling O&O's

It looks like Mickey Mouse may want to sell his owned and operated stations. 

Walt Disney Co. is looking to hire an investment bank to explore a possible sale of its eight O&O's and it could make Mickey a lot of cheese.  

The NY Post says Disney’s ABC-affiliated stations are in larger markets could be worth billions if sold off.

The stations including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, and reach roughly 23 percent of US TV households.

The is not the first time Disney has flirted with selling its broadcast group, and sources cautioned that the media giant is still mulling the idea and may decide against it.

Disney isn’t considering a sale of the ABC network, according to sources.

“They are making it clear, the network is not for sale,” one source said.

Disney CEO Bob Iger is interested in what the broadcast business could fetch now that station valuations are much higher than when the company last explored a sale in 2010.

In July, Tribune paid $2.73 billion for 19 stations owned by Local TV, while Sinclair paid $985 million for seven Allbritton-owned stations. Earlier, Gannett bought Belo and its 20 stations for $1.5 billion.

There has been a wave of consolidation as companies buy up TV stations to reap the rising “retransmission” fees cable companies and other distributors cough up for the right to carry broadcast signals.

The more stations a company owns, the more leverage it has when it enters negotiations with pay-TV providers such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

RBC Capital analyst David Bank said rising retrans dollars are one reason Disney may be loath to part with the stations right now despite soaring valuations.

“The station business is better than it’s been in a decade,” Bank said. “However, stations are probably the least synergistic business to the Disney Brand within the platform.”

Revenue for Disney’s broadcast stations totaled $5.82 billion last year, roughly flat with its $5.84 billion in 2011.

Disney’s ABC stations are in the midst of retrans negotiations with satellite-TV operator Dish. Broadcast rival CBS and its stations recently won retrans rates from Time Warner Cable that approach $2 per subscriber a month.

Stay tuned...  

Yeah Baby!

Who says all local news is the same?

Well whoever it was, was right. 

Anchor Not Completely Sold on Commentaries

WOAI (San Antonio) asked longtime Anchor Randy Beamer to start doing commentaries at the end of the late newscasts.

Many anchors would jump at the chance to expound their thoughts to viewers and get some more face time.

Not Beamer.  

“I never thought a news guy should put his opinions on the news,” he said. “I think it’s our job to take them out of news coverage,” Beamer said. 

So why did the station pick him?  “Because I’m old,” the veteran anchor said, “and have covered news here for more than 30 years, they asked me, ‘Why don’t you give a little background or insight on what’s going on?’”

"Beamer's Rant" has aired twice this week.  

The first one was about Washington Shutdown, which seemed like an easy way to start this new segment.  

He concluded by saying his goal with “Beamer’s Rant” is just “to start a conversation” and welcomed other people’s rants as well.

He may not like it, but it looks like he's stuck doing commentaries for a while. Well, at least until the consultants tell him to do otherwise.  

H/T San Antonio Express News

What a Crock

There are all kinds of awards given out to Journalist and TV people and many aren't worth the paper they are printed on. 

Many awards and ceremonies are just money makers for the people that put on the awards.

On November 7th, the New York State Broadcasters Association will induct 5 people into  the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame. The five are, Perry Sook (Nexstar), Rafael Pineda, News Anchor, WXTV New York, Funkmaster Flex, Radio DJ, Curtis Sliwa, Radio Personality and Bill Ransom (pictured), former GM at WKBW in Buffalo.

Last we heard the "Hall of Fame" is normally reserved for people that have had great accomplishments in their careers. 

So how the hell does Bill Ransom get in?! 

The guy took one of the highest rated stations in the country and turned it into a laughing stock. Ransom always cared more about dollars than people and he drove WKBW into the ground.

The staff at WKBW cheered when they found out he was retiring.  

The station is so far back in the ratings, that it could take them a decade or more to recover.  

And yet somehow he's being elected into the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

What a bunch of crap.  

Ummmm...They Weren't Really in Space You Know

The old saying goes there are no dumb questions, just dumb answers. 

An Entertainment Reporter reporter from a Mexican TV proved that statement to be false. 

The Reporter was humiliated after asking Alfonso Cuaron, the director of science fiction thriller Gravity , "What were the technical and human difficulties of filming in space? Was it very difficult, very complicated to film in space? Did the camera operators get sick?"

For those of you playing at home, the zero gravity scenes in the movie were filmed on a sound stage with robots and wires and enhanced with computer imagery.

Other members of the press in the room tried to stifle their giggles as the amused director responded, "We were in space for three-and-a-half months. I got really sick during training."

The journalist, Carlos "El Capi" Pérez, has been bagged out relentlessly on Twitter since the press conference, but he did his best to fight back.

"Excuse me Twitter for being a professional committed to information. Don't tell me I was the only one who had that doubt," the reporter tweeted.

Next he'll be asking the director of The Walking Dead, how he gets the Zombies to do what he wants.  

House Stenographer Emails Fox News with What Happened

House Stenographer Dianne Reidy made things interesting during the vote to end the Government Shutdown.

She walked up to the podium and started shouting religious messages. 

Reidy emailed Fox News to tell them what happened:  

“For the past 2 and 1/2 weeks, the Holy Spirit has been waking me up in the
middle of the night and preparing me (through my reluctance and doubt) to deliver
a message in the House Chamber.
That is what I did last night”

I've woken up a bunch over the last 2 weeks as well, but for me it was gas pains.