NY GM is Kicked to the Curb

Word is that WPIX VP and GM Eric Meyrowitz has been fired from the ratings challenged station.

Sources confirm to Tuned In that Meyrowitz’s last day at Channel 11 was Thursday. There had been rumblings that Meyrowitz would not have his contract renewed. A WPIX spokesperson refused to comment.

Meyrowitz joined WPIX in September 2010.

“I think his hands were tied because of his higher-ups,” a source tells Tuned In. The source adds that Meyrowitz was well-liked within the newsroom causing many to be upset by his axing.

There’s no word on who will succeed Meyrowitz or if an interim GM will be named by the station. One rumor has news director Mark Effron ascending to the new role.

The source believes, “Everybody says if they move him upstairs, [they're] walking out.”

Stay tuned....  

From SoFlo to The City by the Bay

Betty Yu has been named a general assignment reporter for CBS O&O KPIX 5/KBCW.

Yu comes from NBC O&O WTJV in Miami, where she has been a reporter for the last two years.

Prior to that, she was an anchor and reporter for News 12 The Bronx and Brooklyn, a 24-hour cable news station, for four years.  

Yu is a San Francisco Bay Area native, a graduate of the University of California, Berkley with degrees in political science and rhetoric.  She also has a Master of Science degree in journalism from Columbia University.

She starts her new job Today. 

NBC To Broadcast From First Commercial Spaceflight

This November Sweeps, The Today Show took viewers up Matt and Al's Butt. 

But, the Today Show has plans to go to other dark spaces.  

NBC announced that the “Today” show nabbed the rights to broadcast the first-ever commercial spaceflight by next year.

Virgin Galactic head Sir Richard Branson and his adult children, Holly and Sam, will be aboard the SpaceShipTwo when it blasts off on its historic first, and NBC cameras will be in tow.

NBC’s Peacock Productions will launch its blanket coverage ahead of the launch on CNBC, MSNBC, NBCNews.com, Syfy, and The Weather Channel in the lead-up to a three-hour live broadcast on "Today" hosted by Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie.

"Without a doubt, Sir Richard and his children taking the first commercial flight into space, will go down in history as one of the most memorable events on television,” said Sharon Scott, president and general manager of Peacock Productions, in a release. 

H/T NY Daily News 

Matt Lauer Headed to Alaska

Speaking of the Today Show, Matt Lauer will soon be packing his bags for Alaska. 

Lauer will spread some Yuletide cheer with Sarah Palin and her brood riding snowmobiles, ice-fishing and making moose stew.

An NBC source tells Page Six that the arrangements were made as Matt prepared to interview the former vice presidential candidate live on Monday about her new book, “Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas.”

Lauer will visit the Palins in Wasilla in early December for a segment that will air the week of December 16.

He might also do a report on Russia, site of NBC's Olympic coverage, since you can see it from Palin's house. 

Taking a Minute to Apologize

60 Minutes took up a lot of time in their broadcast two weeks ago to tell viewers about what they said happened in Benghazi.  

Last night, they used much less time to say that report was wrong and they were sorry.  

Let's go to the video: 

Save The Station

WMGM has been sold and the buyer is looking to shutdown the station. 

That means everyone including the News Department is out of a job. So staffers at the station are doing what they can to save their job. 

This email is being sent out to viewers pleading for their help: 

Dear NBC 40 Viewer:

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO SAVE NBC 40!
WMGM-TV (NBC 40) IS ABOUT TO GO OFF THE AIR AND 
SOUTH JERSEY WILL LOSE ITS LIFE-SAVING OUTLET

For the last 45 years, NBC 40 has been South Jersey's sole local television news and information outlet. But NBC 40 is going off the air.

And it's not our choice.

NBC 40 owner, Access.1 Communications, has signed a deal to sell the station to LocusPoint Networks, and they have applied to the FCC 
for approval of the sale. To put it bluntly, LocusPoint Networks (LPN) is a spectrum speculator. They are NOT a broadcaster. They want 
NBC 40's TV channel for an FCC auction where it could be sold to the highest bidder, who would in turn use the channel's allotted frequency space for expansion of various wireless services: cell phones and other wireless devices.

 A website has also been set up, urging viewers to contact officials and save the station. It's a nobel effort, but it likely won't change a thing.

Dallas Newsroom to Be Dedicated Today for Former ND

BELO owned WFAA is going dedicate the newsroom Today in memory of longtime News Director Marty Hagg. 

Hagg was revered, feared by those that worked for and with him. Today the station’s newsroom will be dedicated in his memory.

Haag ran that shop, with both an iron fist and a velvet glove, from 1973 to 1989. At that point he became senior vice president/news of the Belo Broadcast Division before retiring in October of 2000. Haag received a career achievement Peabody Award in the following year and died of a stroke on January 2004 at the age of 69.

WFAA, via vice president of product development Dave Muscari, has declined to provide any further details or a statement from management until Monday’s ceremony.

“Until we present this to the station, I don’t want to send a ton of information out about it,” Muscari said in an email response. Followup efforts were futile, with Muscari further clarifying, “It is not appropriate to talk about this publicly until we tell employees. That happens on Monday morning. Sorry if you don’t agree.”

Whatever occurs on Monday will be only a month or so before Belo officially turns over the keys to WFAA and its 19 other TV stations to Gannett Company. 

H/T Ed Bark  

It's Ratings...

....so let's punch a kid in the face during a live shot. 

WJHG Courtesy Panama City.

Time for the Top 5

It's Sunday and you know what that means......

Here are the Top 5 most clicked on stories for the past week.  

No. 5 -  OKC REPORTER TAKES ONE TO THE FACE

No. 4 -  AXE SWINGS AT HLN, MAJOR CHANGES HAPPENING 

No. 3 -  THE CNN COUCH WALK...ARE YOU SITTING DOWN FOR THIS?

No. 2 -  LA ANCHOR SHAKE UP

 and the No. 1 most click on story for the week was: IS TIM DEEGAN DONE AT FIRST COAST NEWS?

Blue News

The Smurfs are those lovable blue characters that kids and adults all love. 

It appears that fact hasn't been lost on WFLD in Chicago. During Friday night's newscast the station turned Reporter Craig Wall blue.

No word if turning Wall into a Smurf helped move the rating needle?

But hey, it's sweeps and station's will try anything. 

MJ Joins Fox Chicago as EP

When you say the initials MJ around Chicago people can think of only one person. 

Michael Jordan.

WFLD in Chicago has hired MJ to EP their revamped morning news.

But, this time the MJ is MJ Witt. 

Witt also has a history in Chicago (just not as big as the other MJ's), she worked at a number of Chicago stations in the past and was even a WGN-AM fill-in host.

Witt is now the new Executive Producer of WFLD's morning show "Good Day Chicago" and she starts the role on Monday. 

Witt also has a long resume working on non traditional news shows. She has worked on  "Extra," "Inside Edition," "Entertainment Tonight"

Witt has spent the past decade operating her own media consulting firm. 

Which professions have the most psychopaths? TV Near the Top

This is not going to come as a surprise to people that work in TV News. 

The Week breaks down which professions have the most psychopaths?

TV is near the top of the list at No. 3. right behind Lawyers. Go figure.

Journalist is also on the list at No. 6. 

So, in other words, we're so crazy, we basically made the Top 10....Twice! 

The Week says psychopath doesn't just mean someone who cuts you up with a chainsaw — though the majority of people who do things like that are psychopaths. 

Psychopathy is a personality disorder that has been variously described as characterized by shallow emotions (in particular reduced fear), stress tolerance, lacking empathy, coldheartedness, lacking guilt, egocentricity, superficial character, manipulativeness, irresponsibility, impulsivity, and antisocial behaviors such as parasitic lifestyle and criminality.

Here's the list for most and least for Psychopathy:

Headed to Enemy Territory

WISN in Milwaukee has hired a new Reporter.

Ben Hutchison will "bring his versatile reporting skills" to the station starting Monday.

Hutchison, an Illinois native, most recently worked at WTVO in Rockford, where he worked as a news anchor and reporter.

His sports heavy background includes stints as sports anchor and sports reporter. Before joining WTVO in 2011, he was an intern with the Chicago White Sox and an ESPN freelancer.

He has a BA in broadcast journalism from Northern Illinois University where he served as sports director at the campus station. 

The "depth and breadth" of his "experience makes him a perfect addition to our reporting," said WISN news director Chris Gegg. 

His WTVO Facebook page lists him as a "die-hard Cubs, Bulls, Bears and Blackhawks fan." 

Not good for a guy headed to the land of the Packers and Brewers.  

H/T Milwaukee Journal and Sentinel  

Former Anchor to Return to Station As Producer

Here's something you don't see very often. 

A former TV Anchor returns to her old station, but as a Producer this time. 

WWAY (Wilmington, NC) Anchor Marcy Cuevas signed off from the station in 2012. Now, she is coming back to WWAY as a Producer of  a new newscast the station will launch early next year.

Marcy Cuevas will be the producer for the station's 10 p.m. newscast that starts Jan. 6, 2014, on The Cape Fear CW.

Cuevas started at WWAY in August 1999. In Sept. 2012 she decided to take on a new role as full-time mom to her three young children. During her 14 years at the station, Marcy moved up from reporter to eventually anchor every newscast at some point. She is perhaps best known for her time as anchor of "Good Morning Carolina" from Jan. 2006 until the fall of 2011.

The station says that after a year away from the station, though, she decided she missed the news business and wondered if there might be a job available that would let her spend the day with her kids and get her news fix at night. They say life is about timing, and it clearly is, because we had just started searching for a part-time producer for The Cape Fear CW 10 p.m. newscast.

The station hired her back.

WWAY says viewers won't see much of  Cuevas on air. Her role now is behind the camera.