Signing Off in The A-T-L

WXIA 11 Alive sports anchor Randy Walters is retiring next month after 29 years at the station.

He's the longest-running sports anchor in town. He's been reliable, flexible and upstanding. But showy and egotistical? Not on your life.

"I never felt like the big fish," Waters said the to Atlanta Journal Constitution. "I enjoy being out in the field as much or more than being in the studio. There are so many things in life more important than what day or time I'm on TV."

"You're not curing cancer," he added, with a chuckle. "Thank God we don't work on airplanes because we make a lot of mistakes."

His colleague of 21-plus years Fred Kalil called him a great teammate, a helpful human being and a man of many skills. He was thrilled to see Waters take over the evening sports anchor desk for him when Kalil needed to stop doing so for medical reasons a few months ago. "If anybody deserves going out being the main guy, it's him," Kalil said.

Struggling Chicago Stations Continue Ratings Slide

With the November 2013 Nielsen sweeps ratings book just about wrapped up, it's apparent the huge upheaval in two Chicago news departments has not started to pay off.

The Chicago Business Journal says that at Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 and a change in on-air anchor talent at the station isn't helping to pull the station out of its last-place — and dropping — standing among all the local late evening newscasts.

Additionally, CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2's flagship 10 p.m. newscast continues to show significant erosion in its ratings year over year.

Three weeks into the November ratings book, Channel 32's 9 p.m. newscast had dropped to a 1.5 rating from the 2.1 rating it had a year ago Monday through Friday. That puts the station a whopping 2.7 rating points behind Tribune Co.-owned WGN-Channel 9, which currently has a 4.2 rating, up from 4.0 a year ago. Channel 9's hour-long 9 p.m. newscast directly competes for viewers with the sinking Channel 32 newscast at 9 p.m.

Among the stations that air their flagship late newscasts at 10 p.m., so far all are showing slight increases in their November ratings year over year. ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7's late news continues to lead by a comfortable margin with a 8.7 rating. In second place is NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 with a 5.9, and then Channel 2 with a 4.6, down from a 5.5 a year ago.

The old spin line is that "change takes time to resonate with the viewers". And it's true. But, you never hope that after the changes are made your ratings go down even further. 

Stay tuned... 

Fired Indy Anchor has Retained Counsel

Yesterday, FTVLive FIRST told you that WTHR (Indianapolis) Weekend morning anchor Nicole Pence (pictured) was terminated.

No word on why she was sacked. Her bio has been scrubbed from the station's website. 

FTVLive reached out to WTHR News Director Kathy Hostetter. and got no response.

It appears that Pence the niece of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is not going to go away quietly. 

Yesterday, FTVLive received this statement from Pence's legal team, "Nicole Pence has turned this over to her legal counsel, John Taylor at Faegre Baker Daniels. Mr. Taylor is handling it and is also working alongside Pence's media agent, Matthew Kingsley, with 3 Kings Entertainment."

We're going to go out on a limb here and say that Pence did not leave the station "to spend more time with her family."

Stay tuned.... 

Couric Negotiating Exit from ABC News

In a surprise to no one, word is that Katie Couric is looking to end her deal with ABC News.

The Hollywood Reporter says that less than three years after joining ABC in a lucrative and wide-ranging deal that included a daytime talk show and a role at ABC News, Couric is negotiating an exit package.

Couric is looking to leave ABC and join Internet company Yahoo. 

ABC News declined comment. But an executive told THR: “Katie is an incredible journalist and this was an opportunity that she couldn’t pass up.  Thanks to the powerful association between ABC News and Yahoo we know that Katie will continue to work closely with us and welcome her on our air anytime.”

Reporter: Quit Showing us Your Damn Snow Covered Patio

KUSA's Kyle Clark wants viewers to get a bit more creative with the pictures that they send into the station.

Watch his report below:

Two Fired at Indianapolis Station

Sources tell FTVLive that two staffers were fired in two separate incidents at WTHR in Indianapolis. 

Sources tell FTVLive that Two newsroom staffers were fired at WTHR on Wednesday.

Weekend morning anchor Nicole Pence (pictured) was terminated. No word on why she was sacked. Her bio has been scrubbed from the station's website. 

In even a more bizarre firing, sources tell FTVLive that a morning show producer was canned and it might be because of Donald Trump.

Our source says that the Producer was fired for inaccuracies in a story involving Donald Trump's wife Melania. Trump's wife has been in Indy testifying it the Hilbert/Menard lawsuit involving her skincare products.

Word is that the Trump's were not happy about some of WTHR's reporting and threatened to sue the station if the producer was not fired.

FTVLive has reached out to WTHR News Director Kathy Hostetter. We'll let you know when we hear back. 

Fired St. Louis Anchor Loses Another Round in Court

Fired KMOV Anchor Larry Connors attempt to return to St. Louis television has been thwarted again by the courts.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch says that on Wednesday, a St. Louis County Circuit Judge denied Conners' appeal of her Oct. 4 ruling on his non-compete clause.

In that ruling, the Judge removed the portion that banned Conners from working on a radio station for one year after he was fired from KMOV back in May. She kept in force the portion that prevents him from working on-air at a local television station.

On Wednesday, the Judge denied Conners' appeal, saying the court "finds that no further purposes would be served by additional findings of fact and conclusions of law."

Conners said he will continue to fight the ruling "because it's just wrong, according to the Missouri Supreme Court. I'm not going away." 

We can only hope that he will. 

Idiot Shines Laser at News Chopper

WYFF (Greenville, SC) was covering a car accident on a local highway. The station had news chopper above the accident scene, when some idiot started shining a laser at the WYFF news chopper Sky 4.

The man repeatedly pointed the laser at Sky 4 until it hit the windshield of the helicopter, causing a blinding bright green flare that filled the front view out of the chopper.

"When he hit us with that laser, the first thing I saw was the whole cockpit lit up green," said pilot Phil Tate. 

WYFF News 4 assignment editor Jimmy McCray coordinated with Tate and the Greenville County Sheriff's Office via phone, and they were able to provide a detailed description of the vehicle, including a license plate number.  Deputies pulled the truck over and questioned the man in the reflective vest when the truck was stopped on I-85.

Tate said he has been told that the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office will be speaking with the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI, and they will determine whether federal charges will be pursued in the incident. FAA officials in Atlanta confirmed Thursday that they are also investigating the incident.  As of Thursday afternoon, no charges had been filed.

Interfering with the operation of an aircraft is a felony punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  In addition, the FAA can impose a civil penalty of up to $11,000 for each violation.

Video of the incident at WYFF's website 

CNN's Cuomo: Live TV is Hard

CNN morning Anchor Chris Cuomo admits that being on the air for an extended period of time is a lot harder than he thought.

"I didn't give enough respect to the discipline and skill set of being on TV for long amounts of time," he said to the Hollywood Reporter. "I have always considered myself a coverage guy. I've covered lots of different things for lots of years, but only for small amounts of time. I didn't respect the idea of being on TV for an hour, two hours, three hours, five hours and what that demands. It's much more involved and difficult than I knew coming into it."

As for his Co-Anchor Kate Bolduan, she is still sticking up for the New Day couch, or at least the couch walk. 

The couch walk is a stupid segment is sponsored. The anchors walk to a couch while a commercial airs. The Daily Show's Jon Stewart rightfully criticized the segment and it has generated a great deal of attention, none of it positive.

"You want the show to get attention. Jon Stewart draws a lot of attention for various things," Bolduan said. "I love the ad, we have a lot of fun with it. If you can't have a little bit of fun with three hours of live TV from 6 to 9 in the morning, what are you doing?"

Oh Kate....do you really want us to answer that? 

I don't think so. 

Illinois Anchor to Have Brain Surgery

WCIA (Champaign, Illinois) Anchor Dave Benton has been off the air the last few days and now we know why.

Benton posted on the station's Facebook page that he is about to undergo brain surgery:

You may have noticed I've been gone a few days and I wanted to let you know why. I'm scheduled to have brain surgery tomorrow. Doctors found a tumor and they're taking it out. We will know more after that. I hope to be back to work after Thanksgiving. 

I believe in the power of prayer. The more people sending some up for me the better.

Thanks for your support,
Dave

Benton has been at WCIA since 2005. Here's hoping all goes well and he'll be back in the chair soon. 

Expanding The News in Charlotte

WSOC in Charlotte is expanding their newscast, but it's on a different channel.

Channel 9 Eyewitness News at 10 pm on WAXN TV64 (which is a very long name for a newscast) will be expanding its weeknight prime time late newscasts to a full hour, debuting Monday, Dec. 2.

“We’re committed to delivering valuable local news and weather coverage, and by expanding the newscast to one hour, we’re giving viewers more relevant content to consume,” says Joe Pomilla, VP and general manager of WSOC/WAXN TV.   

There will be no changes to the anchor line-up, said WSOC/WAXN News Director Julie Szulczewski.  

“Channel 9’s Natalie Pasquarella will continue to anchor the newscast each weeknight at 10 p.m. on WAXN-TV64 along with Channel 9 Chief Meteorologist Steve Udelson,” Szulczewski said.

Mile High Hires

There is some job movement in the Denver Market.

The Denver Post reports that Political Reporter Eli Stokols, who has anchored KDVR on Sunday night for months on a fill-in basis, is promoted to Sunday night anchor for Fox31 Denver News at 5 p.m., 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Fox31 and Channel 2 news boss Ed Kosowski on Thursday made two weekend anchor appointments.

In addition to Stokols’ move, Heather Mills (pictured) joins KDVR-KWGN as weekend anchor and reporter from KOB, the NBC affiliate in Albuquerque, where she anchors the weekday morning and noon newscasts. She will begin in January.

Kosowski said he plans to announce more new hires next week. As previously noted, the station has seen some recent departures and has been short-staffed of late.

Competing Sports Anchors Team Up to Open Restaurant

They may compete against each other on the air, but off, they break bread together.

Robert Feder says that  Ryan Baker of CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2, Lou Canellis of Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 and Kip Lewis of Comcast SportsNet Chicago are partners in a venture to launch “something between a sports bar and a fancier restaurant” in an 8,000-square-foot in Chicago.

“You know the risks involved,” Baker told Chicago Real Estate Daily. “You know the odds, but again, when you are part of a group, part of a team, that lessens the individual risk.” Baker declined to say how much he or the others invested.

The still-unnamed restaurant is expected to open by “early spring at the latest.”

Cincy Station to Put Website Behind Paywall

WCPO in Cincinnati says that starting in January, their website is going behind a paywall. 

E.W. Scripps called the paywall “the first-ever premium subscription service for a TV station’s digital content.”

Let's hope that the station offers up content that the other stations in town don't, or this experiment will fail miserably.

The station claims to have added a number of staffers to the website. 

“We’ve built a best-in-class digital news experience that delivers on local depth, perspective and analysis while continuing to dominate the marketplace on the investigative reporting, breaking news and weather coverage the audience depends on us for,” Adam Symson, chief digital officer for E.W. Scripps, said ina statement. “Our first major step came when we grew our team and introduced new digital reporters. Next, we unveiled our redesigned website and news apps for the smartphone and tablet.”

Starting today, WCPO.com users will notice a “9” icon next to premium story headlines on the website and in its news apps, the station said. In January, the company will roll out a new subscription plan for its original content.

You know other stations will be watching this very closely to see if the Cincy station can pull it off. 

Stay tuned.... 

H/T NetNewsCheck