60 Days and Counting....

We have reached a milestone here at FTVLive.com.

60 days ago we talked to KNBC spokesperson Terri Rosales Hernandez and asked her to confirm our story that KNBC Anchor Lucy Noland was off the 6PM newscast.

Rosales Hernandez PROMISED to call us back in "two minutes."

Since that promise, Noland has left KNBC all together (which by the way was also FIRST reported by FTVLive), and we still haven't heard from the PR spokeswoman. 

The clock has now reached 60 days.

Will she call before Christmas? News Years? The 4th of July?

We'll let you know when she gets back to us.

Give us "two minutes." 

The clock continues to click away on the lower right side of every page on FTVLive. 

Another Brick in the Wall

Looking for that last minute gift?

How about getting that special someone a Brick in the FTVLive Brick Wall (the most hollowed ground on the internet).

We added a couple of more bricks to The Wall Today and yours can be next. It's also a way to help you support this website and keep the lights on at the FTVLive World Headquarters. 

Visit the FTVLive Brick Wall now!!! 

And Then there was None....

A study done In 2006 showed there were only 18 African American-owned and operated full-power commercial TV stations in the country.

That represented just 1.3 percent of all such stations.

Fast forward 6 years later to December 2012 and the number of Black owned stations had shrunk to just 5. 

Today, there are none.

Roberts Broadcasting, a black-owned media company, just announced a deal to sell its three remaining full-power TV stations to ION Media Networks for nearly $8 million.

Media consolidation has made it harder for people of color to own broadcast stations because it raises entry barriers for small owners. Concentration makes it harder for any small owner to compete, and the few non-white broadcast licensees we have are far more likely to be small owners who control just a handful of stations or a single broadcast outlet.

It’s hard to fathom the sorry state of broadcast ownership during the administration of our nation’s first black president. After all, during his first presidential campaign, President Obama pledged to “encourage diversity in the ownership of broadcast media.”

Obviously that hasn’t happened.

H/T Detroit Free Press

Meet the Fockers....errrr...New Owners

FTVLive told you this morning that Meredith purchased KMOV in St. Louis and KTVK in Phoenix.

KTVK sources tell FTVLive that the Meredith suits are flying into Phoenix this afternoon. An "all hands on deck" meeting has been called for 3PM.

It will be a chance for the staff to meet their new owners. 

And Even More Cuts at CNN

This morning, FTVLive told you about job cuts going down at CNN.

Now, sources are telling FTVLive that another 10 or so people were kicked to the curb.

Word is that at 10 least people from CNN's the row are jobless.

The Row falls under standards and practices and is a group of executive producers responsible for daily package script approval. It's headed up by SVP Richard Griffiths.

Since Jeff Zucker plans call for less news at CNN that means there are less scripts to approve and that equals job cuts. 

Merry Christmas!

Meredith to Buy Phoenix, St. Louis Stations

As the Gannet/BELO deal is going through, there were two stations that's future were up in the air.

KTVK and KMOV are now going to go to Meredith Broadcasting. Meredith has agreed to purchase the broadcast assets of both television stations.

"These acquisitions are consistent with our successful Total Shareholder Return strategy and will be immediately accretive to earnings, excluding upfront transaction costs," said Meredith Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stephen M. Lacy.  "These are high performing stations and will add to our already strong cash flow. We will increase our presence in the large and growing Phoenix market, where we own KPHO, the CBS affiliate.  KMOV (CBS) in St. Louis adds another Top 25 market to our portfolio, and when combined with KCTV (CBS) in Kansas City, gives us powerful local brands in two of the Midwest's top news and sports markets."

Stay tuned.... 

The FTVLive Slammy Awards!!!!

Starting Today and going through the rest of the year, FTVLive kicks off the only award show that is worth watching. 

It's the FTVLive Slammy Awards!

The First Slammy goes out in the category of "The Stupidest thing said in a live Report."

The award goes to CNN Reporter Deborah Feyerick and her live report during the Boston Marathon bombing.

Feyerick frantically wants the coverage to come to her as she reports....wait for it..... a dog is barking.

She then asked taking about the dog "is it a canine? We don't know." 

Yes Deborah it was a canine, just like every other dog in the world. 

Congrats on your Slammy!

Let's go to the video:

AX Swings at CNN

Sources tell FTVLive that CNN has quietly let go of some more staff as Jeff Zucker continues to shake things up.

As FTVLive FIRST told you, Zucker wants CNN to be almost completely New York based. He has told anchors and top producers in Atlanta to pack their bags for the Big Apple.

Now word comes of more people being kicked to the curb.

CNN sources say just about everyone except Anchor Carl Azuz was pink slipped from CNN's Student News. 

CNN Student is newscast aimed at middle school, high school and college students. It is streamed online. 

Student news wasn't the only one that caught the Zucker pink slip express. Word is that around 30 were let go in talent development and promotions.

Just about everyone in Atlanta is looking over their shoulder with Zucker looking to move operations north.

Stay tuned.... 

Note: Note earlier we said that CNN Student News started in 2012, it has been around longer than that. It was just one part of their streaming that started in 2012. 

Weatherman was Fired for Nude Pics

The rumors were there and now we find out they were true.

The reason WPTV fired weatherman Rob Lopicola in 2006 was finally made public in his sentencing for his sex crimes against children. 

A prosecutor in the child-sex case against the 44-year-old ex-TV weatherman explained to the court that Lopicola was fired after emailing nude photos of himself to someone he wanted to have sex with!

Somehow, the photo ended up with WPTV managers, who then quietly fired the then-popular Lopicola after 8 years on the job.

The station did  their best to not say why they fired Lopicola, but it came out in court. 

Lopicola was sentenced to 56 months in state prison. It was well short of the 10+ years he could have gotten. 

H/T Gossip Extra

Using the Press Pass to Jump the Line

While hundreds of people waited outside the new H&M store on King Street in Charleston, SC local reporters were let in early to get a sneak peek.

But some used the press entry early into the store to not report, but to shop.

They were using their jobs as reporters to ‘beat the crowds.’ One of them wasn’t even on the clock at the time

How do we know? They tweeted about it.

Hernandez also tweeted that she was off that day and was using the early entry as a shopping venue only. A local blog called her out and she replied.

So blogs aren't news? Hmmmm? Well we'll see how many people in this industry read this blog and remember Hernandez's run across the ethical line?

But she wasn't the only one using the early entry to shop.

WCSC's Meaghan Wallace also beat the crowds to do some shopping.

Not sure how it works in Charleston, but in the rest of the media world this not ethical and is just plain wrong. 

Not sure how much damage you did to your wallet Haley.....but you did some real damage to your reputation as a Journalist.

But then again, we're just a blog, so what we say doesn't matter.

Right? 

H/T Post and Courier 

The Revolving Door at WNBC

People continue to leave WNBC both in front and behind the camera.

For the past few years we've been telling you about the masses of employees who have left WNBC's news department. The numbers are head shaking because historically, every station in New York has been very stable. People work hard to get to New York, and once they get there, they tend to stay. But that hasn't been the case at WNBC.

Four employees have quit in the last two weeks- the assistant news director to go to Telemundo, the managing editor back to Detroit, an assignment editor to an overnight shift at CBS, and even the HR director is leaving also.

Below is the email announcing the departure of Ozzie Martinez (pictured) the station's Assistant News Director, who has only been in that role a little more than a year.  

News director Susan Sullivan makes sure in the email to point that her former #2 is still with the company and that the move was made for personal reasons, not because the news department is in turmoil and ratings are low:

From: Sullivan, Susan M (NBCUniversal, WNBC) 
Sent: Monday, December 09, 2013 12:07 PM
To: @NBC Uni WNBC AllEmployees
Cc: Martinez, Manuel (NBCUniversal, WTVJ); Keeshan, Kevin (NBCUniversal)
Subject: ozzie

Over the last 5 years, we have covered blizzards, hurricanes, a terrible mass murder, and a plane splash landing in the Hudson.

And through it all Ozzie Martinez has been there. The can-do guy. He's taken on all the breaking news as well as the everyday hassles with a determined attitude.

Today I am announcing that Osvaldo is leaving us. But he is not going far away. Ozzie will be VP of News and Standards for the 16 Telemundo local news stations.

It is an incredible opportunity for him. I think you all know that Valari Staab now oversees the Telemundo station group so it is all in the family. Ozzie will be relocating to Miami so his family will also benefit from this new opportunity. And as many as you know, his mother really needs him right now. His office will be in Miami, but he will be in NY often. 

He officially begins the new job today but will be  in the newsroom this afternoon.  I know you will join me in wishing him great success.

The Robotic News Anchor

It is being touted as the first Robotic News Anchor.

I might argue that in all my years in TV, I have seen a number of robotic anchors.

But,“Tuma Urman,” Russia’s first robotic TV anchor, has been ‘interviewed’ at a recent presentation in Moscow. The developers hope to ‘teach’ the machine to interview TV program guests all on its own, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.

The robot is expected to replace Anna Urmantseva, the host of a popular Russian science-focused TV show called “Brain Storm.”

“Plans are to program it to chat with experts and ask them questions. At inception, it won’t be its own ‘intelligence’ but rather myself talking via Skype; however, the machine will be mimicking emotions and turn in a desired direction,” Ms. Urmantseva said.

So far, “Tuma Urman” has been enabled to voice some phrases recorded for it and is still controlled from a standard laptop and a joystick. Its ‘head’ has 17 servo drives that give the machine its ‘emotions’, including fear, astonishment, contempt, etc.

Think about it, an anchor that never wants a day off and never complains that their co-anchor is getting more reads than them.

The future looks bright for you Producers!

H/T Geo.tv

Looooongtime Green Bay ND Calls it Quits

WBAY News Director Tom McCarey retired on Friday.

McCarey was just 17, a junior in high school, when he took a production job at WBAY.  After two years in the Navy, he was offered a job in news where he served as a reporter, photographer, producer and assignment editor.  Then in 1983, Tom was promoted to News Director.  He loved news and he managed with a simple philosophy.

"The work that I do and the work this station does reflects high standards, yet at the same time we're good members of the community, we're neighbors," he said.

"He is what we are today, he's really made it what it is today because everything we do revolves around local news," said Don Carmichael, the general manager of WBAY.

His competitive nature also made him a very demanding boss.

"When I first came in I don't think I looked at him for six months honestly because I was kind of intimidated by him and I was afraid of him," said anchor Cami Rapson.

"He can be a little prickly," Carmichael said. 'He demands excellence and if he doesn't get it he let's you know that he's not getting it and that he expects to get it soon and what you need to do to get there, as far as I'm concerned that's not a bad thing."

Demanding of his people, and at the same time, compassionate and caring.

"Think of my own situation," said anchor Bill Jartz. "My wife's breast cancer, our house was burned down while my mother died, both of my knees this year, and his words every single time were, take as much time off as you need and come back when you're ready and don't come back before that. That's pretty unusual in today's business world to have that compassion."

We have a great station here, we have great people, my job was to find good people and bring them in and let them do their job and get out of their way," McCarey said. ""I hope the station is in the same position in the community as it is now, that would make me very happy."

H/T WBAY

Ax Swings at 30 Rock

Not sure if Santa will be stopping by 30 Rock this year, but the budget ax has already checked NBC off the list.

The NY Post says that NBC News boss Deborah Turness is spending the last few days of the year eyeing cuts — moves that could include axing some senior on-air talent, The Post has learned.

Turness, brought on in August to shake up the moribund news division — where “Meet the Press” and “Today” had stumbled — is in the midst of a host of end-of -year buyouts and cost reductions, sources said.

The current moves are not the first time Turness has irked journalists under her command.

NBC veterans have complained privately that Turness is not serious enough, sources said.

“Instead of getting better, NBC News has been getting worse,” said one executive. “It’s a mess.”

The grumblings are centered on Turness’ more aggressive tabloid style.

One senior NBC News executive was so outraged by her changes that he went over her head to complain to her superiors that the two simply can’t work together.

NBC News has been accused of checkbook journalism for landing key videos and interviews. The network denied paying for interviews.

NBC News paid to secure footage of a group of skydivers involved in an accident and also gained exclusive rights to access the youngster Hannah Anderson, who was kidnapped by a family friend.

Turness was drafted during the summer with a mandate to drag “Today” out of second place behind ABC.

The move to cut jobs has morale low, sources said.

Particularly distressed by the changes is the DC bureau team, whose duties include providing political coverage to “Nightly News with Brian Williams” and Sunday talk show “Meet The Press.”

Turness has been trying to figure out the future for David Gregory’s “Meet the Press,” with options including bringing in MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” team of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski for a Sunday show, or blowing up the entire franchise and trying something completely different, sources familiar with the situation said.

The jury is still out on what to do as Turness still hasn’t decided, these sources added.

An NBC spokesperson, in a statement on Friday, said, “We offered a handful of voluntary buyouts in the DC bureau back in early November. Discussions are ongoing.”

The spokesperson refused to elaborate.