Expanding the News In Chicago

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Chicago's WGN is adding another newscast to their line-up.

The Tribune owned station, which leads the market in producing 54 hours of local news each week, plans to add another hour of news — from 4 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday — starting in September.

Robert Feder says that Greg Easterly, president and general manager of the Tribune Broadcasting station, told staffers Wednesday the expansion would reinforce the brand of “Chicago’s Very Own.” “We have plenty of decisions and brainstorming in front of us . . . but I thought you all would like to know where we are headed,” he wrote in a memo. “It’s clear WGN has a unique place in the market and a true connection to Chicago — let’s build on it.”

No decision has been made on a talent lineup for the new 4 p.m. newscast, but insiders said it’s likely that news anchors Mark Suppelsa and Lourdes Duarte and chief meteorologist Tom Skilling, who currently front WGN’s 5 p.m. news hour, will be involved. There also may be a role for Micah Materre, who co-anchors at 9 p.m. with Suppelsa.

At 4 p.m., WGN would compete with ABC 7, which starts its late-afternoon news block at that hour. NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 starts at 4:30 p.m., and CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 starts at 5 p.m. Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 does not air afternoon news.

The expansion comes as WGN faces the loss of two syndicated programs from its daytime schedule this fall. “The Rachael Ray Show,” which airs at 10 a.m., is moving to ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7, and “The Test,” which airs at 3 p.m., has been canceled. New to WGN’s lineup is the syndicated “Celebrity Name Game,” for which no time slot has been announced.

Easterly also has said he is exploring “locally produced options,” including a possible daytime talk show, to fill one of the available hours on the weekday lineup.

Adding News in Portland

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KPTV announced that it is adding a new newscast to its sister station KPDX.

Starting this this fall.The 9 O'clock News will premiere surprisingly at 9 p.m. on KPDX on Sept. 29, 2014.

It will air weeknights on KPDX after The 8 O'clock News, which also surprisingly goes on the air at 8:00.

Let's go to the quotes made up by the promo people:

"More than ever before, we live in an on-demand world," said Andy Delaporte, general manager of KPTV-KPDX, in a news release. "The 9 O'clock News is launching as a direct response to the needs of busy Oregon and southwest Washington viewers. In addition to our 24-7 livestream on KPTV.com, FOX 12 and PDX TV are here when viewers need us with the most options to access morning, early evening, primetime and late-night newscasts in the Portland market."

Executive News Director Corey Hanson said KPTV and KPDX are "excited to answer the call to provide newscasts built for the needs of hard-working Oregon and SW Washington families."

"People want to access vital news and weather information on their schedule. The 9 O'clock News is another great example of our commitment to serve the viewers of the Portland market," Hanson said.

Life is Good for Pushed Out CNN Anchor

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When Jeff Zucker took over at CNN, one of his first orders of business was to push Soledad O'Brien out the door and replace her on the morning newscast.

A year after O'Brien was bumped, things have not been going very well for Jeff Zucker and CNN.

As for O'Brien? Things are going great.

This week, O’Brien celebrated the one-year anniversary of her startup production company, Starfish Media Group. She says she’s as amazed as anyone that she has landed on solid ground after so many years as a soldier in the army of big companies like NBC and CNN.

“A year ago, I wasn’t so sure if we’d even be around to do something like this,” says the whip-smart, burgeoning media mogul.

The NY Daily News writes that since leaving CNN in March 2013, O’Brien, 47, has locked down relationships and deals with a slew of channels. They range from  a kickass gig as a correspondent for HBO's "Real Sports" to docs for Al Jazeera America and  her old bosses at CNN. Later this week, she’ll replace Alex Trebek as moderator of the National Geographic Bee on the NatGeo channel.

The best part? She owns almost everything viewers will see her on — or produce — going forward. She describes her company’s approach as ranging from long-form documentaries to news segments and things that may exist purely in a digital space.

With so much upheaval across the media landscape, it’s rare to see someone pull off an effort like this. But she is.

O’Brien somehow ended up sharing a private plane with director Spike Lee last week for a flight to Texas. That got her wondering if Lee’s own media empire — with its movies, TV shows, commercials and more — might be close to the model she’s aiming for.

“But that’s a long way off,” says, O’Brien, who’s also teaching a class about education at Harvard, her alma mater.

For now, she’s building on years of experience, utilizing a VIP-packed contacts list and putting the finishing touches on several projects. They include a powerful documentary for CNN about soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Robin Roberts Steps Out with Girlfriend

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It's been awhile since Good Morning America's Robin Roberts came out of the closet and announced that she was gay. But, it's not often that you see Roberts out with her girlfriend at public events.

This week Roberts recently hit the red carpet for a good cause and her longtime girlfriend Amber Laign joined her.

The two attended the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network Respect Awards in New York City Monday night, the event marking a rare public appearance for the couple.

Roberts, 53, was in attendance to present the GSA of the Year Award to the Gay-Straight Alliance Club of Park City High School in Park City, Utah. GLSEN is an organization that focuses on “ensuring safe schools for all students.”

“I am delighted to support GLSEN, an incredible organization that is working to end bullying and make schools safer for LGBT students,” Roberts said in a statement. “I’m particularly happy to lift up the leadership of students who fight for respect and dignity for all … Students like the ones GLSEN works with all across the country are truly putting that something to work in the service of a better world.”

The TV anchor tweeted a photo herself on the red carpet with Laign, 39, and the young honorees, along with the caption, “Honored to be with courageous students.”

H/T NY Daily News

Couric Cracks them Up at Commencement

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Yahoo's Global News Anchor, better known as Katie Couric, gave a feisty graduation address at her fiancé’s alma mater.

It's a good bet that many of the kids had no clue who Couric was, but that didn't stop her from making them laugh. 

“No one, I mean no one, saw a scintilla of potential in me,” she admitted as Trinity College’s commencement speaker, adding that when CNN gave her a shot as a 23-year-old grad, a network exec demanded that “he never wanted to see me on the air again.”

Couric quipped: “It didn’t help that I started in the business when ‘harass’ was considered two words instead of one.” 

“To be successful, you have to be brave enough to try and fail. I have become an expert on that,” Couric added, saying her betrothed John Molner loves the school, so “by extension, so do I.”

Here's the video:

H/T Page Six

Boston News Chopper Crashes

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WHDH's news helicopter made a hard landing shortly after takeoff from Beverly Municipal Airport Wednesday morning.

"The Bell B206 helicopter reportedly experienced an engine problem as it took off," a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The helicopter's tail rotor was heavily damaged as it veered to the right after takeoff and then landed on a taxiway.  Video from Live Sky 5 showed part of the tail section had broken off and landed several feet away from the helicopter.

There were no injuries reported to the pilot or news photographer on board.  The FAA is investigating the cause.

H/T WCVB

Boston Station Cries Foul as Ratings Fall

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WCVB's ratings are falling and they have an excuse as to why.

The station is blaming Nielsen for their sagging ratings. 

The station has even written a letter to advertisers blaming Nielsen for the falloff in numbers.

The letter, from WCVB’s general sales manager Andy Hoffman, says the station believes the ratings service — used by nearly all television stations nationwide to gauge audience numbers — relied too heavily on a sample that included too many young people and too many New Hampshire residents.

“The Massachusetts segment of the DMA (designated market area) has become under-sampled while the New Hampshire segment has become over-sampled,” Hoffman wrote.

The Boston Herald says that WCVB says its investigation also showed that households with viewers under 35 may have been over-represented, as well as houses that rely solely on broadband to deliver TV stations — most of which are in New Hampshire.

The increase in the size of the New Hampshire sample is a problem for station because WMUR in the Granite State simulcasts the same programming as WCVB. And the increase in younger viewers is also unhelpful because everyone knows that kids get all their news and entertainment online!

“It’s affected all the stations in the market, not just us,” said ’CVB program director Betsy Braun, who, BTW, also programs WMUR in N.H. “In some cases we’ve seen double-digit declines in percentages, even though we continue to be No. 1 in ratings for our newscasts across the board.”

Word is, other Boston stations have also raised concerns about the numbers.

A source familiar with the situation said there does indeed seem to be a problem, and Nielsen has acknowledged that in a letter to WCVB. The ratings service has assigned a “swat team” to deal with the issue.

CNN's New Primetime Schedule Stumbles out of the Gate

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CNN boss Jeff Zucker kicked off the network's new primetime schedule this week and it has not gone very well, ratings wise. 

Zucker's golden boy Anthony Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown” on Monday finished well behind both Fox News and MSNBC.

CNN canceled former 9 p.m. series “Piers Morgan Live” earlier this year due to low ratings. The net is now turning the 9 p.m. hour over to original series, films and in-house produced documentaries.

According to Nielsen estimates, “Parts Unknown” averaged 119,000 adults 25-54 and 281,000 viewers overall in the 9 o’clock hour. Fox News Channel’s “The Kelly File” dominated (259,000 adults 25-54, 1.79 million viewers overall), and MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow” placed second (156,000 adults 25-54; 720,000 total viewers).

At 10 p.m., the new “CNN Tonight,” which rounds up the top stories of the day and is hosted by Don Lemon, averaged 105,000 adults 25-54 and 304,000 total viewers. It also finished well behind the competition.

For the night, which now includes Anderson Cooper’s “AC360″ at 8 p.m., CNN averaged 112,000 adults 25-54 and 287,000 total viewers — down 18% and 30% respectively from the net’s prior primetime May average. FNC and MSNBC, on the other hand, both were up a bit from their prior May averages.

Ouch!

H/T Variety 

Ummmm...He's Sitting Right Next to You

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KQDS (Duluth) got caught trying to fool viewers in the toss to weather.

The anchors were in the double box, tossing to Chief Meteorologist Jason Sydejko in the weather center.

But Sydejko's hand popped up in the corner of the anchor double box. In other words, while all the anchors were starting into the camera, actually they were sitting right next to each other. 

Here's the video, you have to look closely at the “studio” window where Dan Hanger and Diane Alexander are introducing Sydejko, who is in the “weather center,” you can clearly see Jason move a little and his finger magically appears in the studio.

Carjacking Suspect Babbles to Memphis Station

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Memphis Police were searching for a carjacking suspect named Derric Fifer. WHBQ Fox 13 Reporter Brooke Thomas was covering the story, reporting that the suspect was wanted for stabbing a woman during a carjacking and taking her two kids.

While Tomas was reporting from the scene, Derric Fifer then approached her and said that he had nothing to do with the crime.

Turns out he was right, police informed Thomas that Fifer was no longer a suspect. 

Below is Fifer's interview with Thomas, which I will be honest, I can barely understand what this guy is saying. He might not be a suspect, but he sure needs work on his communications skills. 

This maybe one of the worst on camera interviews I have ever seen.