That Tweet Looks Familiar

WISN in Milwaukee has a number of staffers on Twitter and it is very obvious when there is breaking news or a big story the station wants to promote. 

When a second arrest had been made in a local playground shooting, Milwaukee stations were quick to tweet the news.

But WISN, which has taken to Twitter like a teenager, was really pushing the story on Twitter.  News of the arrest was posted under multiple accounts, including anchors Kathy Mykleby(@kathymykleby) and Craig McKee (@mckeeWISN), the @WISN12News account, assistant news director Ed Reams (@WISNedreams) and the account of executive producer Jessica Schmid (@jlynnbattle).

But the Milwaukee Journal says that  a closer look at tweets from WISN staff shows several of those about the shooting to be identically worded, suggesting they were not written by the person posting them. Also Wednesday, Mykleby and reporter Colleen Henry (@colleenmariehen) posted the same tweet within minutes of each other: "Stopping speeders from above. On @WISN12News at 5, how planes help pull over drivers who are trying to trick police. http://ow.ly/i/5IJmv ."

News director Christopher Gegg (@ChrisGegg) said in an email that digital media manager Tom Swigert(@tomswigert) oversees the @WISN12News account, but "reporters and anchors have access to it" and "can jump on and update."

Reams said, in an email, that "all tweets are sent by individual account holders," but that the station provides "suggested tweets" for staffers "several times a day" that they can send from their own account.

"It really isn't much different than re-tweeting," he said.

Well yeah....it kind of is. 

DC Reporter Finds Hidden Cash

Yesterday, FTVLive told you about the San Francisco guy that goes by the name @HiddenCash on Twitter hiding money around the Bay Area and leaving clues on Twitter as to where the money is.

Now copycats are popping up, at least one in LA and another in DC. 

The DC person posted the first clue on Twitter at 6:45am, buy 8:45am a local DC TV Reporter found the cash. 

The envelope contained $25 and a note asking her to buy a cup of coffee for herself and a person who couldn’t afford it.

WTTG Reporter Melanie Alnwick found the money although she claims she wasn't really looking for it. "I didn't even plan to search for it.  I just happened to be in the right area on my way back to the station in northwest D.C. "

As to what she did with the money? She gave it to a homeless guy. "I saw a guy living next to the library, trying desperately to keep his life's belongings protected from the gloomy drizzle.  He was wary of me at first. Suspicious.   I showed him the note and asked if he'd allow me to give him the money.  A broad, warm smile bloomed across his craggy face.  THAT was worth it."

Some think the DC money hider is really a local radio station trying to drum up publicity. 

Former Beauty Queen Hired by NY Station

WPIX has hired Kaitlin Monte as its new Traffic Reporter. 

Monte worked at WNBC’s Weekend Today in New York and she worked at a local sports network.

Before all that, Monte was a beauty queen and won Miss New York. She placed second in the 2012 Miss America pageant.

She starts at WPIX sometime next month.

H/T TunedIn

Did you Apply to Work at NBC? They want to Know what you Thought?

If you applied for a job at NBC, the Peacock would like to know what you thought of the experience in trying to land a job with them?

Of course if you landed the job, you might have enjoyed the experience a bit more than if they told you to go pound salt.

NBC is asking for job applicants to take a 10-20 minute survey to help them out.

If I'm out of work, the last thing I'm doing is taking 20 minutes out of my job search time just to help some NBC bean counter with their little project.

Here is the email being sent to those that applied with the network: 

From: NBCUniversal Talent Acquisition (NBCUniversal) 
Date: Wed, May 28, 2014 at 11:42 AM
Subject: NBCUniversal Candidate Experience Survey
To: *************

Dear ***********,
Within the last twelve months you applied to NBCUniversal for employment and we would like your feedback on your experience. We are working with a third party, non-profit organization, The Talent Board, to analyze and improve the experience that we deliver to our employment candidates. The Talent Board is administering the survey on our behalf.

We are inviting you to influence us. We want feedback from anyone who applied for a job with us – no matter how far you went in the process. Your participation in this brief 10-20 minute online survey will help us to provide a better candidate experience to future job seekers.

Please click here to start your survey, or click on the “Tell Us What You Think” icon below.

Thank you in advance for your participation!

Waterloo Anchor is Pushed Out and Replaced

Sources at KWWL in Waterloo tell FTVLive that morning Anchor Jason Carter (pictured) was handed his walking papers this morning and he has already been replaced.

After two years at the station, Carter's contract is not being renewed. His bio has already been scrubbed from the station's website. 

Replacing Carter is Jerry Gallagher, who will be joining Teal Jennings, and Eileen Loan for the Today In Iowa newscast.

“I truly cannot wait to return to the Cedar Valley and Eastern Iowa,” said Gallagher. “This area is very important to me, and I look forward to serving the people here.” Gallagher met his wife, Kelly (also an Eastern Iowa native) while attending UNI.

“We look forward to Jerry’s arrival,” said Jim McKernan, VP/General Manager at KWWL. “Not only is he a skilled journalist, he’s an Eastern Iowa native and has family here. He knows what is important to viewers, and complements the skills of Teal Jennings.”

Gallagher starts at the end of June. 

Mediabistro is Sold (Updated)

Word is that the company that runs the TV website TVNewser has been sold.

Prometheus Global Media which owns Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter, and Billboard, among others – has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Mediabistro’s editorial and e-commerce assets for Eight million in cash.

As part of the deal, PrometheusGM will add to its portfoliomediabistro.com and editorial sites including FishbowlDC,FishbowlNY, TVNewser and PRNewser, as well as the Mediabistro Job Board, and Mediabistro’s education business. No word if TVSpy is part of the sale and if not what the future of that site is? 

Pending stockholder approval, the sale should close in late July. Current Mediabistro CEO Alan Meckler will keep the trade show business under a new name – Mecklermedia – also subject to stockholder approval.

No word as to why TVNewser has not yet reported this news. 

As for FTVLive? Three companies have inquired about buying us and we have said no to all of them. 

So have no fear....FTVLive is here. 

H/T FishbowlDC

Update: TVNewser finally got around to reporting the story about them being sold. According to the site TVSpy is also part of the deal and will be sold as well. 

Hillary Heads into the Fox Den

Hillary Clinton is ready to enter enemy territory....AKA Fox News.

Clinton has agreed to sit down with Fox News to help pimp her book on June 17th. 

The Former First Lady/Secretary of State will be interviewed by both Greta Van Susteren and Bret Baier.

This will be Clinton's first appearance on Fox News since January 2013. 

You can bet there will be a number of questions about Benghazi (which is Fox News's missing plane) but not nearly as many if she agreed to talk to Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity.

Many feel that Susteren and Baier are the most fair at the "fair and balanced" network. 

No Shit....

The news came down yesterday that Maya Angelou had died at 86 years old.

KRIV in Houston broke the story that because of her death, Angelou has canceled her appearance in Houston on Friday.

Like that's a good excuse to cancel?! Who does this woman think she is?

Fox News Hits 12 Year Low in the Demo

The viewers of Fox News continue to be the olds and that has to concern the cable news network a bit.

In the May sweeps, Fox News drew 264,000 viewers ages 25-54 during primetime — the lowest it has had in over 12 years, since August 2001.

And the drop was across the board in primetime, The lineup hosted by Greta Van Susteren, Bill O'Reilly, Megyn Kelly and Sean Hannity hit 12-year lows in the demo.

Despite the drop, Fox News still easily beat both MSNBC and CNN in both the demo and in total viewers.

Win the missing plane in the rear window, CNN fell back to the bottom of the ratings.

MSNBC beat its rival in weekday primetime in both total viewers (593,000 vs. CNN's 384,000) and in the demo (145,000 vs. CNN's 131,000).

H/T HuffPo

Not so Reliable now is it?

CNN is having trouble pulling in rating no matter what time slot it is.

 CNN's Reliable Sources hosted by former wonder kid Brian Stelter averaged just 59,000 in Adults 25-54 this past Sunday.

Those low ratings mark the show’s second lowest demo ever since becoming a one hour program in Feb ‘2010. 

The lowest demo (54k) fell under Stelter as well on 12/29/13.

What hurts even more is that the CNN Show got killed by Fox News MediaBuzz with Howard Kurtz.

Losing to Howard Kurtz? Really?! Ouch!

Mediabuzz practically quadrupled Reliable Sources in demo and more than doubled the program in total viewers.

Here’s the Nielsen breakdown:

 Reliable Sources: 292,000 total viewers; 59,000 in 25-54

MediaBuzz: 757,000 total viewers: 203,000 in 25-54.

Video: Storm Chaser is Hit by Lightning

Talk about too close for comfort.

Storm chaser Scott Sheppard was shooting video of a storm near Fairburn, South Dakota when he was struck by lightning. Best part, he caught it all on camera. 

Sheppard says the bolt hit him in the arm arm and traveled through the ground, disabling his car and another car driving by. 

Let's go to the video:

2 for 1 Big Anchor Retirements in the Big Easy

Tomorrow, two Big Easy Anchor legends are going to sign off from their stations.

Norman Robinson anchors his final 6 p.m. newscast at WDSU and Dennis Woltering anchors his final 10 p.m. newscast at WWL-TV.

Though competitors, the two men share many experiences and attributes.

The Times Picayune reports that both aren't from New Orleans originally. Robinson grew up in Toomsuba, Miss., and Mobile, Ala., while Woltering was born in St. Louis and came of age in Venezuela and in the San Francisco Bay area. Both came to be accepted as virtual natives by local viewers.

Both are Vietnam-era military veterans, though neither saw action overseas. Robinson played a brass instrument in the Marine Corps Band while studying broadcasting on the side. Woltering was an Air Force radar operator on the West Coast before attending Oregon State and American University.

Both made their first jump to New Orleans from smaller markets. Robinson came from Mobile when Alec Gifford, then WVUE's news director, saw him on the air while passing through en route to Florida. Woltering was working in Fargo, N.D., when he got the call to come work at WWL. (Woltering admits he didn't know much about WWL or New Orleans when he made the move. "I knew it wasn't Fargo," he said).

Both worked at WWL before departing New Orleans for sojourns elsewhere. Robinson won a year-long Nieman Foundation Fellowship at Harvard University, then moved on to become White House correspondent for CBS News before returning to New Orleans and joining the WDSU team. Woltering departed WWL (as Dennis Wolter) to work for a decade at Philadelphia's CBS affiliate before returning to WWL (with the restored "ing" on his name).

Both missed New Orleans dearly while they were gone.

Both are fiends for covering the local political scene, each moderating countless candidate debates and issues-and-answers programs for their respective stations.

Houston Reporter Headed to Dallas

It's 3 and out for KTRK (Houston) Reporter Demond Fernandez.

 Fernandez is exiting the ABC owned and operated in a few days and is headed to WFAA in Dallas. 

"I've enjoyed three awesome years in Houston," Fernandez told mikemcguff.com. "I'd like to thank the ABC 13 viewers, neighbors and community members across the area who trusted me to help tell their stories. I'm very excited about this new journey in my career."

It's fitting that Fernandez makes the next stop of career in the Lone Star State, since he moved up to Houston from San Antonio's WOAI.

Fernandez recently made some news at KTRK when he had a gun pulled on him while reporting a story. 

From Intern to Anchor in Chicago

Many in TV News have a dream of returning to the station that interned at in a much bigger role.

That dream is happening for Alexa Helms.

Back in 2008, Helms was an intern at Fox owned WFLD in Chicago. Soon, she will join the station as a Weekend Anchor. 

Helms comes to Chi-Town from WSVN in Miami. She also had a gig at KTSM in El Paso. 

H/T Robert Feder

Ummmm.... That's not the Right Picture

Yesterday was an Election Day in the Lone Star state.

In the race for Texas Lt. Governor, Dan Patrick beat out David Dewhurst by almost double the votes.  

KAMC in Lubbock reported the story and included pictures of the candidates. One small problem....the Dan Patrick picture is the ESPN Anchor. As far as we know, the ESPN Anchor is not in Texas politics.

Doh!

Oops! As one FTVLive reader informed us, Dan Patrick works now for NBC and not ESPN. In our world Dan will always be an ESPN guy and we are still certain he isn't running for Texas Lt. Governor.