TV Anchor Breaks Down after Story on Peace Song

We can't understand the words, but we can see how emotional it was for an Anchor in the Ukraine. 

The Anchor was left in tears on air as students from a high school in Donetsk, Ukraine performed a song calling for peace in the region amid an intensified military offensive in the area.

The song was performed by ninth grade students as part of a school play. After showing the video in the newscast, the TV Anchor could not hold back her emotions and began to tear up.

Let's go to the video:

Here's Your May TV News Bloopers

It's your favorite time of the month.

Time to show you the best bloopers from the last month. Many you have seen, many you have not. 

So sit back, relax and enjoy the best bloopers from May:

FAA Makes Newsrooms Wait on Drones

Does it make sense that the guy down the street can fly a drone all over the place and a News Photographer can't?

It's a point where technology is out racing law.

CCTV's Jim Spellman takes a look at how drones could give journalists a big advantage and save them mont, if only the FAA would let them do it.

Summer Movers

3 Kings Entertainment, LLC is pleased to announce the following job placements:

ANNA KOOIMAN is promoted to co-host of FOX & Friends Weekend from correspondent at FOX News Channel.

CLAYTON MORRIS signs a new contract with Fox News Channel and continues as co-host of FOX & Friends Weekend alongside Anna.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ joins CBS O&O KPIX-TV in San Francisco as weeknight co-anchor for the 6pm & 10pm newscasts from anchor/correspondent at MSNBC and NBC.

LAUREN LEAMANCZYK is promoted to Investigative Reporter and Anchor from reporter at CBS O&O WBZ-TV in Boston.

HILARY GOLSTON joins WKYC in Cleveland as a Reporter and Fill-in Anchor from weekend anchor/reporter at WVTM in Birmingham.

GINGER GADSDEN becomes the new 5:30pm and 7pm Anchor at WKMG in Orlando from morning anchor at WTSP in Tampa.

VANESSA WELCH signs a new contract with WFTV in Orlando and will continue to Anchor the stations #1 rated 5pm and 5:30pm newscasts.

NICOLE PENCE jumps across the street and joins WXIN FOX 59 as the 11pm Anchor of “NewsPoint” from weekend anchor/reporter at WTHR in Indianapolis. 

JASON SPELLS jumps across the street and joins WTHR as Sports Anchor/Reporter from sports anchor/reporter at WRTV in Indianapolis. 

CHASE CAIN moves to XETV in San Diego as Weekend Morning Anchor from freelance reporter at KNTV in San Francisco. 

LISA TEACHMAN jumps across the street and joins KCTV5 as Meteorologist and traffic anchor for “It's Your Morning” from weekend meteorologist at KMBC in Kansas City.

Anna, Clayton, Veronica, Lauren, Hilary, Ginger, Vanessa, Nicole, Jason, Chase and Lisa are all represented by Matthew Kingsley - President & CEO of 3 Kings Entertainment, LLC.
P: (713) 248-1210 E: matthew@3kingsentertainment.net W: http://www.3kingsentertainment.net

Big Anchor Shake Up in the Big Apple

Ratings challenged WPIX in New York is making a big Anchor shake up, that includes moving one main News Anchor to Sports.

The station is bringing back John Muller from ABC News to co-anchor the station’s 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts, where he will be reunited with Tamsen Fadal.

Fadal’s current co-anchor, Scott Stanford, will become the station’s lead sports anchor as Ch. 11 makes a move to increase its sports coverage.

Muller left WPIX in 2011 for ABC News, where he’s anchored “World News Now” and “America This Morning” while also serving as a fill-in news reader on “Good Morning America” and as an ABC News correspondent.

Muller’s return to WPIX is targeted for Monday, June 23 — the same day Stanford moves to the sports desk.

“I sat down and thought about how crazy my life has been — 15 of the last 17 years I’ve been working the early mornings or overnights,” Muller says. “To be the main anchor in prime time … and the prestige that comes with it, that’s clearly my priority.

“ABC was wonderful and I will forever be grateful that I saw the network. It was everything I wanted,” he says. “It would be fair to say that leaving ABC … is something I will probably think about every day of my life.

“And on the heels of that, without a doubt, I need to get more than four-and-a-half hours of sleep a night. It’s a win/win on both fronts.”

“I knew John from his earlier stints and was a fan of his overnight work at ABC and the stars aligned,” says Mark Effron, VP/news director of WPIX. “This is also happening at a time when we’re playing much more aggressively in sports, and with Scott heading up our revitalized sports effort … to have someone with his ability to be our front person on that … we’re very excited.”

Ummm...Not sure how excited Scott Stanford is.

H/T NY Post 

Another Tampa Anchor Announces Retirement

Longtime Tampa Anchor Gayle Sierens announced that she is going to retire from WFLA in 2015.

This is the third veteran Tampa Anchor to announce their retirement in the past two weeks. 

WTVT's John Wilson announced he would be leaving the TV business after 50 years. Then just a couple of days later, Ann Dwyer also at WTVT said she was leaving the station after 28 years.

Now, the retirement bug has jumped across the street to WFLA and Sierens.

Sierens says that plans to walk away in May 2015 after 38 years with the station. Her last day anchoring the 11 p.m. news will be at the end of this year and her last day of anchoring the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. news will be Wednesday, May 20, 2015.

“I am so grateful to live out my career in the town where I grew up. Who gets to do that?” says Sierens. “I am truly excited for this next phase of my life. I have worked the night shift for more than three decades. I’m eager to go to bed at a normal time, and have time to travel with my husband and children. I’m even hoping to improve on my golf game, and looking forward to more time to volunteer in our community.”

“Gayle is a Tampa Bay icon and if we had a jersey to retire we would be hanging it in our newsroom,” said Brad Moses, president and general manager of WFLA-TV/News Channel 8. “We're all very happy for her well-earned retirement and we're proud to have worked with her. However, we'll miss her insights, daily news judgment and passion for keeping Tampa Bay viewers informed. We'll rely on her input during this transition and look forward to one more year of strong 8 On Your Side reporting from her.”

DC Reporter Catches Heat for Transgender Report

On Thursday, WTTG's (DC) Chief Investigative Reporter, Emily Miller did a story on Maryland's recently passed transgender nondiscrimination law, known as the Fairness for all Marylanders Act.

What neither the station nor Miller disclosed was that just last month, as senior editor of conservative paper The Washington Times, Miller penned a scathing op-ed against the bill.

You would have thought that the station would have used a different Reporter on the story. 

Miller's report focused on just one thing, the fact it will be legal for a man who simply says he identifies as a woman to use the ladies' room. Miller never points out that a woman could also use a man's bathroom, she stay fixated on the men going into a ladies room. 

Despite a number of facets to the new bill, Miller's report for the station was focused solely on the bathroom issue and it included a number of shots of a toilet flushing.

Why?

We have no idea. 

Let's go to the video:

DC News FOX 5 DC WTTG

He was There and now He's Not

WIVB meteorologist Bryan Shaw made a quick exit from the station yesterday after 3 years. 

Shaw arrived at the LIN station in June of 2011 from a small station in West Virginia.

He confirmed his departure on his WIVB Facebook page.

"It has been a pleasure," wrote Shaw. "I really have enjoyed my time here and appreciate all of you. This was the first time I was around hockey and I will now forever be a Sabres fan."

The strange part is that WIVB has not announced Shaw's departure.

He leaves almost three years to the day he joined the station. The timing of his departure suggests that his contract was not renewed. Shaw didn't say on his Facebook page whether he has another job lined up.  

Eh....The  communications business....huh?

H/T Buffalo News

Signing Off in Ft. Myers

WBBH Anchor Lindsay Logue told viewers on her Facebook page that she is leaving the station to .....say it with me.....spend more time with her family.

Logue anchor's the station's 4PM and 11PM newscast and has been at WBBH for 5 years.

Here is her message to viewers she posted on Facebook, telling them that she's leaving so she can focus putting weird stuff on her daughter's head full-time.

Getting Out of the Business

KARE (Minneapolis) Morning Anchor Tim McNiff announced Monday that he is leaving the station and the TV business for a gig in media relations.

McNiff will be the executive director of media relations for Media Minefield. His last day at the NBC affiliate will be in late August.

McNiff started his career at KARE as a sports intern in 1986, according to the station, and was officially hired by KARE in 1993 as a sports producer. He became a weekend sports anchor and moved to anchor "KARE11 Sunrise" in 2004 with Kim Insley.

Weekend meteorologist Jerrid Sebesta said last month that he is leaving this summer to move to Sioux Falls, S.D., to be closer to family.

H/T Pioneer Press

CNN Hits 14 Year Rating Low Last Week

CNN continues to shed viewers, reaching another milestone last week.

TVbytheNumbers writes that on Friday, May 30th, there were only 42,000  viewers among adults 25-54 for CNN’s Spotlight at 10PM and Unguarded with Rachel Nichols hit an all-time low at 10:30 PM, drawing only 29,000 viewers among adults 25-54.

The average during CNN’s 10PM timeslot hour marked a 14 year low in adults 25-54 for CNN going all the way back to May 9th, 2000.  

Ouch!

Movie Companies ask FAA for Drone Permission

The Federal Aviation Administration is considering a proposal to allow production companies to use drones in film and TV production.

Seven aerial photo and video production companies, with the blessing of the MPAA, have asked the FAA for an exemption that would allow for the use of the unmanned aircraft, the agency said on Monday.

“If the exemption requests are granted, there could be tangible economic benefits as the agency begins to address the demand for commercial UAS operations,” the FAA said, referring to the unmanned aerial systems, also known as drones. “However, all the associated safety issues must be carefully considered to make sure any hazards are properly mitigated.”

While it's the movie industry and production houses that are asking for exemption, the ruling could also help clear the way for news departments to start using drones on a regular basis. 

The FAA said that other industries have also asked for exemptions, including precision agriculture, power line and pipeline inspection, and oil and gas flare stack inspection.

An FAA spokeswoman said that a decision is expected in a few months.

H/T Variety 

Dan Rather: US Journalists Have Lost Their Guts

Dan Rather is still doing his very best to stay relevant, even though he no longer is.

The one time CBS News Anchor thinks he knows why Journalism is declining so very very fast.

Rather tells the Toronto Star: Take Afghanistan, for example. Coverage has disappeared from many newspapers and television programs, as if nobody wants to hear about it. But if Afghanistan is to be “covered,” networks put two or three people up on the screen to spout off their opinions about it. And very often none of the three has been to Afghanistan. I think journalists and journalism — certainly in the U.S. — we lost our guts. An attitude got around: Be careful, because if you report something people in power don’t like, you may have to pay a very heavy price for that. 

Hmmmm? Are you speaking from experience on that one Dan? 

Look Out! Roller Derby and Live Shots Don't Mix

KSTU was doing a live shot Today from the roller derby rink to help kick off the season of everyone's favorite sports team. Of course I'm talking about the Salt Lake City Derby Girls (I'm a season ticket holder). 

During the live shot the girls were showing some of the hits that go on during the intense roller derby action.

One of the girls was hit and bumped off the track, she wiped out and took KSTU Photographer John Diaz out as well. 

Diaz got a nasty cut on his elbow and the camera was out of focus, but the live shot went on.

Those derby girls are almost as tough as News Photographers...almost.

Let's cue up the video:

Dumped in Dallas

KTVT in Dallas has told longtime Sports Anchor Steve Dennis that his services are no longer needed. 

After 16 years, Dennis' contract isn’t being renewed. He won't be back on the air. Way to respect the longtime employee, don't ya think? 

Dennis said he was kicked to the curb as he was getting ready to cover the Colonial golf tournament last week. Management said he was "no longer needed."

“I’m looking for work,” Dennis told the Dallas Morning News “The Cowboys season is bearing down on us and I have to be there.”

Dennis says that he was told by station management, “We love you but we are doing away with your position.”

KTVT GM Gary Schneider says “there was no issue with his performance” and the station is cutting back on sports coverage. 

On the Road to O-Town

FTVLive is back on the road Today and headed down to Orlando for a couple of meetings.

It will be a light posting day because blogging while you drive is not a very good idea.

Plus, I might spill my beer.

Ha....kidding.

I think. 

Look for your favorite website to be back to full speed on Tuesday.