Motown Weatherman Loses Eye in Fireworks Accident

/
AR-140709763.jpg&maxh=400&maxw=667.jpeg

WXYZ Chief Meteorologist Dave Rexroth was hurt in a fireworks accident over the holiday weekend.

Rexroth has scheduled surgery on Wednesday after being seriously injured in a fireworks accident in Iowa. He was on vacation with his family when the accident occurred.

The station reports that Rexroth has lost vision in his left eye and will be receiving a prosthetic eye.

 He joined WXYZ in 2000 and he is expected to return to work in September. 

H/T Daily Tribune

Nexstar Tries to Bust the Union in Fresno

/
Nexstar Tries to Bust the Union in Fresno

An interesting vote is about to go down in California and it has nothing to do with an election.

Nexstar is doing their best to bust the IBEW and SAG-AFTRA union at KSEE/KGPE in Fresno (recently purchased duopoly).

The vote takes place on July 11 and is whether to keep IBEW. The SAG-AFTRA vote has been delayed. Both unions have been in negotiations with management since Nexstar took over in February 2013. The unions say that Nexstar has been using delaying tactics during negotiations and finally filed an RM petition (representation petition) with NLRB.

Background: KSEE reporters/anchors/producers/directors represented by SAG-AFTRA; photographers, editors, engineers, production assistants represented by IBEW; KGPE was an AFTRA station until the mid 1990s, but fell apart after contract negotiations reached impasse. Nexstar has moved KGPE into the KSEE building. Reporters file reports on both stations. Union members tell FTVLive that since February 2013 about 30 employees left on their own and another 18 were eliminated, including the AFTRA shop steward. The only photographers who were laid off were non-union from KGPE.

Station GM Matt Rosenfeld has been sending out a number of memos to the staff, trying to tell them why they don't need a union. They emails read like a political campaign against some proposition.

It will be interesting if the union members trust the GM, or want to keep their union. The vote happens July 11th: 

The 4 emails he sent out so far are up after the jump. 

Read More

Ummmmm....I don't think Arthur is in There

/
unnamed-1.jpg

As FTVLive told you,  news crews converged on the outer banks to try and cover Hurricane Arthur late last week.

Arthur pretty much slipped by leaving little damage and some news crews depressed that they didn't get to cover a direct hit.

One crew from WAVY in Virginia Beach must have decided to drown their sorrows.

Their news vehicle was spotted outside and outer banks liquor store.

We're fairly certain this was on purchase they left off the expense report.

We hope. 

Kicked to the Curb in South Carolina

/

WIS viewers were not happy when they heard that the station was kicking Anchor Ben Hoover to the curb.

Viewers posted to social media and some even showed up and protested the station for dumping Hoover.

On Sunday WIS released a statement about the departure of Hoover, who told viewers he was leaving the station Friday.

Here is the statement:

"During the last several days much has been posted on social media about Ben Hoover's departure from WIS news, much of it erroneous.

However, we simply cannot engage in a public conversation regarding details of Ben's departure from WIS TV. It is a private personnel matter.

1uTyzK.AuSt.74.JPG

We sincerely thank Ben for his service to the station and the community and wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors.

We also want to thank our viewers for their concerns and comments regarding this matter.

We can assure you that WIS remains fully committed to the excellence you have come to expect from this television station over the last 60 years."

About 30 people gathered on the corner of Bull and Gervais Street Friday night outside the WIS studios to protest the decision not to renew Hoover’s contract.

“I don’t know why they didn’t renew his contract,” said Kelli Feathers, one of the many who turned out to show her support for Hoover. “And then to not give him the opportunity to have his last broadcast is why we came out.”

After Thursday’s evening broadcast, Hoover informed his Facebook readers that Friday would be his last day on the air at channel 10. But Hoover was noticeably absent from the WIS lineup Friday night.

“Recently, I was informed by station managers that they did not wish to renew my contract,” he wrote on Thursday.

He admitted that the decision by WIS not to renew his contract took him unawares.

“I wish I was in a position to announce the next opportunity for my family and me. But, to be honest, I didn't see this one coming.

So, as we like to say on the news, you'll have to stay tuned. And, maybe say a little prayer for my family and me.”

Stay tuned.... 

H/T The State

From Sin City to Columbus

/

KLAS I-Team Reporter Nathan Baca is leaving Las Vegas (that should be a movie title) and headed to Ohio.

Baca has accepted an offer at WBNS in Columbus. 

"I loved my 4 years here at KLAS. Las Vegas is a great news city that always promises some of the most unusual stories in the country. I have nothing bad to say about my time at KLAS," Baca tells FTVLive 

Here is the internal email that was sent out to the staff at KLAS by ND Ron Comings: 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ron Comings <rcomings@8newsnow.com>
Date: Thu, Jul 3, 2014 at 1:42 PM
Subject: Nathan Baca
To: "8 News NOW Staff (Postoffice)" <postoffice@8newsnow.com>

8 News Now staff,

Our I-Team reporter, Nathan Baca, is taking a step up in his career to join the growing investigative team at WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio. This CBS affiliate is building up it's I-Team staff and have tapped Nathan for a key role.

Nathan will stay with us through the July book and his last day will be July 31. Please join me in wishing Nathan great success in his new position.

Joan Rivers Storms Out on CNN Interview

/

Comedian Joan Rivers was on CNN Saturday, talking to CNN's Fredericka Whitfield.

Whitfield was talking to Rivers about her book Diary of 'A Mad Diva.'

Rivers lived up to the book's title when she accused Whitfield of asking only negative questions. Rivers stormed off camera and Whitfield thought the whole thing was a bit.

It's wasn't.

Can you say awkward?

Let's go to the video:

Meet the Depressed

/

NBC News boss Deborah Turness has said publicly that she stands behind NBC's failing Meet the Press and its host David Gregory.

It might be time to rethink that strategy. 

The once powerhouse show continues to slip in the ratings. 

Politico says that the second quarter numbers show that MTP finished third in the second quarter of 2014, averaging just 2,365,000 total viewers and 687,000 in the 25-to-54 demo, according to newly released Nielsen numbers.

CBS' "Face the Nation" finished first among total viewers, with 2,874,000, while ABC's "This Week" topped the demo with 826,000 viewers for the first time in 17 years. 

Oh.... how the mighty have fallen. 

Station Shows Video of Oscar Pistorius Shooting Re-Enactment

/

An Australian television station, Channel Seven, has obtained leaked video of Oscar Pistorius re-enacting the fatal shooting of his girlfriend.

The video shows Pistorius demonstrating how he shot his girlfriend in his home. 

The station says that the video was obtained legally and only broadcast in Australia.

"We would not have run the footage if we thought we had obtained it illegally," said Mark Llewellyn, the program's executive producer, in a statement.

We're guessing that Nike isn't happy about the video leak either. 

Just saying.....

Here is the footage: 

Arthur Roars, CNN Sores

/

As the season's first Hurricane took aim at the mid-atlantic states, news crews from all up and down the east coast headed to cover Hurricane Arthur.

There was a time when you would have seen CNN going wall to wall with coverage, led by golden boy Anderson Cooper standing in the wind and throwing to CNN corespondents live in the middle of  the action.

If you turned on CNN last night, you might have expected just that. But, instead you got CNN's documentary The Sixties.

CNN did run a special report for a couple of hours, but then ran the documentary. 

What the hell has happened to that channel?

Just asking....