Even though it was just the July ratings, WNBC in New York can't be very happy right now.
How bad was it?
Longtime struggling station WPIX with its five year old 5PM news, has beaten WNBC in the demo in that time slot. WNBC is now officially an also ran in New York.
Ouch!
As FTVLive told you yesterday, KTXL Anchor Sabrina Rodriguez "resigned" from the station and she appears to be going into full damage control.
She has posted to social media saying that she is going to "focus on my case and work to reestablish my good name."
Word is that Rodriguez has also hired a PR firm to try and help her get back her "good name."
Rodriguez was criminally charged with her role in an elaborate shoplifting scheme. Cops say she helped steal 3 Coach wallets from a local store.
Rodriguez's fiancé, 30-year-old Nicholas Gray, is being held in the Sacramento County jail for his role in the crime, plus other charges. Rodriguez is free on a $10,000 bond.
But, if you were planning on attending the wedding of the two, you might want to rethink that. Rodriguez told the Sacramento Bee newspaper that “As of today I have severed my ties with Nick Gray,”
Ummmmm..... talk about a day late and Coach wallet short.
“I am now focusing on life decisions as I move forward with the support of family, friends, viewers and the community,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez did a story during the Christmas shopping season talking about shoplifting. In the story Rodriguez talked to an "anonymous shoplifter" who showed Rodriguez bags of stuff he had stolen. The brands were Michael Kors, J-Crew and....get this....Coach.
Oh the irony!
By the way, KTXL pulled the story from their website, but a cached version can be found here.
FTVLive told you yesterday that KTXL Anchor Sabrina Rodriguez, who was arrested on charges of grand theft, burglary and conspiracy had "resigned" from the station.
Rodriquez tweeted a message to her followers saying that she quit the station to give her time to "re-establish my good name."
She then went on to thank her followers for their support.
Not every follower was so supportive. These are some of the replies to Rodriguez's tweet:
Looks like re-establishing her good name might take awhile.
Just saying.....
Back in June of last year, FTVLive told you that struggling station WKBW in Buffalo had named two new anchors to takeover the station's morning show.
The station announced that Cole Heath and Tiffany Lundberg (pictured) would be the anchor team of the future.
WKBW General Manager Mike Nurse said of the anchor change "We view it as a restaurant," Nurse said. "We're going to change the menu, spiff up the place and ask viewers to try it."
FTVLive wrote, "The problem is, most restaurants that change their menu, still end up going out of business."
Just one year later and Heath and Lundberg have been told their services are no longer needed.
After a July book, where the morning newscast had trouble cracking a lousy 1 rating, the anchor team is kicked to the curb and the station is starting over from scratch.
Which is exactly where their ratings are.
So far, it appears that CNN has Senior International Correspondent Arwa Damon's back.
Damon is being sued after she allegedly bit two medical professionals during a drunken fit at the US Embassy in Baghdad.
Reports says that Damon apologized after she bit both EMTs on the forearm as they tried to treat her at the embassy on July 19.
Page Six says that the State Department launched an investigation, and the EMTs are now suing Damon and CNN for $2 million. But a CNN source said, “Arwa is very highly regarded at CNN.”
Another source who knows Damon told us, “She’s one of the best reporters in the Middle East. She’s been covering war since 2003, and that has to have been a strain on her.”
Damon was part of the CNN team that won a 2012 Emmy for their report “Revolution in Egypt: President Mubarak Steps Down.”
She covered the invasion and occupation of Iraq and the 2012 Benghazi attack.
Piers Morgan on Tuesday tweeted of Damon, “One of the very best, and most courageous correspondents in world news.”
A CNN spokesperson would only add,“We are aware of the lawsuit and are looking into it.”
He might not exactly be the guy you want in your corner, but Fox News Anchor Geraldo Rivera is sticking up for CNN Correspondent Arwa Damon.
Geraldo took to Twitter to tell people to back off from criticizing Damon:
So, while Damon might get drunk and bite people, it still is better than what happens when Geraldo has been drinking.
Let us remind you:
So, which network evening newscast won the not so important July sweeps.
ABC claims that they did.
NBC claims it was the Peacock that was on top.
Let the spin cycle start.
ABC News ays that ABC World News won the July sweep in the news demo, taking back-to-back sweeps among 25-54-year-olds for the first time in seven years. The network claims that the newscast, anchored by Diane Sawyer, was the only program in its genre to improve in the news demo and among 18-49 year-olds, the division crowed, while its competitors all dropped. ABC’s newscast clocked 1.883 million news-demo viewers, to NBC’s 1.802 million and CBS’ 1.466 mil. Last July sweep, the ABC newscast finished second in the news demo clocking 1.818 million viewers, to NBC’s 1.991 million.
NBC says wait a minute! They claim that this July marked NBC Nightly News’ 28th consecutive sweep win in overall audience, with 7.786 million viewers — 408,000 more viewers than ABC’s 7.378 million and 1.732 million more than CBS’ 6.054 mil. NBC also countered that Brian Williams’ newscast added 83,000 viewers compared to the previous July ratings derby, including a 13% hike among 18-49-year-old guys.
BC concedes that ABC’s newscast edged it out in the news demo, but NBC pointed to its sweep win among 18-49 year olds — 1.322 million to ABC’s 1.279 mil. NBC’s newscast has finished first in the younger demo ratings for 29 straight sweeps periods.
And that my friends is your daily spin.
H/T Deadline
A kid in West Michigan threw and epic party. He claims at least 2000 people showed up and the next day, so did the local news.
In the report, James Taylor (no, not that one) begins to defend himself against those who might think he acted irresponsibly by throwing this party. "I didn't force anything down anybody's throat," he says. Good point, James! "I didn't make anybody stay here until 7:00 a.m. or 11 or whenever it is everybody finally left. I didn't make this kid pass out on my floor."
It is then that the camera pans down to a kid passed out on Taylor's floor.
Let's go to the video:
H/T The Concourse
KTVK announced it will expand its local news coverage to more than 57 hours a week.
The newly owned Meredith station will bulk up its weekend edition of Good Morning Arizona starting Aug. 9, as well as its weeknight news program, Good Evening Arizona, in early September.
The weekend show of Good Morning Arizona, which runs Saturday and Sunday, will start an hour earlier at 6 a.m. beginning this Saturday and run through 10 a.m.
“Arizonans are early risers. They are ready to conquer their day when the sun comes up,” said Cameryn Beck, executive news director for Channel 3. “Why not start the day with them and provide them the local news coverage they are wanting before they head out the door?”
Then next month, Channel 3 will add an extra half hour to its weeknight program, Good Evening Arizona. Starting Sept. 9, it will start 30 minutes earlier at 4 p.m.
Of course there is a good reason why the station is expanding it's newscasts.
The first way to learn if a new story has been posted on FTVLive is to Follow Us on Twitter or Like Us on Facebook.
Do that and you will be one of the cool kids.
Also, you might find out your boss is being fired before they do.
Just saying....
Fox says that have withdrawn their bid to purchase Time Warner and the move is killing TW stock price.
In after hours trading, Time Warner shares are down 11%.
Reports of an original proposal had surfaced last month, when Rupert Murdoch confirmed that he made an offer to buy TW.
Time Warner rejected the offer and many expected Murdoch to come back with a higher one.
Instead, Murdoch has canceled plans to buy TW and it is hurting the stock.
Stay tuned....
WNEP (Scranton) interviewed a kid that apparently have never been on live television before.
The kid wasn't on live TV this time either, but he was still apparently a great interview and he didn't even have to yell out "fuck her right in the pussy" to be funny.
Love this kid!
FTVLive was the FIRST to tell you that KTXL (Sacramento) Anchor Sabrina Rodriguez was arrested on charges of grand theft, burglary and conspiracy.
Now word is that Rodriguez has "resigned" from the station.
The station says that they "accepted" her resignation and she is no longer with the station.
Over at the competition, KOVR did an in-depth story of Rodriguez's arrest.
Rodriquez is a public figure and is known in the community, doing a story on her arrest is news and it should be reported.
That being said, we have to ask, if it was KOVR's Anchor that was arrested, would we have seen a story like the one below on their air. I'm betting my house that there is no way.
TV stations are soon good at reporting the news, as long as it doesn't involved them.
Here is the story that KOVR ran on their competitor's anchor:
Sources tell FTVLive that WXIX (Cincinnati) AM Anchor Jacki Jing was escorted from the building.
She’s only been there since November coming from KDVR in Denver. Her bio is already gone from the website.
When hired, WXIX GM Bill Lanessey said, “Jing is a perfect fit for our morning newscast. She is a fun and exciting person to be around, her energy is contagious."
We're guessing he no longer feels that way.
Just saying.....
TV stations love to try and get viewers involved with social media and engaged with the station. You can thank the TV consultants for that.
Newscast after newscast, you hear anchors asking viewers to send them their photos or upload them to the station's social media accounts.
The big story in Toledo has been the contaminated drinking water. WTVG asked viewers to submit their photos on the contaminated water.
One viewer submitted a doozy and it wasn't long before WTVG sent the photo out on Twitter:
The bright green water sure told the story better than any news story could.
But, there was just one problem. The picture came from a 2013 article in National Geographic that had nothing to do with Toledo or the city's drinking water. In fact the photo was taken in China.
Now my geography might not be the best, but I'm fairly certain that China is more than a few miles from Toledo.
If this was Nickelodeon, I would say that WTVG just got slimmed.
Just saying....
H/T Romenesko
Ohnesorge was covering the hearing for Sharman Odom who was arrested over the weekend.
While outside the courthouse, Odom's mom attacked Ohnesorge as he was shooting video.
Now, Darlene Odom faces three misdemeanor assault charges and has a court date set for Sept. 10.
What a nice family.....
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