Shreveport Anchor Arrested

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Word is that KTBS Anchor Jody Lowery was busted by Louisiana State Police for drunk driving.

The arrest happened on July 31st in Red River Parish. Lowery was booked under her full name of Jody Lowery Waldo.

Lowery worked in Shreveport before taking a job at Bay News 9 in Tampa. In 2012, Lowery headed back Shreveport and KTBS where she anchors the late newscasts. 

Not much information on her arrest, but her booking photo (see above) shows that while she might have been impaired, she was defiantly not having a good hair day. 

He Has to Be The Unluckiest Weatherman in the World

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The last time we heard from former Philly Weatherman John Bolaris, he was getting conned out of over $43,000 by two Eastern European "bar girls" in Miami, waking up in the back of a cab with a large painting that he supposedly bought.

You would think after an episode like that, you might be cautious about getting in a cab again. 

Well, it appears that he did learn his lesson.

In the latest edition on Bolaris' Taxi Cab Confessions, Bolaris says a cab driver in the Hamptons used a stun gun on him during a dispute.

The weatherman said he and his fiancee were leaving a restaurant in downtown Montauk over Independence Day weekend and hailed a cab to go back to their hotel and watch a movie.

When the taxi pulled up, another group of people ran over, Bolaris said, and the driver said he was taking the new party. That led to a dispute.

"I said, 'I just hailed you down,' " Bolaris said. The meteorologist said he then asked the cab driver to take both groups. The cabbie yelled at Bolaris to get away from the cab.

"The next thing I know, he gets out of the cab, slugs me and then Tasers me," Bolaris said. "It happened really quick. I had no idea he was getting out of the cab."

He said police arrived quickly and took the driver into custody. Bolaris ended up with a burn mark on his chest from the stun gun, he said.

The driver was charged with felony assault, harassment and other offenses. At a court hearing, the cabbie's attorney said he acted in self-defense, according to the newspaper.

"I happened to pick the wrong cab," Bolaris said. 

He seems to do that a lot.

H/T Philly.com

Like Finding a Needle in a Haystack (Updated)

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Last night Bill O'Reilly got a letter from a viewer that was pissed off that Fox News allows liberals on their show.

“I’m aggravated when I see smug liberals like Kirsten Powers and Alan Colmes on the air. Enough already with these leftists,” viewer Ed Ortelli wrote. 

“Well, look, ‘fair and balanced’ is the Fox News motto, Ed,” O’Reilly said, smirking. “If the liberal view were not represented we would be liars, so that’s ridiculous.” A brave O’Reilly asked Heather Nauert how many Fox contributors do “lean left.”

Nauert  said that 19 paid contributors on the Fox network have a liberal point of view, citing Bob Beckel and James Carville as examples.

O'Reilly asked her out of how many total? Nauert side stepped that question and just said "out of quite a lot."

Mediate ̶c̶r̶u̶n̶c̶h̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶n̶u̶m̶b̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶a̶y̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶F̶o̶x̶ ̶N̶e̶w̶s̶ ̶w̶e̶b̶s̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶n̶e̶t̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ ̶l̶i̶s̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶1̶7̶5̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶a̶i̶r̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶s̶o̶n̶a̶l̶i̶t̶i̶e̶s̶.̶ ̶S̶o̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶1̶9̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶n̶ ̶l̶e̶f̶t̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶1̶5̶6̶ ̶g̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶w̶a̶y̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶n̶s̶ ̶F̶o̶x̶ ̶N̶e̶w̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶r̶o̶x̶i̶m̶a̶t̶e̶l̶y̶ ̶1̶1̶%̶ ̶l̶i̶b̶e̶r̶a̶l̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶8̶9̶%̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶e̶r̶v̶a̶t̶i̶v̶e̶.̶ 

Update: Mediate has corrected their numbers. That 175 number includes all anchors, hosts, and experts on the network, many of whom do not express their political views. 

FTVLive is still going to go out on a limb and say that there is more than 19 conservatives at Fox News.

Just saying... 

WJLA's Staff Meets the New Owner

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DC sources tell FTVLive that Sinclair CEO David Smith and his circle of executives visited WJLA this week.

Smith met with the staff and started out trying to downplay the misconceptions many have about Sinclair. He tried to downplay the fact that Sinclair leans hard to the conservative side and tried using the company's station in Seattle as a "liberal" example.

Smith talked about the vast network of stations they own, and how they help one another. Paraphrased example: “Say you want live coverage about the “invasion” – you could call our El Paso or Brownsville station to set one up.” We presuming the "invasion" he was referring to was the stream of people crossing the US's southern border. 

Insiders say that Smith took questions but he offered vague answers if anything in response.

One bored staffer counted words, saying that Smith used the word “money” 83 times during his hour and a half chat. He also used the word “truth” 34 times.

Responding to a question about station management structure, he recognized current WJLA General Manager Bill Lord for his hard work and success. He explained why he would not be moving forward with the station.

The general manager position at Sinclair is a sales job, and all Sinclair GM’s are in the field selling, something Lord does not do.   

Watch Out Fox News

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When Sinclair purchased WJLA in DC from Allbritton, it also picked up the company's cable news station NewsChannel 8.

NewsChannel 8 seems to be what Sinclair is most excited about.

CEO David Smith has hopes of growing NewsChannel 8 from a local cable operation to a national cable channel that can take on Fox News.

Word is that, NewsChannel 8 will be shifted to a have a much more conservative slant and the cable station will have impact on Sinclair stations across the country.

Sources tell FTVLive, that part of Sinclair's plans are to replace overnight network newscasts on the Sinclair station in favor of a NewsChannel 8 produced conservative newscast. Plans are to have NewsChannel 8 content aired in other day parts on the Sinclair O&O's as well. 

Sources say that Sinclair will also use Cable carriage for NewsChannel 8 in retrains negotiations across country with local Sinclair stations. 

Smith's dream is to have a cable channel that can go head to head with Fox News and the others.

Stay tuned.... 

Say What?!

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NBC White House Correspondent Chris Jansing was discussing the recent U.S.-African Leaders Summit on MSNBC's "The Reid Report," when she said that President Obama was from Kenya.

Again.....This is the White House Reporter for NBC News. Her job is to cover the President and she says this:

After her comments, obviously a Producer got in her ear and corrected her.

Jansing tried to cover up the mistake later in the show, "Obviously, to clarify, I misspoke before, it is obviously the President' s father who is from Kenya," she said. "But (Obama) has a real connection and there has been a great expectation that great things could happen with this President and the African continent."

Somewhere, Donald Trump is smiling. 

Our Bad.... This was an Actual News Story

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FTVLive got an email yesterday from Carlton Houston the News Director at KFOR in Oklahoma City.

A couple of days ago, FTVLive posted a story that KFOR was going to be building a brand new station from the ground up. Someone in OKC sent along a link to the KFOR website announcing the new studio.

FTVLive really thought the link was a station press release, the same type of link that we are sent hundreds of times a week. Most often with press releases, will pull out the information and post it on the site. 

As you know, FTVLive is fanatical about crediting the sources where we get our stories. We have stories ripped off from us on a daily basis, so we know exactly how it feels.

But, we were sure that this was a press release and obviously we would not credit a press release.

Carlton wanted us to know that this was a news story and shame on us for not giving credit to KFOR on a story about KFOR's plans to build a new building. 

I went back and looked at the story again. He's right....it was an actual news story! 

KFOR wasted viewers time to announce that they were in the very early planning stages on building a new studio. We have to wonder why the hell would the viewers give a crap about that?

I can see it now, you know honey I was going to turn on KOCO's newscast, but then I remembered that KFOR is going to build a new station....we NEED to watch them instead. 

Other than the people that will work in that station, who cares about a new building? Just saying...

Carlton also wanted me to know that FTVLive used a badly out of focus picture that looked like it was taken with a 1992 flip phone and did not credit that picture to KFOR (By the way the awful out of focus picture below is from KFOR and FTVLive had nothing to do with it).

Screen Shot 2014-08-07 at 7.52.58 PM.png

The staff in the photo are wearing hard hats, even though the station admits the new building is in the early planning stages. Not sure why they needed hard hats for a staff meeting, but hey. 

FTVLive wants to publicly apologize to Carlton Houston for thinking that his suck up story he ran on the newscast was a PR release but and not an actual news story.

FTVLive has pulled down the original story that told you all about KFOR's new planned station and how great it would be. That story no long exists on FTVLive.com and the new studio will never be mentioned again on this website. 

We wanted to include a picture of Carlton in this story, so we Googled "Carlton" and this is what we got. 

We are not sure if this is the same Carlton. If not, we apologize for that as well.  

Pittsburgh Reporter to Resurface in Chicago

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KDKA Reporter Trina Orlando has left the station and is about to start a new gig in Chicago.

Orlando left Pittsburgh to join her fiancé, who lives in the Windy City and she has landed a freelance gig at NBC O&O WMAQ.

Orlando will work as a freelance Reporter at WMAQ and if all goes well, it could turn into something full time.

She was at KDKA since 2008. 

“It was a real treat to work at the station I grew up watching,” Orlando told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “But I couldn’t be more excited about my new adventure!”

Longtime Wilmington Weather Anchor Leaving

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After 16 years at the station,  WWAY (Wilmington) Meteorologist Jerry Jackson is leaving. 

Jackson will head to Greenville, where he has accepted the position of chief meteorologist at WNCT.

Jackson said he and his wife, who has accepted her own position as a biology instructor at a nearby university, have been talking about moving closer to where they grew up for a while. But the decision to leave WWAY is not something he took lightly. 

"I have been established here for a long time, and the viewers and the station have been very supportive of me," Jackson said. "So it was a difficult decision to make, but the timing was right and the opportunity was a good fit for us."

Kevin Wuzzardo, WWAY interim news director said Jackson's exit will be a big loss for the newsroom.

His last day on air is August 15th. 

H/T Star News

ESPN Suspends Host for Buying Billboard

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ESPN  host Dan LeBatard tried to buy a full-page ad in Cleveland area newspapers poking some fun at LeBron James and his time in Miami.

The papers turned him down, so LeBatard bought a billboard in Akron and it cost him a two day suspension. 

"Dan LeBatard will be off the air for two days, returning Monday. His recent stunt does not reflect ESPN's standards and brand. Additionally, we were not made aware of his plans in advance,"  said ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz in a statement.

Kicked to Curb Raleigh

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WNCN (Raleigh) has parted way with Anchor  Pam Saulsby.

She sent out messages on social media to her fans:

Screen Shot 2014-08-07 at 7.29.14 PM.png

Saulsby went to work at WNCN in September of 2012 after WRAL, where she had worked for 20 years, didn’t renew her contract. 

At WNCN, Saulsby co-anchored the 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts and produced special reports for the newscast and website.

WNCN news director Andrea Parquet-Taylor confirmed Thursday afternoon that Saulsby is no longer with the station. 

“We wish her wonderfully well,” Parquet-Taylor said. “I have always respected Pam and I’m glad we had the chance to work together again.” Parquet-Taylor and Saulsby worked together for a time at WRAL. 

H/T News Observer