DC Station Finds the Lord

When Sinclair took over WJLA in Washington, DC they sent WJLA General Manager Bill Lord packing.

Sinclair was looking to bring in their own people and Lord was pushed out.

Now, DC sources are telling FTVLive that Bill Lord is about to pop up across the street at WUSA.

Yesterday, Lord was introduced to a few WUSA staffers as the station's new News Director. Lord has a heavy background in news. Lord will replace Fred D'Ambrosi, who as FTVLive told you announced he was leaving the station. 

Look for WUSA to make an official announcement soon.

Of course that's when the other websites will have the story, but you guys all know where you saw the story FIRST.

Despite what all the others will claim. 

Stay tuned.... 

You Have GOT to be Kidding!!!!!

Although there has not been a case of ebola reported in Memphis, or even in the state of Tennessee for that matter, WMC obviously wanted to get in on the "scare the viewers" ebola game that other stations have been playing around the country.

A person did not feel well and when to a local Memphis hospital (imagine that?). The person was check for a possible Ebola.

Never mind that the person was also checked for a number of other things, the magic "E" word popped up and that was all WMC needed to go into full scare mode.

Fortunately for the patient and unfortunately for WMC, the person did not have ebola.

Many viewers were upset for the station needlessly scaring them and they let WMC know about it on social media.

WMC took to their Facebook page, tried to explain their irresponsible reporting and then.....get this.....turned the post into a story about an employee at the station asking his girlfriend to marry him. 

NO REALLY?! They did that. You can not make this crap up:

Viewers Tell Seattle Station to Stop with Student Interviews

Some viewers of KING in Seattle were not happy with how the station was covering the school shooting at Marysville Pilchuck High School,

KING says they received several complaints from viewers who were concerned that students were unnecessarily being interviewed on the scene.

"Your reporters need to STOP interviewing students on live tv mere moments after a traumatic event such as just happened in Marysville," said Robert via email. 

"Interviewing Marysville students within two hours of the shooting is really inappropriate and unprofessional," said Damian. "These students should be left alone to grieve and talk to professionals and family members."

"King 5 please stop taking phone interviews with students. Let them process what they literally JUST went through," Jana posted to KING 5's Facebook page. 

Mark Ginther, Executive News Director for KING 5, explained that the station's goal was to verify information and provide details on what went on inside the school. 

"We are being thoughtful about trying to confirm information at a time when lots of reports were in conflict," Ginther said. 

"Our responsibility as a credible news organization is to help sort fact from rumor, especially at a time when lives are in danger," added Mark Briggs, Director of Digital Media. "In the age of social media, it's critical to get as close to the source of information as possible."

H/T KING

Seriously?! "Like" Post for the School Shooting

While viewers were upset with KING-TV interviewing students short after the school shooting, KIRO was trying to use the tragedy to garner some "Likes" on their Facebook page. 

When something awful like this happens, can't station's just take some time off from pimping their social media accounts?

Stop asking for "Likes" and shares that spread your FB page in a time of a tragedy for your community. 

Just saying.... 

Former Dallas Anchor Reaches Plea Deal After Arrest

FTVLive told you back in August that KTVT (Dallas) Anchor Brendan Higgins was arrested  in Aspen, CO. after cops say a very drunk Higgins tried to punch a hotel employee and became belligerent with police. 

After his arrest, KTVT and Higgins parted way.

Now, there is a resolution in the case involving Aspen authorities and former anchor. 

In a statement sent Friday, Higgins said:  

“I have entered a deferred prosecution agreement with the City of Aspen that will ensure all the municipal court charges against me will be dropped within six months. As I said shortly after my arrest, I am deeply sorry for the negative attention this situation brought to my family, our friends, my coworkers and the hard-working authorities in Aspen. While unfortunate, this incident has provided a valuable lesson that I will not soon forget, and I dearly appreciate the many messages of support sent to my family and me over the past couple months. We are looking forward to moving on to bigger, brighter things.”

Another One Out the Door in Columbus

Another on air talent is leaving WBNS in Columbus.

The staff was told in a memo that longtime Political Reporter Jim Heath is leaving the station. WBNS has had quite a bit of turnover the past few months. A number of Reporters and Anchors have left the station, either on their own, or pushed out.

Heath has been in the market since 2009 and that past couple of years at WBNS.

Here is the internal email that was sent to the staff announcing Heath's departure:

From: Elbert Tucker
Date: 2014-10-24 22:09:14 +0000
To: wbns 
Subject: Jim Heath 

Everyone,

Jim Heath will be leaving the station next month to return to Arizona for family reasons. Jim has been a great part of the 10TV newsroom, helping spearhead our coverage of politics and government. I would put his election reporting up against any media outlet in central Ohio.

Jim's last day with us will be November 22nd. We'll celebrate with cake and more.

ET

Elbert Tucker
Director of News
WBNS-10TV HD

Another One Crossing the Street in Buffalo

Another WIVB (Buffalo) staffer is moving down the road to WKBW.

For years, people were doing their best to get the hell out of Granite owned WKBW. But, now that Scripps has bought the station, it seems that many want back in.

The latest to head to WKBW is WIVB Executive Producer Aaron Mason.

Mason is moving over to WKBW in late next month as the station’s Assistant News Director.

Peter Jacobus, the interim News Director at WIVB since the ouster of awful ND Joe Schlaerth, announced that Mason has resigned, effective Nov. 21.

Mason has been with WIVB for more than a decade and was the producer of the 11 p.m. newscast before he was named Executive Producer earlier this year.

The news comes as Channel 4 continues to look for Schlaerth’s permanent replacement amid speculation that Jacobus is eager to leave as soon as possible.

H/T Buffalo News

Petition Started to Remove Chuck Todd

It seems like it was only yesterday that a petition was circulating online, asking NBC to get rid of Meet The Press host David Gregory.

Now, there is one to do the same to Chuck Todd. 

An online petition at Change.org has gotten over 1,000 signatures, asking NBC to remove Chuck Todd from Meet The Press. Todd hasn't even been into the job a month and they are calling for his ouster.

"Meet the Press has a long history of exemplary journalistic standards, most recently with the late Tim Russert.  The show started going downhill with David Gregory and has now become a farce with the clearly biased hosting of Chuck Todd.  He either needs to go, or NBC should lay this once-proud show to rest," says the online petition. 

NBC has not commented on the petition. 

No word yet if David Gregory has signed it. 

NBC to Pay Up to Unpaid Interns

It appears that NBC has agreed to pay over $6 million bucks to nearly 9,000 that worked at the Peacock. 

The interns that worked on a number of NBC shows filed a class action suit against the network over the summer. The claimed that NBC violated the law by classifying them as non-employee interns and paid them nothing or less than minimum wage, when they were actually doing employee work.

NBC said in court documents that even though it's settling the suit, it denies the allegations and doesn't admit any wrongdoing.

Of course not.

The average amount each Intern will receive from lawsuit is about $500.

I'm wondering if I can still collect money from the non paying internships I did so many years ago? 

Shake Up Goes Down at The Weather Channel

Another day, another shake up at The Weather Channel.

The struggling network has been laying people off and making a number of other changes to help streamline the network that used to cover weather, but now fills much of it's time with reality shows.

TWC has named a new EP for the ratings challenged AMHQ with Sam Champion. FTVLive told you yesterday that Scott Warren Senior EP of AMHQ was shown the door. 

Also moving on is Jennifer Rigby, who oversaw live programing for the network.Riby is being kicked upstairs to some VP of nothing and will report directly to TWC boss David Clark.

Here is the internal memo sent to the staff from Nora Zimmett, SVP of Programing:

Today I am announcing some changes in the live TV organization. These changes are designed to streamline our organization and make us more effective in how we put weather and storytelling at the center of every aspect of live programming.

Effective immediately, Tom Lea will be taking on a new role as vice president of newsgathering. Over the past six years at The Weather Channel, Tom has developed and managed key talent on the desk and overseen coverage from Sandy to numerous tornado outbreaks and winter storms. He is the first to pitch in during breaking news, doing everything from calling potential guests to deploying crews to tornado-stricken regions. Tom will oversee all assignment editors, field reporters and live crews going forward. He will also oversee the ticker and Jim Proeller's video team.

Chris Samsury is taking on a newly created role as the vice president of talent. Chris has proven himself a strong leader of our on-camera experts and has won the respect and admiration of the network's meteorologists and producers. He will now be overseeing all of the OCMs in addition to our experts, as well as the makeup and scheduling teams.

Howard Sappington has been promoted to vice president of live programming. Howard has been with The  Weather Channel for nine years and during his tenure has ridden out and provided amazing coverage of tornadoes, hurricanes and winter weather. He has also created and produced long-form programming such as Cantore Stories and our recent string of successful top ten specials. As one of our strongest, most experienced storytellers, Howard will focus on reshaping our programming to focus on the weather stories that matter most to our audience.

Angie Massie has been promoted to senior executive producer overseeing our morning line-up, including AMHQ. Angie is a veteran show runner who has has created shows at CNN such as Rick's List and The Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin. Over the past year at TWC she has managed a complete overhaul of our local severe efforts and retooled our live weekend programming to make sure we're giving our audience the best forecasts and weather stories seven days a week.

Angie, Tom, Chris, and Howard will be our live programming leadership team and each of them will report directly to me.    

Jennifer Rigby will be leaving the live team and taking on a new role reporting directly to David Clark as VP, Special Projects. Jennifer has led the live organization through many changes over the past few years, and has always been there for this team even in its toughest moments. The entire organization is grateful for her enormous contributions.  

Also, as part of these changes, Scott Warren will be leaving the organization. I know I speak for everyone and especially the AMHQ team when I thank Scott for the energy and heart he brought to the launch of AMHQ. His efforts were a key factor in our being able to launch such an ambitious new morning show in just a few short months. Please join me in wishing him well in the future.

Thank you in advance for your help in making these transitions as smooth as possible. We are in a new phase of our development at TWC and change can create confusion and anxiety. I am available to talk to anyone who has concerns as we move toward becoming a better and stronger network.

Nora

Chuck Todd Gives New Meaning to Anchor Package

NBC's Chuck Todd has left the beltway and is driving in an RV across Iowa to "meet the votes."

The Meet The Press host did a live hit on the Today Show and many viewers took to Twitter to point out the fact, that the Beltway Boy wasn't wearing his Seatbelt.

Todd responded on Twitter by saying that, yes he is wearing his seatbelt and posted a picture to prove it.

In the picture, Todd included a picture of his....ummmm... package and the entire Internet threw up in their mouth.

Thanks Chuck. 

This has Got Emmy Written All Over It....

And to think, some people think hard hitting Journalism is dead. Pffffttttt!

U-Verse Customers Get Strange Emergency Message

AT&T U-Verse customers in a number of markets got a very strange alert message on televisions.

The message, claiming to be an emergency alert issued by The White House, notified viewers that their programming was being re-directed to another channel. The alert is part of the EAN or Emergency Alert Notification. Engineers with WAGA in Atlanta say the alert can only be activated by the President in times of emergency. 

The Atlanta Fox Affiliate says their Newsroom received multiple calls from concerned customers this morning after an emergency message appeared on their screens. 

U-Verse says the message appeared on screens around Atlanta, Detroit, Michigan and Austin, Texas. 

As of yet, no one knows the reason for the false message.

H/T WAGA

Why Stations Do This, We Have No Idea

Why the stations said "yes" we have no clue.

But TruTV is going to do another reality show depicting the day-to-day activities two small market newsrooms.

You might remember the awful reality show called "Breaking El Paso", well get ready for "Breaking Greenville."

For some reason WABG and WXVT told TruTV that they would participate in the circus.

Here is a promo for the show:

Subscribe to truTV on YouTube: http://full.sc/1s9KQGe BREAKING GREENVILLE is coming this December to truTV! When a spunky young reporter from Connecticut lands her first big job in a small-town news market, an unexpected shake-up occurs. BREAKING GREENVILLE follows a group of local anchors as they compete for the top spot in the game.

By the way, if you don't want to watch "Breaking Greenville" or "Breaking El Paso" on TruTV you can watching "Breaking Ebola" on the cable networks.

Just saying.... 

Girls Night Out? WTF?!

If you wondered why a station like WABG would participate in a reality show (see this story above) that will surely cause ridicule of their newsroom, maybe a look at one of their promos will help?

Here is a WABG promo for their Weekend Newscast, in which they call the newscast "Girls Night Out."

Really? Your Anchors are Girls?

Anchor Jasmine Anderson, Weather Anchor Brittani DuBose (who's name is spelled wrong in the promo) and Sports Anchor Christina Aguayo are shown in the promo for the weekend newscast.

No word on what the "Girls" think of their promo? Maybe when they are done playing with their Barbies, we'll ask them. 

Here's the promo:

Uploaded by WABGProduction on 2013-01-03.

Just When You Thought it Was Safe to Turn on Your TV