Pushed Out in Knoxville

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Longtime news Anchor Gene Patterson is getting shown the door at WATE in Knoxville.  

Patterson has been with the station since 2001 and previously worked at WBIR, Channel 10, in the 1990s.

Contacted Thursday, Patterson said that he was surprised at the decision not to keep him at the station, but “it’s just part of the business.”

“Life is full of changes and this is just another one,” said Patterson.

Patterson said he hopes to find another opportunity in the area.

On Thursday, WATE general manager Dean Littleton praised Patterson.

“Gene is a great journalist and I’ll miss working with him,” said Littleton.

Ok course he won't miss him enough to keep him on the payroll.

Patterson signs off in December. 

H/T KnoxNews.com

 

Sacked Anchor Has Back Up Plan

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Former KSNV (Las Vegas) Anchor/Reporter McKenzie Warren has a plan 'B' in the works after getting sacked at the station.

Warren is headed to law school.

The Las Vegas Review Journal reports that Warren appeared to be on a fast track after joining the NBC affiliate three years ago. She soon was spending five months in Carson City as the only full-time Las Vegas TV reporter covering the 2013 Legislature.

Warren’s rise continued when the former two-time NBC Nightly News intern was added to the anchor team for the 3 p.m. newscast. 

Then last January, in a shocker, Warren was let go, reportedly after falling out of favor with former station owner Jim Rogers.

Sources say Warren hopes to continue her TV career but saw law school background as a strategic career move.

Smart woman. 

Bad Business for Fox Business Anchor

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Well that is an interesting excuse....

Fox Business Anchor Stuart Varney, has been slammed with a divorce complaint by his longtime wife Deborah.

Varney's wife claims that he has been living a double life while squandering “hundreds of thousands of dollars” on a mistress.

“When I was with you, I did not think about her, and when I was with her, I did not think about you,” the complaint, filed in Bergen County on Wednesday, alleges Stuart told Deborah when confronted about the nine-year affair with Jennifer F. Shibley, 65, of Orlando.

Varney insisted that he “was not in love” with Shibley, but cheated because he “could do it,” the suit alleges.

Ummmm....ok.

H/T NY Post 

Sorry Chuck...

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In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Jon Stewart made official what everyone already knew, Chuck Todd was not NBC's first choice to host Meet The Press.

While that news was long reported, Stewart confirmed that he was in fact considered by NBC to take over as host of the Sunday show.

"My guess is they were casting as wide and as weird a net as they could," he says. "I'm sure part of them was thinking, 'Why don't we just make it a variety show?'" Stewart said. 

"I felt like that was one of those situations, where someone says, 'We really like what you do. Why don't you come over here and do something different, maybe something you don't do as well, for us?'" Stewart said. "I can understand notionally where it comes from. News and entertainment have melded in a way. But they would be overcompensating on the entertainment side."

Either way, it still would have been better than David Gregory. 

CBS This Morning Continues Slow Climb in the Ratings

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While the story seems to be the fight between ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today Show, CBS This Morning is still slowly making its climb out of the ratings basement.

There is no doubt that CBS has a long way to go to even be in the same zip code as GMA and Today, but their show continues to head in the right direction.

CBS This Morning was the only network morning news broadcast to post a gain in total viewers (+2%, 3.08m from 3.02m) for the week ending Oct. 24, 2014 according to Nielsen.

The show added +60,000 viewers, and was also the only network morning news show to maintain its A25-54 (0.8/07) and W25-54 (1.0/07) rating compared to a year ago.

Season-to-date, CBS is up +5% in viewers (3.09m from 2.93m) compared to last year.

CBS This Morning is the only network morning news broadcast to post season-to-date viewer gains.

CNN's Stelter: The Missing Plane is a Bigger Story Today

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CNN Reliable Sources Host Brian Stelter appeared on Fusion's "Midterm Mayhem" show and said a few things that make you hmmmmm?

The show's hosts tried to joke with Stelter about CNN's way over the top coverage of the missing plane. Stelter in turn tried to argue that the missing plane story is a bigger story today than when it first went missing.

"I would actually argue that it is a bigger story Today than it was 6 months ago," Stelter said. Stelter did not say way CNN is still not focusing their coverage on the missing plane, since after all it is a bigger story Today than when CNN was going wall to wall with coverage? 

As for the ebola fears and cable news not stop coverage of virus that only has 7 confirmed cases in the U.S.

Stelter says you have to put some of that blame on the viewers?

Huh?

“It’s partly the fault of the viewer. I don’t know if that’s kosher to say or not," Stelter said. "I think if you sit there watching for 24 hours or whatever that stereotypical amount of time is, you’re probably going to come away with a disproportional sense of how important that story is. I put a lot of that on the audience. Maybe that’s silly of me to say,” he added.

So the next time you think cable news over the top, off the wall coverage has crossed way over the line.....it's your fault. 

Damn viewers!

Here's video of Stelter's appearance:

Robin Meade Does Las Vegas

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HLN Anchor and FTVLive favorite Robin Meade is excited to play Las Vegas. 

Meade tells FTVLive that during her vacation timed (Dec 12-24) she will be playing at the Venetian with the group Human Nature.

She will be preforming as the group's special guest. 

She announced the news to viewers on her show this morning.

Now, FTVLive knows where we will be the Christmas Holiday. 

Vegas Baby!

 

OK...That's Enough Time with the Family

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When longtime WTLV (Jacksonville) morning  Anchor Phil Amato left the station abruptly and the went into real estate he said that he wanted to find a career where he didn’t have to wake up at 2:30 a.m. every day, one that gave him more time to spend with his family.

He said that last month.

Well, it appears that sleeping in and spending time with the family was fine for a month, but now Amato is getting back into TV news. And he's going back to doing the job that he said he was so happy to be leaving behind. 

Cox owned WJAX across the street announced that they have hired Amato as their new morning anchor. 

“We were given the opportunity to bring on a pillar of the Jacksonville journalism community and we couldn’t pass it up,” said Jim Zerwekh, vice president and general manager for WFOX-TV/WJAX-TV.

“Jacksonville viewers know him, trust him and like him,” said Bob Longo, news director of WFOX/WJAX. “We’re thrilled that he’ll help take the lead in the mornings as Action News Jax continues to give our viewers the most compelling, fresh, local news & weather coverage available.

"I'm proud and excited to be part of the morning news team on CBS47/FOX30,” said Amato. “I look forward to working with a very talented staff and taking my 20 years of local TV news experience to contribute to a dynamic, fast paced morning newscast. It's exciting to continue my career with a team that's committed to being number one."

In other words that whole spending more time with the family was complete bullshit just like it always is.

So why do TV people still use that line?

Just asking.... 

You People are Amazing!

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Yesterday, I was once again shown how cool the people that read this website really are.

I told you that the computer that I use to update this site each and everyday is starting to have problems. The 5 year old iMac has had a great run, but his time his just about up and needs replacing.

I have my heart set on Apple's new Retina Display iMac which the company just released. Problem is, that iMac cost $2500 and the money is not in the FTVLive budget.

So, I asked you guys if anyone wanted to help out FTVLive and donate to help buy us a new computer?

A number of you did and FTVLive has already raised over six hundred dollars of the $2500 that is needed.

Some of the coolest people in TV stepped up and sent us some money to help us out. I am truly blown away by just how nice many of you are.

If you enjoy reading FTVLive and would like to help out, details on how you can do so are posted in ScottLand. 

Nexstar Station Issues Dress Code Memo to the Staff

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WBRE (Scranton,PA) has told news staffers it is time they dress better.

Anchors, Reporters and Department Heads are told to wear coats and ties, while Photogs still get to wear jeans but no T-shirts (there goes 90% of most Photogs wardrobe).

Here is the internal memo from WBRE News Director Jeff DePury. 

From: Jim DePury
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2014 2:46 PM
To: News - WBRE; Production - WBRE >
Subject: Station Dress Code

We work in a professional environment. We have a lot of people coming through the station. Our dress at work must reflect our professional nature. The following guidelines should be followed:

Business Attire - (Coats/Suits/Ties for men. Comparable apparel for women)- Department Heads, Sales Managers, AE’s, News Anchors/Reporters.

Business Casual - (Slacks/Collared Shirts for men. Comparable apparel for women)- Newsroom personnel, Sales Assistants, Assistants, Promotion, Creative Services.  

Work Attire - (Jeans/Collared Shirts/No T-Shirts)- News Photogs, Production Floor Crew, Field Production Crew, Engineers.

Exceptions are:
Casual Fridays - Business Attire can dress Business Casual
Extreme Weather - 100+ degree or Snow/Ice exceptions can be made.

How we look is important to our viewers, clients and community members. We want to dress for success and portray a best in class, professional look.

Jim DePury
News Director

Get That Guy a Teleprompter.... STAT!

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During the locker-room celebration for the World Champion San Francisco Giants, it turned very awkward when Chevrolet executive Rikk Wilde was awarding Madison Bumgarner the World Series MVP award.

Wilde had a small cheat sheet in his hand, but it didn't help much. The man was so nervous and out of breath, it was like he ran the bases just before handing Bumgarner the award.

The best part was when he was talking about a new Chevy truck, saying, "It combines class-winning and -leading, um, you know technology and stuff."

Look for that line in Chevy's new commercial, "our trucks have, you know technology and stuff."

Let's go to the video:

Rikk Wilde Of Chevrolet Has A Tough Time With His Lines While Presenting The MVP Trophy (Video Credit: MLB)

NY Anchor Breaks Wrist Shooting Segment

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WNYW Fox 5 Anchor Rosanna Scotto was shooting a segment on the ice at Rockefeller Center, when things went south quickly.

Scotto, proving that anchors can't skate and talk at the same time, fell and broke her wrist and elbow.

Scotto and her co-anchor  Greg Kelly were shooting a segment when K̶e̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶p̶u̶s̶h̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶i̶c̶e̶ she feel on her arm. The popular anchor fractured her elbow and will need surgery.

But, since the November book starts Today, Scotto was expected to be on the air. 

After all, it is ratings you know. 

Longtime DC Reporter is Out

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Another staffer at Sinclair's newly purchased WJLA is headed for the exit.

After 25+ years at the station, Reporter Greta Kreuz is leaving.  

Kreuz was a veteran reporter and anchor at WJLA joined the station in 1988 and covered a wide variety of beats, including education, transportation and religion. During her time at the station she anchored both the weekend and morning newscasts.

Kreuz retired on Wednesday with a newsroom celebration and new owners Sinclair dug deep in their pockets and sprung for a farewell cake.