Longtime Tucson Anchor Signing Off

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KVOA (Tucson)  longtime Anchor Tom McNamara will be leaving when his current contract expires and he is leaving the TV news game altogether. 

"Investing in real estate has been a passion of mine for several years now," said McNamara. "KVOA and I have been discussing my desire for change for many months. I appreciate how patient & supportive they have been through this process."

"It's very hard to lose a talented journalist like Tom from our front line team," said Cathie Batbie, KVOA-TV News Director. "The same passion that has made him successful behind the anchor desk is the same passion that will make him successful in his transition to this new career."

"We've been aware of Tom's intentions for a couple of years now," said Bill Shaw, KVOA President & General Manager. "He's been upfront with us on his desire to expand his local business. We fully support him and wish him all the best."

McNamara is expected to leave the News 4 Tucson anchor desk when his contract expires in mid-December.

"I've been in local TV for 36 years now, but when Susan and I came to Tucson almost 18 years ago, we knew this would be home." continued McNamara. "I think the timing of this career change couldn't be better for me or KVOA. The station has a strong team and a strong journalistic focus going forward. I feel that the timing of my departure is such that the station won't skip a beat."

H/T KVOA

Signing Off in the Springs

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KOAA (Colorado Springs) morning Anchor Adam Atchison announced this morning on Facebook that he will be leaving the station. He has been with the station for 7 years. 

Here is what he posted:

"Dear Friends,

As we approach the holiday season, I'm looking forward to an exciting move. I recently accepted a new job in Albuquerque, N.M., and my family and I are moving there just after Thanksgiving.

I am so grateful for the time I've spent in southern Colorado, working at KOAA 5. With our first baby on the way, this move keeps us close to home, family, and friends, and that helps make a big change a little easier. 

Thank you so much for waking up early with me and the News 5 Today team -- for your loyalty, care, and support over the past 7 years. You have helped make living and working here one of the best decisions I've made! My last day at KOAA 5 isn't until next week, so I'll be here bright and early for a few more days."

Indianapolis Anchor Busted for DUI

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This morning FTVLive told you that Dayton Weatherman Jamie Simpson was arrested by cops after crashing his vehicle. Simpson was charged with OVI in was injured in the crash.

Now word comes that Indianapolis Anchor Marc Mullins was arrested in Downtown Indianapolis early Saturday morning and charged with drunken driving.

Mullins, an anchor at WRTV, was driving a silver BMW when he was pulled over at about 2 a.m., after he made an illegal turn according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

According to the report, the officer said that he “observed a strong odor of alcoholic beverage” on Mullins and coming from his vehicle.

Mullins, 38, was given an initial field breath test and registered a blood alcohol content of .072, the report said, slightly under the level of 0.08 at which a driver in Indiana is considered to be legally drunk.

Police then transported Mullins to where a certified breath machine was located.

After several attempts, Mullins then registered a BAC of 0.113 and was arrested and initially charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

He was taken into custody by Marion County Sheriff’s deputies at the Arrestee Processing Center.

H/T Indy Star

Always Wanted To Be A Sports Anchor?

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File this under the "What's wrong with our business" category.

AOL (remember them?) is putting together a new Sports Show. If you live in NY or LA, you can try out in person, today. If not, you can submit your work through Twitter, Instagram or Vine.

Who knows, maybe you could be working beside Global Anchor Katie Couric? Oh wait, that's Yahoo. Oh well, no one can find either one.

Click here for more info.

Poynter Institute Bleeding Money

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Who would have thought, the organization that trains people on "How To Be A Better Manager", may need a class on finance? In an announcement just before the weekend (and to try and avoid actual coverage), Poynter said they lost $3.5M in 2013.

Poynter plans to raise about $6M by selling some land to the University of South Florida.

They do offer a course: "Math For Journalists: Help With Numbers". Uh, maybe Poynter's management team should take it themselves?

Click here to see the salaries of Poynter's top people.

Dayton Weatherman Busted After Crash

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The week is not off to a good start for WHIO in Dayton.

Word comes down that the station's Chief Meteorologist Jamie Simpson is charged with OVI and hospitalized after a crash in Greene County Thursday.

Ohio State Police Lt. Douglas Eck says that Simpson ran a stop sign and crashed just before 1:30 p.m. No one else was in the vehicle and no one else was injured.

Eck said that troopers took a blood sample at the scene. He said they served Simpson with a misdemeanor citation for OVI and failure to obey a traffic signal. Eck said troopers will likely complete their report on Friday and their paperwork will be filed with the court clerk later Today.

The Xenia Daily Gazette interviewed eyewitness Wallace Campbell, who said, “My wife and I were traveling North on US 68 at Middleton Corner when we saw a car go airborne, crash through the fence of a horse pasture, travel some distance and then come to a stop after hitting a tree.”

Simpson, 44, has worked at WHIO since 1999 according to the station website. Below is a statement from Cox Media Group Ohio, which owns WHIO.

Jamie Simpson was in a one-car accident Thursday on his day off.  He remains in the hospital and Doctors are still evaluating his condition.  His health is our first concern right now.

We are waiting for more details from the accident investigation.  We also expect that due to his condition, it will be a few days before we can talk in detail with Jamie about what happened.  Our thoughts and prayers are that he will make a full recovery.

H/T WDTN

Hitting The Fan In Phoenix?

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FTVLive is hearing there are major changes afoot in Phoenix. Sources say the biggest moves could be at the Meredith duopoly KPHO/KTVK. It's no secret once Meredith acquired KTVK from Gannett, err Sander, ummm Belo, that they'd start slashing salaries/bodies at the "Arizona's Family" station, despite climbing ratings. Word is some of the bigger name anchors are not happy.

Which leads us to ask, where's Patti Kirkpatrick? She's like that missing plane.

Lifetime Loses Touch With Reality

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No one ever said running a cable network that relies on reality programming was easy, but the executives at Lifetime have taken it to a new level.

Over the weekend, Lifetime aired a movie about R. Kelly's relationship with then 15-year old Aaliyah. I guess they must have forgotten the situation between the two was illegal? Regardless, Lifetime sent out some pretty creepy tweets that got the social media world all fired up:

Maybe someone should explain pedophilia to Nancy Dubuc? And BTW, doesn't it seem odd that Hearst & the Walt Disney Company would sign off on this crap?

H/T Tea & Breakfast

24/7 Crime

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Because there's not enough crime on TV already, Gannett Broadcasting is helping launch Justice Network. 

"Justice Network will feature gripping stories of true crime and aim to make communities safer by empowering viewers to take action".  But what's the difference between "true crime" and plain old "crime"?

There are some industry heavyweights involved in the new venture like NatGeo's Steve Schiffman, NBC's Barry Wallach and Discovery's John Ford.

You just know there's going to be some confusion with Justice League.


Ted Turner Selling His Island

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Ever thought of leading the life of a modern day Gilligan? Here's your chance. 

Ted Turner has decided to sell his private island. Located off Hilton Head, St. Phillips Island has been a retreat for Ted since 1979. Since selling CNN, Ted's been busy raising buffalo and hasn't had as much time to visit the almost 5,000 acre island.

As Robin Leach would say, "This luxury spot can be yours for only $23,777,000".

H/T WXIA-TV

FTVLive Programming Note....

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Just a quick programming note for Monday's FTVLive.com.

I'm going to be out of pocket for almost the entire day on Monday. But, never fear the intern is here. 

The FTVLive Intern will be guiding the ship on Monday and here's hoping that he doesn't drive it straight into an iceberg.

I will be back in the World HQ late Monday night and FTVLive will be up to full speed on Tuesday. 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled FTVLIve.com.

Atlanta Anchor Beats the Rap

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WSB Anchor Fred Blankenship paid respect to Sugarhill Gang rapper Big Bank Hank, who died earlier this week. 

Blankenship broke out in a little Rapper's Delight and while he did much better than we ever could, we're still advising him to keep his day job.

Let's go to the video: 

Post by Fred Blankenship.

Oh CNN....

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While CNN doesn't see to mind showing us Kim Kardashian's ass, they do warn you when you are about to hear the national anthem. 

CNN posted a video on their website entitled “Sailor mom surprises daughter at school.” It first appeared on CNN on Thursday.

Before the video started, a warning message appeared before the video stating: 

“Please be advised you are about to hear an excerpt of the national anthem,” the warning declared.

Thank God CNN warned us!!! We were about to play that video in front of a group of people here at work. 

The warning was the result of a mistake by an employee, a CNN spokesman told The Daily Caller. It stemmed from the employee’s unfortunate interpretation of a company policy which, respectfully, only allows “The Star-Spangled Banner” to be played in its glorious entirety.

Thus, the warning wasn’t about the substance of the national anthem. It was about the fact that the video contained only part of the song.

“The graphic was included in error and has been removed,” the CNN spokesman said. “The video remains on the site.”

Now back to the missing plane.