Ummmm.... That's Not How it's Done

/
Ummmm.... That's Not How it's Done

You know it's a slow news day when you send a Reporter out to the parking lot to report that there is frost on the cars.

KREM Reporter Frances Wang braved the chilly temperatures to head out to the station parking lot and show viewers how to scrape frost off the car.

The only problem was, someone should have told Frances how it's done, because she doesn't have a clue.

After the jump, watch the video and see how the Anchors in the studio have to teach Wang how to use and ice scraper and her ah-ha moment when she learns why an ice scraper has two sides:

Read More

Anderson Cooper Smacks Piers Morgan Around a Bit

/

CNN's Anderson Cooper used part of his New Year's Eve show to take a few shots at thin skinned former CNN host Piers Morgan.

Morgan has teed off on Cooper in the past and it appears that Anderson thought this was a good time to take a shot at the fired Anchor.

Cooper throw down a "Piers who?" and followed it up with "...I hope he gets a job. One day. I hope he gets gainful employment."

Let's go to the video: 

With a hat tip from Kathy Griffin, Anderson Cooper let loose a series of mocking statement about former CNN'er Piers Morgan during Wednesday night's New Year's Eve coverage. "Piers who?" Cooper asked at first, before agreeing with Griffin that Morgan is "dying for a Twitter war."

The Most Watched Local Station in the Nation in 2014

/

It should come as no surprise that the most watched local TV station in the entire country, happens to be in the No. 1 TV market in the country.

WABC the ABC owned television station in New York ended 2014 as the most watched station in the nation.

Finishing 2014 with a 3.1 rating/8 share in DMA Households, Monday-Sunday Sign-On to Sign-Off, WABC-TV continues its run of dominance in the Tri-State area.

With an average quarter-hour audience of 284,000 viewers all year long, WABC attracts a larger audience than any other television station in the nation.

Here We Go...

/

We're barley into the New Year and we have our first Social Media Fail.

WGGB (Springfield) reported on social media that an Amtrak train was going to roll through the area for the first time in decades.

According to WGGB, the Amtrak train the "Vermonster" was going to stopping in town.

Vermonster?!

Shaking my head....

Ummmmm....the train is called the VERMONTER - you know, like the State? 

Ousted Mayor: Facebook and Channel 4 Can Kiss My Ass

/

Peal River (Louisiana) Mayor James Lavigne was indicted in October on four counts including theft and malfeasance. That didn't stop him from running for re-election and after managing to make a runoff, he lost his bid for a seventh term in office.

But on the final day of the year, the combative mayor clearly intended to end 2014 on his own terms. He called an emergency Board of Aldermen meeting for 10 a.m. Wednesday with one item on the agenda: his farewell address.

It was a speech he never gave.

When reporters began showing up at Pearl River Town Hall, the 74-year-old Lavigne began threatening to leave, demanding to be told who had informed the news media of the meeting.

“It’s a public meeting,” said Ashley Rodrigue, of WWL-TV, who broke the story on financial irregularities at the town. “It was all over Facebook,” she added.

“Facebook can kiss my ass, and you too and Channel 4 news,” Lavigne said as he got into his town-owned GMC Denali and drove away.

Good riddance we say.

H/T The Advocate

 

ABC Goes Out as the Winner in 2014

/

ABC won the New Year's Eve party ratings with their long titled special "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2014."

The three-hour telecast averaged 9.6 million viewers.

The broadcast competition: NBC with 4.9 million, CBS with 4.7 million for reruns, Fox with 2.2 million for "Pitbull's New Year's Revolution" and The CW with 1 million for the "iHeartRadio Music Festival."

ABC's coverage grew from 7 million at 8 p.m. to 9.1 million at 9 p.m. to 12.8 million at 10.

NBC countered with a news special toasting the old year (5.4 million viewers) and the two-hour "New Year's Eve With Carson Daly" (5.2 million).

When it was time to usher in 2015 on the East Coast, ABC had the edge there, too, according to preliminary numbers.

ABC scored a 10.7 household rating from 11:30 p.m. to 1:15 a.m. NBC put up a 4.9 household rating from 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. And Fox posted a 2.6 household rating from 11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

In the 18-to-49 age group, ABC scored a 7.3 to NBC's 3.1 and Fox's 2.2.

H/T Orlando Sentinel 

Signing Off the News in Atlantic City

/

FTVLive was FIRST to tell you that WMGM in Atlantic City would be shutting down their news department at Year's end and they did just that.

The news department has been wiped out and station is firing just about everyone on staff. It will run a bunch of crap and infomercials until it can sell its signal at the spectrum action in 2016.

Here is video from the last newscast ever on the station as they say good bye:

Thanks Guys for a Great Year!

/

As 2014 wrap up, FTVLive has to send out two huge "Thank You's."

First we have to thank the FTVLive sponsors that help keep the lights on and the servers running here at the World HQ. The sponsors took a chance on stepping up and supporting this site when we decided to bring it from behind the paywall. It worked out better than even we thought it would.

FTVLive has grown every month since we went free 2 years ago. This year traffic is up by over 2 million visits compared to last year. It was been an awesome ride and one that I could have never done without the best companies in and around TV news supporting FTVLive.

Second, I have to thank all of you guys that stop by each day to read the site. Many of you have emailed saying that you check FTVLive 10 times a day or more. You tell us that you appreciate a site that does not play favorites and tells it to you straight.

You guys are awesome for sharing about FTVLive on social media and telling your friends, family and co-workers about the one person website that people call a "absolute must read" each and every day.

I really can't get over how great you guys are and I hope nothing but the best for each one of you in 2015.

Before I start to cry let me just stop and say, THANKS and have a Happy New Year!

Let's hope 2015 is even better than this past year.

Peace Out!

Armed Suspect in Stand Off with Cops calls Twin Cities Newsroom

/

An interesting day in one Minneapolis newsroom.

A man that had taken a woman hostage called the KMSP Assignment Desk after she was in an apartment building with a man with a gun and a pissed off attitude.  

She hung up, but then the suspect called back, "We got a real live hostage situation, here is what's happening, not a hostage, but a standoff," the suspect, Eugene Boos, 42, told the station  over the phone.

"I'm a 20-year convict, and I'm a f****** criminal, and that's all I know. You know what? You ain't done your research on me,  because I'm an honorable man, and my word is everything to me. If I'm telling you that I'm willing to move out of the way, you better believe it," he told police.

Toward the end of the call -- shortly after 2 p.m. -- shots rang out, and the suspect claimed he had been shot in the hand by police as the woman screamed.

Here's the story from KMSP

Best and Worst of TV News 2014: TV News Website

/

This was the one landslide in the best and worst poll.

The Best:

FTVLive.com

It a landslide victory for best TV website of 2014, FTVLive.com walked away with the top prize. A site that breaks news, many times months before the others and is not in bed with any of the TV stations and networks.

The competition is jealous of FTVLive's success and ability to break the big stories time and time again.

"I can't believe you guys picked my site as the best," said FTVLive Founder Scott Jones to FTVLive. "I'm humbled and honored," Jones said.

While other sites wait for the press release from the station or network, it's a good bet that FTVLive broke the story weeks before the release was even sent out.

The Worst:

The site that swipes FTVLive's stories on almost a daily basis (yes there is more than one website that does it, but we're talking about THAT one).

We won't even name the website, but judging by all the emails we get from you guys, you all know which site it is.

The site owner spends more time trying to figure out how FTVLive gets the big stories first, than trying to break stories for themselves. 

The jealousy of the site's owner towards FTVLive runs very very high.

Just saying.... 

What Holiday Week?

/

While many of you have had the Holiday week off to enjoy it with your family, FTVLive has been toiling away here in the World HQ breaking stories.

In a Holiday Week, FTVLive broke the World Exclusive that Alisyn Camerota will be replacing Kate Bolduan early in the new year on CNN's New Day. Others are still struggling to confirm FTVLive's report. But you guys all know, if we report it, you can bank on it. 

FTVLive was also FIRST to report that the Gannett station's were dropping CNN NewSource at the end of the year.  

FTVLive was way out in front again, as the FIRST to report about the firings and suspensions at Sinclair's flagship station WBFF in Baltimore. 

Most of the other guys are taking off or phoning it in over the Christmas break. FTVLive continues to dish you the scoop no matter what. 

Why?

Because we are coverage you can count on, working for you and live, local and late breaking. 

You're welcome. 

Best and Worst of TV News 2014: Station Ownership Group

/

This was a tough one to find a winner and loser in.

The Best:

Cox

It was close between Cox and Gannett, but we still can remember when Gannett was furloughing staff when times were tough and not really making it up to the staff when times got good again.

So the winner for 2014 is Cox.

Cox is a solid group that focuses on doing TV news without the fluff and that alone moves them up the list. If there is one drawback to Cox, is the company is almost choked with research. I mean they won't change the paint color in the men's room without running it by a focus group.

But Cox does a lot of things right and that lands them at the top of the list.

The Worst:

With Granite now gone we have a new group taking up residence in the basement. Welcome to the bottom Nexstar.

I could go on and on why Nexstar comes in at the bottom, but let's be honest, you all know why.

Up next best/worst TV News website