Coming and Going in Little Rock

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A couple of new hires and a departure at Little Rock duop KARK/KLRT.

News Director Austin Kellerman announced the hiring of two meteorologists — one each for KARK, the NBC affiliate, and Fox-affiliate KLRT-TV, Channel 16 — and the departure of a reporter/anchor.

Kellerman wrote that Matt Peterson will be taking the weekend weather spot on KLRT. Peterson has worked at ABC affiliate KCAU-TV, a Nexstar-owned station in Sioux City, South Dakota, for three years and starts March 30.

At KARK, Kira Miner was hired as that station’s weekend meteorologist. Miner most recently worked at WBBH-TV and WZVN-TV in Fort Myers, Florida, for three years. Her first day is March 16.

Kellerman also said reporter and anchor Brittney Johnson is leaving the station for a job at ABC affiliate WSOC-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina. Johnson has been with the station since July 2010. Her last day at KARK is March 15.

H/T Arkansas Business

Savannah Hits the Snooze

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Last week, NBC Today Show Anchor Savannah Guthrie did something that she hasn't done in two years.

She slept in and was this/close to being late for work. 

Guthrie shared a message on Twitter revealing she may have hit the snooze button on her alarm clock too many times Thursday morning.

After sleeping through her alarm, the 43-year-old new mother tweeted a message asking the executive producer of "Today," Don Nash, to show her mercy.

"This is a first. Overslept. @Studio1ADon please be merciful," Guthrie said in the tweet, which was posted less than one hour before she was expected to start the live show at 7am. 

Despite waking up late, the veteran news host still managed to make it to the studio on time and anchor the live show with her co-anchors without a hitch.

She added in a second tweet, posted a few minutes after 7 a.m. that read, "Can't today wait until tomorrow?"

After sharing her mistake on social media, several news reporters tweeted their support for Guthrie, reassuring her it is a common occurrence that has happened to the best of them. Others said they understand why she overslept since she is the mother of a 6-month-old baby. Guthrie and her husband Michael Feldman welcomed their first child, Vale, back in August.

H/T Latin Post

TV Executives Finally Pull Their Head out of the Sand

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Anyone that has a high school or college aged kid has known this for years, the TV executives are just figuring it out.

The younger generation is not watching regular TV. 

With YouTube, Netflix, HULU and social media young Americans that used to turn to television for entertainment is finding its fix elsewhere.

This migration has been gradual but is starting to show up in the quarterly results of some of the world’s biggest media companies — and investors are beginning to notice.

Television executives have finally started sounding the alarm when media companies reporting lower advertising revenues for some or all of their networks.

Todd Juenger, senior analyst with Bernstein Research, called the ratings declines “alarming” and “unprecedented”.

The trend has continued into the most recent round of financial results, with Viacom among the worst hit. The company, controlled by 91-year-old billionaire Sumner Redstone, has suffered some of the sharpest ratings declines, with viewership down 18 per cent in the fourth quarter, according to a MoffettNathanson analysis of Nielsen data. 

BET, which is aimed at African-American audiences, fell 22 per cent, the children’s network Nickelodeon was down 17 per cent while MTV declined 14 per cent.

Viacom’s profits have held steady but on the company’s recent investor call, Philippe Dauman, chief executive, alluded to significant changes in audience habits. “It is no secret that there are far-reaching shifts taking place in our industry,” he said.

People have warned media companies for years that this was happening, it appears the TV executives have finally taken their head out of the sand to figure that out. 

The question is.....is it too late?

Stay tuned....

H/T Financial Times

Spoiler Alert

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35 years ago, WJLA pissed off a number of viewers when the station announced that the USA had beat Russia in Olympic Hockey back in 1980.

It was one of the seminal moments in American sports history – the Miracle on Ice.  Believe it or not, the game was not broadcast live, but on tape delay in primetime.  The USA-USSR game was played at 5 PM ET in Lake Placid but not aired on ABC until 8 PM ET. 

With the game being tape delayed, the result had to be kept secret from viewers.  That was much easier back in 1980 without cell phones or computers or Twitter.  But it didn’t stop WJLA in DC from committing a massive mistake and spoiling the legendary outcome for viewers.

The score was tied 3-3 with about 10 minutes left to play when ABC took a station break. WJLA Renee Poussaint, apparently unaware of ABC’s attempts to keep the secret, announced that the U.S. had scored a major upset over the Russians by winning the hockey game 4-3.

WJLA’s switchboard lit up with calls from over 200 irate viewers who had avoided news and sports reports all evening so they could experience the drama of the game on TV. The ABC bureau in Washington also logged over 200 calls.

Imagine the social media backlash that WJLA would have gotten Today if that happened?

Then again.... with social media, most people would have known the US won the game hours before it ever hit the air. 

DO YOU BELIEVE IN TWITTER.....YES!!!

H/T Awful Announcing 

Lester Holt to Get a Couple of Days Off.... Finally!

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Ever since NBC told Brian Williams to head to the bench, Lester Holt has been filling in and he was done it without a break. 

Holt Anchored Nightly News, Weekend Today and Weekend Nightly News without a break.

Finally he is getting one.

After today's shift, Holt is going to get 2 whole days off in a row. 

Craig Melvin will take Holt's spot on Weekend Today.  Peter Alexander will be in the chair for Nightly on Saturday and Carl Quintanilla will do the chore on Sunday.

Holt has been going non-stop since BriWi got bounced and has kept NBC Nightly in first place in the ratings.

Enjoy your days off Lester and we'll see you back on Nightly on Monday night.

#TeamLester

 

Out the Door In Orlando

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O-Town sources tell FTVLive that News 13 News Director Rudy Murrieta is out the door.  

Employees were told of the decision this morning.  Rob Hubler, an Executive Producer who used to be the Deuce across the street at WOFL Orlando, is now the interim news director. 

Murrieta has been at News 13 for years, starting as the station's Assistant News Director.

Earlier this year, FTVLive told you that Tim Geraghty, the Senior Director of News, was kicked to the curb.  He was replaced by Mike Gautreau, who will also continue his job as Senior Director of News at Bay News 9 in Tampa.

We pointed out that Bright house has been moving to merge the two operations.

Buffalo Station to Lose Husband and Wife to the Twin Cities

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Here is the problem when TV station hire and Husband and Wife.

WIVB in Buffalo is about to have two jobs they will need to fill. The Buffalo News writes that  Anchor/Reporter Lou Raguse is leaving the station when his contract expires next month to take his dream job in his home state of Minnesota.

Raguse is expected to begin his new job as a reporter at KARE-TV in Minneapolis. He is expected to begin his new job in April after completing his WIVB contract in early March.

The Buffalo News reports that Raguse’s wife, WIVB Reporter Emily Guggenmos, also will be leaving the station. She plans to do some freelance work in Minneapolis and also take care of their 18-month-old daughter.

With the expected departures of Raguse and Guggenmos, WIVB will have lost seven news reporters and anchors in less than a year.

Last one out, please shut off the transmitter. 

That's It?

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Each morning, FTVLive wakes up at 4AM, stumbles into the office and starts updating the site. Most often we post the first stories of the day between 6:45 and 7:15AM.

At that point we return some emails and try and map out the rest of the day, who to call, story ideas, ect.

We then eat a quick breakfast and take Rory for his morning walk. We return to the office to check email and any other tasks before heading to the gym for a workout.

This morning, I had just gotten to the gym and did about 4 machines (out of 20) when I got this email saying I needed to tune into Jose Diaz Balart on MSNBC at 9:30AM. Problem was it was 9:20AM and not a single TV in the gym is tuned to MSNBC (they are on Fox News, CNN and ESPN mainly).

I frantically called the intern, telling him to roll the DVR and start watching MSNBC. I wondered was Diaz Balart going to announce that Brian Williams had resigned? Was he announcing that he would be the new Anchor of Nightly News? Or, did Ronan Farrow go postal after his show was axed and starting gunning people down at MSNBC?

I was wondering what the huge news was, I was quickly getting dressed and racing back to the FTVLive World Headquarters to be raedy to share this huge news.

Then, I found out what it was.

Jose Diaz-Balart announced that he'll be hosting a town hall with President Obama next Wednesday.

Talk about a let down. 

Does Bill O'Reilly have a Brian Williams problem?

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The left leaning website Mother Jones has attacked the right leaning Bill O'Reilly and has accused him of pumping up his war stories similar to what NBC's Brian Williams did. 

Mother Jones points out instances when O'Reilly touted his time as a war correspondent during the Falklands conflict:

O'Reilly has said he was in a "war zone" that apparently no American correspondent reached. Read the full story here: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/bill-oreilly-brian-williams-falklands-war

In April 2013, while discussing the Boston Marathon bombing, O'Reilly shared a heroic tale of his exploits in the Falklands war:

I was in a situation one time, in a war zone in Argentina, in the Falklands, where my photographer got run down and then hit his head and was bleeding from the ear on the concrete. And the army was chasing us. I had to make a decision. And I dragged him off, you know, but at the same time, I'm looking around and trying to do my job, but I figure I had to get this guy out of there because that was more important.

But Mother Jones points out that American reporters were not on the ground in this distant war zone. "Nobody got to the war zone during the Falklands war," Susan Zirinsky, a longtime CBS News producer who helped manage the network's coverage of the war from Buenos Aires, tells Mother Jones. She does not remember what O'Reilly did during his time in Argentina. But she notes that the military junta kept US reporters from reaching the islands: "You weren't allowed on by the Argentinians. No CBS person got there."

The site drags up other examples of where they said O'Reilly conflated his war reporting experiences.

But, don't expect a Brian Williams type apology from Bill O, he's firing back at Mother Jones. “It’s a total hit piece,” O’Reilly said to Deadline.

“Every single thing I ever said about my career is true. It’s verifiable. The field reports, they went on; the video is there. I was praised for the reporting. This is a bunch of garbage.”

The bigger picture is this political outfit Mother Jones,” O’Reilly said. “David Corn (Author of the Mother Jones story) works for MSNBC,” he said of the writer, who is a contributor for that cable news network.

“We’re killing them in the ratings,” O’Reilly added. “We’re taking millions of dollars away from them; any damage they can do to me damages the Fox News Channel. Damage the tentpole, damage the main guy — everybody knows this.”

It should be pointed out that David Corn was a one time contributor to Fox News from March 2001- March 2008 until Fox News did not renew his deal.

It is likely that even if O'Reilly's stories turn out to be false, he will not take a Brian Williams type hit. The Fox News host is not looked at as a "serious" newsman and is certainly not looked at by most viewers as objective (sorry Bill, but that's true). So, while this could cause some scratches to O'Reilly, don't expect any deep cuts.

Just saying.... 

NY Station Finally Close to Naming new ND

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WPIX in New York has been without a News Director since Mark Efforn left the station last year.

But, word is that is going to change.

Sources say that WPIX is this/close to naming Senior Executive Producer Amy Waldman as the new ND. Waldman has been steering the WPIX ship since Effron left and is now likely to get bumped up the food chain. 

Stay tuned.... 

BTW- That picture is taken from her own Twitter page, where her bio reads, "TV producer by day, trapeze artist by night." We're guessing that if she gets bumped up to the ND job, Tribune might ask her to change the photo and bio.

Just saying.... 

The news of Waldman's move to the ND chair was first reported by TunedIn.

Former Florida Weatherman Faces more Prison Time

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Pervert Weatherman Rob Lopicola is looking at some more prison time on different charges.

The former WPTV (West Palm Beach) Weatherman is already serving a  56-month sentence for sex with underage boys and has now been transferred from his Miami area prison to a federal jail in East St. Louis, Ill.

The move was so that Lopicola can stand trial for his role in a timeshare scam based in West Palm Beach and Illinois that bilked thousands of unsuspecting folks out of $14.5 million.

 His trial on wire fraud charges is scheduled to start May

Lopicola is also considering to plead guilty and avoid trial, and a stiffer penalty. The judge in Illinois has given Lopicola until March 19 to decide, according to court papers.

Lopicola was indicted last year and could start serving the federal sentence after he’s done in Florida, Nov. 11, 2016.

Lopicola allegedly called timeshare owners and falsely claimed to have found potential buyers for their properties.

Lopicola then asked each owner for $1,000 to handle the sale.

Federal investigators said Lopicola and the company he worked for, Premier Timeshare Solutions, pocketed the fees then told sellers that their sale didn’t go through.

A pervert and a scammer?

What a great guy. 

H/T Gossip Extra

Please Stop

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As much as we were hoping that the ice desk melted away for good last year, sadly it seems to be coming back.

Here is the latest entry from WKYC in Cleveland.

WVEC in Norfolk:

WGME in Maine:

It should be pointed out that as cold as it is in Florida this morning, I could build my own ice desk right here at the FTVLive World HQ.

Oh wait! WTLV here in Jacksonville already did make an ice desk:

Now....Please Stop! Please!