No Shit
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When it comes to Emojis, KGUN (Tucson) morning Weather Anchor April Madison says her favorite is a pile of poop.
No really, she did!
Let's go to the video:
Denver Station Making a Run Up the Ratings
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The Feb book ends Today (can I get a Hallelujah?) and it looks like KCNC in Denver is going to jump from fifth (ie. last) place a couple of years ago to No. 2 in the 5-7 a.m. and 6 a.m. races.
From 5-7 a.m. weekdays amoung adults 25-54, the KUSA wake-up show holds the lead with a 1.3 rating, down 27 percent from a year ago. But KCNC is a close second with a 0.9 rating, up 69 percent from a year ago. KMGH is a very close third with a 0.7 rating, down 10 percent from last year.
The 6 a.m. race similarly demonstrates alterations: KUSA scored a 1.8 rating, down 26 percent from a year earlier. KCNC scored a 1.2 rating, up 68 percent from a year earlier. Four-tenths of a point away from the leader. KMGH declined to a 0.8 rating, down 19 percent from a year earlier.
At the same time, nationally “CBS This Morning” posted the largest viewership in the time slot in more than 10 years, gaining 290,000 viewers to become “the only network morning broadcast to maintain its adults 25-54 rating compared to a year ago,” per CBS.
“We have a symbiotic relationship with “CBS This Morning,” said CBS4 News Director Tim Wieland. Locally, “the team is clicking.” The goal is to stick with harder news and information while competitors trade in lighter, more personality-driven fare in the morning.
The late-news contest points to similar movement. So far, KUSA is on track to win with a 3.8 rating at 10 p.m. (adults 25-54), down 25 percent from a year ago. KCNC is in position to finish second with a 2.2, up 5 percent from a year ago. KMGH will be third with a 1.4 rating, down 18 percent from a year ago. And KDVR will post a 0.9 rating, up 13 percent from a year earlier.
H/T Denver Post
More Lying Charges Leveled Against Bill O'Reilly
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Just when it seemed that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly had side stepped the allegations that he lied about his war stories, now another charge surfaces.
HuffPo writes that new allegations have emerged that the Fox News anchor lied about being present at a suicide in Florida.
“He was in Dallas,” Tracy Rowlett, a former colleague of O’Reilly’s at Dallas station WFAA, told liberal watchdog Media Matters. “Bill O’Reilly’s a phony -- there’s no other way to put it.”
The Fox host has claimed on several occasions that he heard the gunshot that killed George de Mohrenschildt, a friend of JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald who committed suicide at his daughter’s home in Florida in 1977. O’Reilly originally made the claim in his 2012 book, Killing Kennedy. He repeated it during an appearance on "Fox & Friends" while promoting the book: “I was about to knock on the door where [de Mohrenschildt] was, his daughter’s house, and he blew his brains out with a shotgun,” O'Reilly said (see embedded video at the bottom of this piece). He made the claim again in an adaption of Killing Kennedy for younger readers.
Rowlett and Byron Harris, another of O’Reilly’s WFAA colleagues at the time, both say the embattled host was with them at WFAA’s Dallas headquarters when de Mohrenschildt died.
The station "would have reported it as some kind of exclusive -- and there was no exclusive -- if O'Reilly had been standing outside the door,” Harris said. Not only did WFAA run no exclusive, but the story was broken by The Dallas Morning News.
According to Rowlett and Harris, O’Reilly never mentioned while he was working at WFAA that he was present when de Mohrenschildt committed suicide.
“That came later," Rowlett said. “That must have been a brain surge when he was writing the book.”
Here is video of O'Reilly talking about being there during the suicide on Fox and Friends:
War Stories Controversy is Raising O'Reilly's Ratings
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Proving once again that controversy sells.
Bill O'Reilly saw his ratings for his Fox News Channel show spike on Monday. The numbers were up week to week and year to year with him reaching an audience of 3.3 million viewers and 568,000 in the key demographic of 25 to 54 years of age.
It was O’Reilly’s largest total audience since Nov. 25, 2014, in the wake of a verdict being announced in the Ferguson (Mo.) case of a white police officer shooting an unarmed African-American teenager
H/T Baltimore Sun
Lester Holt Widens Ratings Lead
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BriWi Who?
That might be the question some of the suits at 30 Rock are asking as it appears viewers aren't missing Brian Williams one bit.
With Lester Holt anchoring NBC Nightly News, the evening broadcast was first in the ratings, pulling in an average 10.1 million viewers last week.
Holt widened the lead to a 416,000-viewer advantage over ABC's World News with David Muir. ABC averaged 9.7 million last week, while the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, a perennial third-place finisher, netted 8.5 million.
Among the core audience of adults ages 25 to 54 that network newscasts sell to advertisers, ABC had a tiny edge last week, with 2.57 million viewers to NBC's 2.55 million, reversing the previous week's pecking order. CBS had 2.03 million.
#TeamLester
H/T USA Today
GM Out the Door in Memphis
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Ardyth “Ardy” R. Diercks was named the GM of Nexstar WATN (formally WPTY) in Memphis just 2 years ago.
Today she announced that she is leaving the station.
Here is the internal email, obtained by FTVLive that she sent out to the staff:
From: Ardy Diercks
Date: February 24, 2015 at 4:33:09 PM CST
To: Staff - WATN
Subject: Ardy Diercks Announcement
Team:
I am announcing my resignation today. I believe it is the right time for me professionally and personally to move on to some new adventures that I am truly looking forward to.
As a team we have built a strong foundation. We have the best employee team and an excellent product on all platforms.
YOU ARE READY TO SOAR!
I will be your biggest supporter and fan as I watch your continued growth and success all the way to #1! I am here as long as the company needs me for the transition and I look forward to personally thanking each and every one of you for your support and great work over the last 2 years. What a fun ride it has been for me and I am a better person for having spent time in your world.
It is impossible for me to articulate the depth of gratitude and breadth of love I have in my heart for “y’all” !
Thank you,
Ardy
Keith Olbermann Suspended....Again
/Keith Olbermann has done it again and now he's suspended....again.
WCBS reports that Olbermann has been taken off his ESPN show for the rest of the week after making insulting comments about Penn State students on Twitter.
On Monday, a Penn State alum tweeted to Olbermann the phrase “We Are!” and a link to an article about students raising more than $13 million to fight pediatric cancer. Olbermann replied “…Pitiful.”
Olbermann, who often spars with commenters on Twitter, then refused to back down, saying he was referring to Penn State students in general and not the fundraising.
Today ESPN said in a statement that “it was completely inappropriate and does not reflect the views of ESPN. We have discussed it with Keith, who recognizes he was wrong.”
Olbermann also apologized on Twitter a short time ago:
Way Late to the Party
/WKBW in Buffalo has shown up very late to the ice desk party.
Come on man it's Buffalo....you can have an ice desk in June.
Fists Fly in Albuquerque Newsroom
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The best story at KOB in Albuquerque yesterday was not on the air, but in the newsroom.
Insiders tell FTVLive that a fight broke out in the newsroom and it got real ugly, real fast.
Sources say that just before the 6pm news yesterday, primary anchor Tom Joles (pictured) got into it with a Reporter and Photographer.
According to insiders, a young reporter was being ‘counseled’ by ND Michelle Donaldson. "Whatever Donaldson said, wasn’t good enough for Joles and he added his own comments," said a source.
Longtime KOB Reporter Stuart Dyson tried to intervene and calm the situation down. It didn't work and word is that Joles got in Dyson's face and also the face of Photographer Joseph Lynch who jumped in to protect Dyson. Sources say punches were thrown.
When the fight stopped, Joles was called into Donaldson’s office, came out about 10 minutes later, grabbed his stuff and they both walked out together. Sources say Donaldson came back in and told the staff how her ‘heart breaks’ for Joles and that he’s having a tough time ‘fitting in’ in the modern era of TV news.
No word on what if any action the station is going to take against their longtime Anchor, but it sounds like something needs to be done.
Stay tuned.....
Cleveland Station Losing Battle to Keep "Jigaboo" Video off the Internet
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When WJW Anchor Kristi Capel, taking about Lady Gaga's Oscar performance said, ""It's hard to really hear her voice with all the jigaboo music that she (makes), whatever you want to call it"..... the station has done all they can to get the video racially offensive comments scrubbed from the Internet.
But, it clearly falls within the fair use guidelines and as a media company, WJW should know that. Instead of dealing with an Anchor that is making offensive comments, the station is trying to stop the reporting on Capel's racists remarks.
Do they not see the irony here?
Capel claims she did not know the meaning of the word or if was even a word at all. So why would the Anchor use it?
She hasn't answered that question.
WJW News director Andy Fishman says, "Kristy apologized on the air shortly after making the remark. She did not know what the word meant but that is no excuse for using it." Fishman added, "We have spoken with her and are confident nothing like this will happen again."
Here is the video, until WJW has it pulled down....again.
It Didn't Fool me
/The lighting and sound were too good and with no movement in the background it was a dead giveaway.
It's All About Perspective
/While Boston is still digging out of 7 plus feet of snow, the city of Dallas was paralyzed by just an inch of snow.
It was strange watching Dallas Reporters go wall to wall with coverage of this "winter blast" when you could still see the grass in Reporter's live shots.
Northern news crews have to be looking at this and shaking their heads.
Photo courtesy Ed Bark
Get Out of My Trashcan! Can you Tell it's Sweeps?
/KDVR (Denver) Reporter Heidi Hemmat was crawling around a local business's dumpster, when the business owner came out and confronted her.
The picture of the confrontation is a classic.
You know it must be sweeps.
You can watch the video here:
Post by Jeremy Hubbard.
Wednesday Looks Interesting in Winston Salem
/According to WXII (Winston Salem) Today's forecast is going to be "icy" but check out Wednesday. There is a 20% chance of "Furries!"
Are they talking about this?
It's 11:00..Do You Know Where your Anchor is?
/This might not exactly be how the corporate bosses at Scripps want to picture WPTV (West Palm Beach) Anchor Jay Cashmere.
Cashmere was snapped in a pair of too tight white pants, bumping and grinding down on stage with crazy women yelling and cheering.
But it wasn't a scene from Magic Mike, it was to raise money for The Arc of Palm Beach County.
The Arc of Palm Beach’s mission is to improve the lives of children and adults with developmental disabilities by providing services, education and advocacy.
So, while it is not exactly how you want your News Anchor portrayed, it was for a good cause.
H/T Gossip Extra
Photo By Mike Jachles
Backing up Bill O'Reilly's War Stories
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While a couple of CBS Reporters have called Fox News host Bill O'Reilly out for his stories about covering a riot in Buenos Aires, a former NBC News bureau chief is backing up O'Reilly's story.
Mediaite writes that Don Browne was the NBC News Miami bureau chief at the time, and he oversaw the network’s Falklands coverage. And Browne told O’Reilly his account was accurate. As opposed to some of the other accounts, which have to some extent downplayed the danger, Browne said the situation “got progressively more intense” and there were demonstrations in Buenos Aires every day.
Both O’Reilly and Browne recalled a “very intense situation where people got hurt” and how “this was an extremely violent and volatile situation” where reporters were in danger.
CBS did release the video from the rioting in Buenos Aires and it does show there there was violence and seemed to back up some of what O'Reilly said happened. It did not back up all of O'Reilly's claims, but it did not refute them either.
While all of this is 30 years old and it will be hard to ever know the full truth, it seems that O'Reilly is not getting caught in a "Brian Williams situation"despite CNN's and Mother Jones attempt to do so.
