BriWi Helped Change WNBC's Fluffy Newscast

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While Matt Lauer is running NBC, it appears that Brian Williams was trying his hand at controlling WNBC, the flagship NBC O&O in New York.

The NY Daily News reports that Williams’ nosing around the afternoon show “New York Live” resulted in him tearing apart the broadcast to top network execs, complaining that the show was light on “real news” and heavy on fashion and lifestyle.

“He had nothing to do with the show, yet he disapproved of the content,” The Daily News source sniffs. “It was too much fashion and gossip airing from 5 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, because he didn’t want light news airing so close to his important nightly broadcast.”

We’re told Williams was the driving force behind moving “New York Live” to an earlier time slot, convincing Michael Jack, president and general manager of NBC New York, to have the show air during the afternoon instead.

After a low-rated debut in 2008, “New York Live,” originally named “LXTV,” started to show signs of growth, with celebrity bookings and rising ratings under the then-new leadership of executive producer Amy Rosenblum.

“The numbers were increasing week after week. And the show became a hit by abandoning the depressing news stories and local traffic reports in favor of fashion, food and celebrity gossip segments. It just worked,” says our source. “But Brian wanted it gone. He killed what the show was. At the time, Brian ran 30 Rock and what Brian wanted, Brian got.”

“New York Live” is still airing as a 30-minute show daily at 12:30 p.m., a time slot Williams requested. With the time change, many staffers were laid off.

Turning FHRIP into a Story

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For the past year or so, idiots have been popping up at live shots and yelling, Fuck her right in the pussy!"

It happened a few times this week, including to KTTV Reporter Gina Silva.

But, as far as we know, KTTV is the only station to turn it into a story. The station took more than 5 minutes out of their newscast to report on people yelling, "Fuck her right in the pussy!" without actually using the words. 

Some viewers were at a lost as to what this segment was about?

Let's go to the video:

Giving New Meaning to Boner Live Shot

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KGTV in San Diego was doing a story of a couple of horses that were involved in a traffic accident . They threw it live to Reporter Maria Coronel, who was with one of the horses.

Coronel said that the horse seem, "a bit nervous and a little shaky" but, it appeared to us that the horse was very happy to see Coronel. Maybe too happy, if you know what I'm saying.

Let's go to the video: 

Boner of a liveshot from KGTV San Diego Marie Coronel

Leaving SoFlo

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Yesterday, FTVLive FIRST told you that WSVN's Blake Burman is leaving SoFlo for the FOX Business Network.

He's not the only one bolting the newsplex.

Gossip Extra writes that WSVN Anchor Mike Marza is leaving the station as well and headed back to Kansas City. 

Marza's wife, WFOR morning star Rhiannon Ally is joining him in the move back to KC.

Marza has a new gig as main Anchor gig setup back in KC and Ally will try the market once she gets there.

“After four years at 7 News, Mike Marza has decided to leave the station,” said Alice Jacobs, VP of News. “Mike has done a wonderful job anchoring and reporting for WSVN, but he has decided to pursue another opportunity.”

Ally arrived from WCBS in New York City in 2012.

Meredith Names New News Director in Springfield

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WFSB Deuce Patience Hettrick is being bumped up inside the Meredith food chain. 

Hettrick is leaving the Assistant News Director job at the Hartford station to become News Director at Meredith's tri-opoly in Springfield, Mass. 

Hettrick is the new ND at WGGB/WSHM and Fox 6 in the market. 

Current WSHM CBS 3 News Director Dave Ward is knocked down and will serve as Assistant News Director for all three local stations.

Jim Tortora, who had been the station manager and vice president of news at WGGB and FOX6, has been kicked to the curb.

"We thank Jim (Tortora) for his service and wish him well in future endeavors," Meredith said. 

Meredith says they will shake up the news operation at all 3 stations "to create a new and enhanced news product for Western Massachusetts."

Al Sharpton's Tax Records Keep Burning up in Fires

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MSNBC's Al Sharpton has some really bad luck.

It is well documented that Sharpton, MSNBC Host and National Action Network front man has problems paying his taxes.

Basically, every business that Sharpton has launched has wound up having tax problems with the IRS. A report from the National Review may have found one reason for all of these nagging tax problems.

Imagine how much easier it would have been for Sharpton to clear his good name if the buildings where his tax records were stored didn’t keep burning to the ground. 

The National Review writes, "as Al Sharpton ran for mayor of New York City in 1997 and for president in 2003, fires at his offices reportedly destroyed critical financial records, and he subsequently failed to comply with tax and campaign filing requirements. 

The first fire began in the early hours of April 10, 1997, in a hair-and-nail salon one floor below Sharpton’s campaign headquarters at 70 West 125th Street. From the start, investigators deemed the fire “suspicious” because of “a heavy volume of fire on arrival” and because many of the doors remained unlocked after hours, according to the New York Fire Department’s fire-and-incident report…

Six years later, on January 23, 2003 — one day after Sharpton filed paperwork to create a presidential exploratory committee — another fire caused heavy damage at National Action Network, located at 1941 Madison Avenue. (The Federal Election Commission (FEC) later determined that Sharpton had actually become a candidate no later than October 2002, although, contrary to law, he had not filed his statement of candidacy until April 2003.) 

The battalion chief who responded to the fire initially coded it as suspicious. On the fire-and-incident report, the cause of fire is designated as “NFA [Not Fully Ascertained] — Heat from electrical equipment (Extension Cords).” But by the evening of January 24, the chief fire marshal told the New York Times that “both an eyewitness account and a physical examination by fire marshals point to the cause as accidental.”

We're sure that these tax record fires are just a coincidence.

Right? 

H/T Hot Air

Cord Cutting Happening Faster Than Ever

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FTVLive is this/close to kicking out cable service to the curb and relying on over the air and streaming services.

We are not the only one looking to ditch pay TV.

Traditional television watching is declining faster than ever as streaming services become a mainstream feature in American homes, according to new research by Nielsen.

The Washington Post says that adults watched an average of four hours and 51 minutes of live TV each week in the fourth quarter of 2014, down 13 minutes from the same quarter of 2013, according to Nielsen’s fourth-quarter 2014 Total Audience Report. Viewing was down six minutes between the fourth quarter of 2013 and 2012. And between 2012 and 2011, viewing time actually increased for live TV.

At the same time, more homes turned to online video, with 40 percent of U.S. homes subscribing to a streaming service such as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video or Hulu compared with 36 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to Nielsen. Netflix is by far the most popular streaming service, in 36 percent of all U.S. homes, and Amazon Instant Video is in 13 percent of homes.

The trends have rattled the entertainment industry, with broadcast and cable networks scrambling to take on new competitors on the Web. Cable networks have seen steep ratings declines, which got much worse in the last six months of 2014. Cable ratings among adults fell 9 percent in 2014, three times the rate of decline over 2013, according to Michael Nathanson, an analyst at Moffett Nathanson research.

“It’s hard to ignore our belief that technology is disrupting viewer consumption of linear network programming,” Nathanson wrote in a recent research note.

In response, companies such as HBO, NBC and CBS are launching their own streaming services. The moves could unleash a fast demise of the cable and satellite industries that have fed TV networks with licensing fees.

If your station is not streaming your newscast and making them available to playback, then they will be in for a rude awakening in the coming years.

It's not "business as usual" in the TV world. 

San Diego Sports Anchor Returns After Shooting

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KFMB Sports Anchor Kyle Kraska returns to the air tonight for the first time since being shot outside his home 6 times.

The station made a promo touting Kraska's retrun.

The promo starts out, "His road to recovery leads right to CBS News 8."   Well, where else would it lead?  He works there, right?  It would have been strange that after the shooting, he showed up as the sports Anchor on KGTV across the street, don't ya think? 

Here's the promo for Kraska's return.

Post by CBS 8 - San Diego News.

Maybe he figure he should comeback while the station was still doing a sportscast.

Portland Station Drops Sports from Late Newscast

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Yesterday, FTVLive told you that WIVB in Buffalo was pulling the plug on sports during their 6PM newscast.

Now we hear that KGW in Portland, Oregon is doing the same thing in their 11PM newscast. 

Despite the Trail Blazers being one of the best teams in the NBA, and the Oregon Ducks success  on the football field and basketball court, the station is saying ba-bye to sports. 

The station says that the News Anchors will read the sports highlights if circumstances warrant. But as a stand alone segment the traditional 11 pm sports is gone from the station.

If you work in TV sports this might be a sign to start thinking about PR as a new career. 

Just saying....

Lisa Myers: TV Journalism Deteriorating

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Lisa Myers was a fixture on NBC Nightly News until about a year ago when she left the Peacock and moved to Florida to work on her golf game (smart lady).

But, Myers still has some thoughts on her old job as a Journalist and she thinks the industry is headed to the wrong direction.

She thinks the that the quality of journalism is deteriorating. "I think the primary mission of journalism is to hold the powerful accountable, be they in government or corporate America. There is less and less interest in network television today holding the White House or any other part of government accountable. I fear there is a calculation that the audiences they are trying to reach don't care that much about the serious news. I think most of the political coverage these days has all the depth of Twitter," Myers said to the Des Moines Register. 

"I also worry that journalists today appear to have chosen sides when it comes to political coverage. I think you see that in the sagging approval numbers of TV news over the last few years. We've seen trust in the media hit its lowest level ever in 2013 or 2014 surveys and I think the lack of depth and the feeling that too many journalists have chosen sides has caused viewers to question whether we are giving it to them straight and whether we are making a politically balanced presentation," she added. 

As for the Brian Williams scandal and NBC's hiring of Andy Lack, Myers has thoughts on that as well. "It's a very tough time. I continue to have a lot of great friends at NBC. No one would wish this on anyone. I think Steve Burke (CEO of NBC Universal) did what he had to do. I am not privy to the internal investigation, so I don't know what will transpire from here. I think Andy Lack is a great choice to lead the network. He is a strong leader and a great experienced newsman. He has relationships with a lot of key people and people trust him."

Not exactly a rousing message of support for BriWi. 

Crossing the Street in Atlanta

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Longtime WXIA Sports Anchor Fred Kalil is crossing the street to WGCL.

Kalil has been at WXIA for the past 22 years. 

“We are very excited to have Fred join the CBS46 Sports team.  He brings with him over 20 years of outstanding sports reporting in Atlanta.  He knows the city and the community and we look forward to him bringing our viewers the best local sports coverage in all of Atlanta,” said WGCL News Director Larry Perret.

“I look forward to joining CBS46 and using my local contacts and experiences to help build the best sports department in town,” said Kalil.

Kalil begins his new assignment on March 23rd.

Miami Reporter Jumping to Fox Business

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Sources tell FTVLive that WSVN Weekend Anchor Blake Burman is leaving SoFlo for the FOX Business Network.

Burman take over for Rich Edson as a general assignment Reporter in Washington. He has been at WSVN since 2008. 

Edson, who has been with FOX Business since its 2007 launch, is moving up to FOX News Channel as a general assignment Reporter in the DC bureau, which recently saw the retirement of longtime correspondents Steve Centanni and Jim Angle.

Out the Door in Providence

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WLNE has parted ways with Anchor/Reporter Mark Curtis.

Curtis found out yesterday at 11:15 AM that he was out of a job. He took to Facebook to tell viewers the news:

Dear friends and viewers:

As of today I am no longer with ABC 6 News in Providence. As a 38-year media professional, I am available for work in all aspects of the communications business including: news, public relations, government affairs, lobbying, legislative relations and business communications. As many of you know, I also earned a Doctoral degree and am available to teach at the college level. For resume, work samples, and employment offers please contact me at Mark@MarkCurtisMedia.com.

Curtis came to ABC 6 in January 2010, where he served as Chief Political Reporter, Weekend Anchor, and Weekday Morning Co-Anchor.

From 1993-2008 he was at KTVU in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he served as chief Washington DC Correspondent and Morning News Anchor. 

H/T GoLocalProV.com