Signing Off in B-More

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WMA Weather Anchor Mike Masco says he is leaving the station and TV news in general. 

After three years at the station, Masco says his plans, "feature a new adventure that will take me away from full-time TV."

Masco has been with the station since May2012, coming from WGGB, the ABC affiliate in Springfield, Massachusetts.

He announced his leaving the station on his Facebook page: 

I've been dreading this day for a while now, but the time has come to inform you all that I will be leaving ABC 2 News. The last three years spent in Baltimore has been a true honor and privilege. Countless sleepless nights tracking storms with you has made my job an amazing experience that I will never forget. From Superstorm Sandy to tornadoes, floods, blizzards, ice storms (the list is endless) we braved it together! Knowing you and your family were safe from dangerous weather was and always has been my goal but giving you the EARLIEST warning was my mission. 

My plans going forward will feature a new adventure that will take me away from full-time TV. You'll see me pop up on ABC 2 from time-to-time to help when I can.

So I'll leave you with this.

If I taught you something about the weather and put a smile on your face to start or end your day, it was all worth it. You were never just a "viewer" to me, but more like my family

NBC News Uses Drone to Cover Cyclone Damage

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NBC Nightly News took a flight into the future of news-gathering on Tuesday.  

The network used a drone and flew it over cyclone damaged Vanuatu, east of Australia.

"Our drone captured some incredible images of the damage," anchor Lester Holt bragged on his newscast.

The story about the storm opened with footage from the drone's flight and was used later in the same story to show a village NBC's reporter was heading to.

"We sent up a drone for a better look," said reporter Miguel Almaguer.

Drones have been winning a spot in news coverage recently, with CNN debuting its own earlier this year.

H/T Washington Examiner 

Newsroom Shake Up to Hit Miami Station

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SoFlo sources tell FTVLive that WTVJ is about to shake things up in the newsroom.

The NBC O&O is looking to lift their sagging ratings and feel some changes are needed.

Word is that Jawan Strader, who has been anchoring mornings at WTVJ, is headed to the evening anchor chair.  

The station will team a new Anchor with Pam Giganti on on mornings.

FTVLive hears that other talent will be shifted around to try and improve the numbers. Word is that several producers are being shuffled around as well to try to breathe new life into the shows.

The changes all come as the staton continues to struggle in the evenings and at 11pm in the ratings.

 Stay tuned and remember where you read it first.

Despite Cuts....Gannett Bosses Get Big Bonuses

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Earlier this week, FTVLive told you that longtime WXIA Anchor Karyn Greer had left the station after turning down a lowball offer from the Gannett station. 

Times maybe tough, but not for the suits running Gannett. 

While the company has been making cuts, especially at their newspapers, the people running the place making out like bandits. 

In the company's SEC filing, papers show that Gannett CEO Gracia Martore pulled in $12.4 million bucks last year. 

On the TV side, President/Broadcasting David Lougee (pictured) made just a measly $2.5 million bucks. 

My God....how is the guy expected to survive on that salary?

The next time to you see Dave walking around your station, ask him if you could barrow a few hundred bucks?

Believe me, he can afford it. 

LA Police Chase Suspect Slams into KABC Live Truck

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Yesterday, FTVLive told you that 3 men were almost run over by a KTTV news crew after the men ran from a restaurant they attempted to rob. 

Yesterday evening, Police were chasing  a stolen car in South Los Angeles, when the male passenger bailed out of the car on foot and started running.

As he was trying to avoid police, he ran right into the KABC live truck, jumped over a fence and was then tackled by CHP officers.

The California Highway Patrol took to Twitter to thank the news van in helping making the arrest:

While in most parts of the country, news crews head out into the city to find good stories. In LA the news comes right to the news crews.

I love LA!

World News Tonight Closes in on NBC Nightly News

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Uh-oh!

Bad news for NBC and Lester Holt. 

In the latest ratings, ABC's World News Tonight was just within 11,000 total viewers of NBC's Nightly News.

This is the closet ABC has been to the Peacock in over 5 years. 

WNT also pulled out a win in the demos for the first time in 3 weeks. 

Somewhere, Brian Williams has a huge smile on his face. 

Just saying..... 

Tucker Carlson Pulls Story that is Negative of Fox News

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Tucker Carlson's website The Daily Caller will publish just about any story, even if it's not true.

But, when it comes to Fox News, The Daily Caller stays away from any stories that are critical of the network. 

Gee? Why is that?

Tucker Carlson works for Fox News has the host of the weekend edition on Fox and Friends. 

When anti-immigration blogger Mickey Kaus published a post on the Daily Caller criticizing Fox News for focusing on stories about ISIS over stories about several political disputes concerning federal immigration policy, Carlson pulled the story down after just a few minutes. 

“It’s pretty simple,” Kaus said in an interview, “I wrote a piece attacking Fox for not being the opposition on immigration and amnesty—for filling up the airwaves with reports on ISIS and terrorism, and not fulfilling their responsibility of being the opposition on amnesty and immigration.... I posted it at 6:30 in the morning. When I got up, Tucker had taken it down. He said, ‘We can’t trash Fox on the site. I work there.’”

Kaus quit the website shortly after Carlson killed his story. 

H/T Gawker

Out the Door in Houston

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After 6 years, KTRK Reporter Sonia Azad says she is leaving the station.

She isn't say why she is leaving the station, saying only, it is "time for me to start a new chapter in my personal and professional journey."

She posted the news of her leaving to her Facebook page, writing "  I have had the great fortune of telling the stories and sharing the news of my hometown. I am grateful to have met and worked with some incredible people along the way. Thank you for your trust and for tuning in night after night (or day after day... Or morning after morning... ). I'm looking forward to new and exciting opportunities ahead. Stay tuned!!"

LA News Crew Interrupts Robbery

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Sometimes you go to the news and sometimes the news comes to you.

That was the case this morning for a KTTV news crew in LA. 

Three men, running in a single file suddenly darted from the darkness of an empty parking lot on Pacific Coast Highway right in front of the station's news van, driven by Photographer Tony Buttitta.

It was all he could do not to hit the men, but soon Buttitta knew something was wrong. 

"Something's wrong. Those guys just ran out of Duke's," Buttitta said. 

Duke's is a popular restaurant and bar on PCH and at four o'clock in the morning, we knew they were closed.

KTTV Reporter Gigi Graciette wrote down the license plate number of the car the men piled into. Graciette also starting shooting video on her phone. 

While all this was happening, police also received a 9-1-1 call from Duke's. Three men had just broken in, someone reported, and had assaulted the janitor; he was bleeding and it was bad.

As deputies and paramedics rushed to Duke's, another patrol car spotted the white SUV we reported and pulled it over.

By then, police had the full story from Duke's where the cleaning crew - a brother and sister team - confirmed that three men had forced their way in thru the kitchen, smashed Jesus the janitor's head in with a crowbar, hitting him in the hand too, in what police think was a burglary gone bad.

The cleaning crew was able to identify the suspects and four people were taken into custody. Three men, two of them 21-years-old and an 18-year-old.

Along with the driver of the Mercedes Benz, a 19-year-old girl.

The thugs were caught and the LA station had a story, somedays everything just comes together. 

H/T KTTV 

This is What Happens When you are Owned by a Cable Company

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This morning, FTVLive told you that Apple is looking to introduce a streaming service, most likely in the Fall. 

The Apple service would have about 25 channels, anchored by broadcasters such as ABC, CBS and Fox and would be available on Apple devices, including Apple TV.  

NBC was not mentioned, because the Peacock is balking at Apple's streaming media service. 

It looks like you might still be able to watch NBC on an Apple device, but the Peacock's plan is for users will be require to have a cable subscription.

This is what happens when your network is owned by a cable company that is not embracing the future and trying hard as hell to hang onto the past. 

Company's such as HBO have seen the future and are planning for it. HBO is about to offer streaming service on Apple devices that will require no cable or satellite subscription.

Next month, FTVLive will be ditching Comcast and going to a streaming service and we will sign up for HBO's streaming service as well.

We will cut our bill by more than half of our current bill and still have the channels we want to watch and HBO (which we don't have now). 

Sadly, NBC will be finding themselves slipping further behind the other networks when it comes to reaching viewers in new ways.

That is why having your parent company as a cable company will be a hindrance and not a plus ion the very near future. 

Stay tuned....