Houston Deuce Heads to San Antonio as ND

KHOU Assistant News Director Jack Acosta is being moved in the Gannett food chain.

Acosta is leaving his Deuce job to become the News Director at KENS in San Antonio. Both stations are owned by Gannett.

"KENS is a great station with great people and a great history," Acosta told mikemcguff.com. "I'm excited to be part of what is going to be a great future."

Acosta originally came to KHOU as a producer in 2005, worked his way to EP and then assistant news director. Before KHOU, he was a producer at WABC New York. Before the Big Apple, Acosta was at Houston's KTRK abc13 as a producer.

NY Station Adds 6PM Newscast Starting Today

Just in time for the May book, WPIX is adding a 6PM newscast, starting tonight.

While the station has been quiet about adding a new newscast, WPIX Anchor Tamson Fadal tweeted out the news of a new newscast Today.

Sources: Fresno News Director Bumped up to KABC Gig (Updated)

We are still waiting for confirmation, but sources tell FTVLive that KFSN News Director Michael Carr is being bumped way up the ABC food chain and will be the new ND at KABC.

Carr has been the News Director at KFSN for just over 3 years and now he heads sown the 5 freeway to KABC.

Before Carr became KFSN's ND, he spent 8 years at the station working as the EP. 

If our tipsters are right, that means after 12+ years outside a top 50 market, Carr will leap all the way to the No. 2 market as the news boss. 

Stay tuned..... 

Update: Carr tells FTVLive he is NOT headed to KABC as News Director. 

Is that 5 or 55?

This morning on the Today Show, they looked back at the BP Oil spill.

Today ran a story from Kerry Sanders and left this lower third up for the entire story:

Not sure what the "Five 5" is all about, but during the package you would have thought someone in the control room would have caught and pulled the font down. 

Roger Ailes: I Would Bring Brian Williams Back

The Hollywood Reporter has a long piece on Fox News boss Roger Ailes. 

Usual stuff, Ailes pontificates, his staff says how great he is and so on and so on.

But, when it comes to NBC and Andy Lack returning to run the news division, Ailes thinks Lack will do ok.

"Andy is a smart guy. He's going to work on several problems at the same time. That in and of itself will make a difference, Ailes says.  

Ailes then weighs in on the BriWi mess, saying this about Lack, "He's got to make the right call on Brian Williams. I'd put Brian back."

So, does Ailes really think that NBC should bring back BriLie, or is this his evil genis at work to maybe help NBC make the wrong call?

Hmmmmm?

We'll let you decide. 

News Anchor Freaks Out

OK, we smell a total fake here, but we'll share it anyway.

CityTV (Canada) News Kevin Frankish freaks out during the commercial break and it is caught on video.

Maybe if he yelled, "Fuck it! We'll do it live!" we might have believed this was real.

Let's go to the video:

Leaked cellphone footage shows Canadian news anchor Kevin Frankish losing it during Breakfast Television commercial break, Dennis Quaid style.

Buzz Kill

A spat with a major financial investor in  syndicated show THE DAILY BUZZ has led to the show being canclled.

The investor pulled his backing in the show and the staff learned that Friday was their last show. 

No notice.  No severance.  And many affiliates looking to fill a two-hour hole this morning.

After 13 years on the air, the talent  wasn't able to say goodbye. "We'll say goodbye online," COO Troy McGuire said.

At its peak, the show was seen in 175 markets, but it has declined a lot in recent years. 

Now it's gone. 

Phoenix Anchor is Out

KPHO Anchor Catherine Anaya announced Friday that she is leaving the station.

Depending on who you believe, Anaya left to spend more time with her family, or her contract was not renewed. 

Either way, Anaya will leave the station at the end of July after nearly 13 years at KPHO. 

"I have been so blessed," Anaya said in an interview before anchoring the 10 p.m. news. "This has truly been the best career and the best job. I step away very humbled and grateful and blessed ... but I feel like this is just the beginning."

In a Facebook post, Anaya said her life has changed since the death of her children's father six months ago. She said while her daughter was giving his eulogy, she described her father as always being there for her.

"My heart broke -- and woke -- at that moment, knowing that if she had to give my eulogy, she couldn't say the same about me," Anaya wrote.

She said she is excited to spend time with her children and husband.

Sources tell FTVLive that the station decided not to renew Anaya's contract.

We'll see how much "more time she spends with her family" before shopping for a new gig.

Stay tuned... 

Ummmmm....

Producers that are stuck doing the mid-day show know that sometimes it is a pain in the ass to fill the show.

KTNV in Las Vegas thought that they would fill some time by bringing a local band called CrackerMan on the show to preform.

To say this was a bad idea would be a major understatement.

Let's go to the video: 

In TV you have to be careful who you invite to perform on your mid-day shows. I love it, LOL! This is from KTNV in Las Vegas, NV. Thanks to Meteorologist Carlo Falco

Posted by Brad Panovich Meteorologist on Friday, April 17, 2015

It Does What?!

According to KARE (Minneapolis) the NHL Playoff series between the Minnesota Wild and St. Blues now "SHITS" to Minnesota.

That has to stink. 

How Old Are You?

We don't know how hold WFAA (Dallas) Anchor Shelly Slater, but judging by last night, we're going with either 14-15 years old. 

The American Country Music awards were in Dallas last night and appears that Slater spent most of the night running around taking selfies with the "celebrities."

I say "celebrities", because not being a big country music fan, I don't know who most of these people are.

While Slater was busy gushing over the stars, Walter Cronkite flipped over one more time. 

Texas Sports Anchor Goes To High School Prom

Hudson (Texas) Prom 2015 will be one to be remembered for members of the Hornets' Boys Basketball team, but in particular for their manager Will Fain.

KTRE Sports Director Laura Sadler covers the Hornets - and while on campus—Fain jokingly asked Laura to the prom. Sadler decided to challenge Fain to do some community service outside of sports—which is part of her personal platform for athletes: be involved in the community. She said if he did the substantive community service, she'd be his prom date.

“At first I kind of did as like a joke, as a joking matter,” Fain recalled Saturday afternoon after arriving via limousine with several classmates and basketball team members for a group picture at the home of one of the players. “Then when I found out KTRE called the school, to see if I was a good student or not, then I thought it actually happened."

It didn't take Fain long to follow through on the challenge.

“I took some of the other athletes in our Hudson programs,” Fain said, “We went to Lufkin's Boys & Girls Club. And just communicated with the kids: played with them, different sports and activities.”

Sadler actually got proof of his community service in person and saw the teen's commitment to the kids at the Boys & Girls Club. He recruited about ten other students to help out. So, ten days later, Fain's dream became a reality Saturday night April 18th.

"I'm a woman of my word. And a deal is a deal,” Sadler said cheerfully. “He did a great job with his community service project. They volunteered at the Boys & Girls Club. And now I'm here."

H/T KTRE

Signing Off in Dallas

Longtime KTVT Reporter Stephanie Lucero says you can stick a fork in her....she's done.

Lucero, who has spent 30 years working as a Journalist and has been at the KTVT since 1997 says she has “decided to follow my heart and move in a new direction.”

Lucero, who lately has been working the early morning shift, said she’s “ready to applaud, to advocate for something really special. I don’t have that next dynamic position yet but I’m so very excited about the possibilities!”

She’ll be leaving after two more weeks at KTVT, which hired Lucero after a lengthy tenure at KDFW in Dallas.

“It has been a fantastic ride,” Lucero said, emphasizing that she and her family will remain in North Texas.

“Dallas is our home,” she said. The place we love and God has blessed me with two awesome sons and an incredible support group. You know who you are. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are my rock! No farewells. We are not leaving DFW. Just turning a big page professionally.”

H/T Ed Bark 

Changing Channels

Eatman Media Services, Inc. congratulates its clients on their recent successes:

Brittany Miller has moved to Atlanta to report for WGCL-TV.  Brittany leaves News 12, The Bronx, where she has anchored and reported for the past three years. 

Rose-Ann Aragon is now a general assignment reporter at Scripps station WCPO-TV in Cincinnati.  Rose-Ann previously reported for WEEK-TV in Peoria, IL.

Stephanie Zepelin joins Scripps station KTNV-TV, Las Vegas as an investigative reporter.  Stephanie leaves Boise station KTVB-TV, where she has reported since 2012.

Martin Amado, Miami home décor and lifestyle expert, is joining ION Television as Host of Integrated Content.

Brittany, Rose-Ann, Stephanie and Martin are represented by Ross Eatman and Todd Foos of Eatman Media Services, Inc. eatmanmediaservices.com

What Did They Do?

WABC in New York rand a story about a couple of Bald Eagles that were hanging out on Staten Island.

Not sure what the birds did, but according to the lower third, they were bad birds.

Ummm...Maybe You Should Find Someone Else

Word is that suspended ESPN Reporter Britt McHenry had been invited to give an anti-bullying speech to a grammar school in Brevard County, Fla.

That invitation was offered before McHenry went off on a towing company parking lot attendant that was caught on video. 

The school might want to think of someone different to the kids an anti-bullying talk.

It's clear that McHenry is pro-bullying.

Just saying....