Oops! Wrong Number

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WGN Anchor Larry Potash was at a National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences dinner over the weekend and ended up seated next to his old co-Anchor Roseanne Tellez. 

Tellez has since crossed the street to WBBM, but Potash figured he would put his arm around her, snap a picture and text it to his current co-Anchor Robin Baumgarten to make her jealous.

Problem was he sent the text to the wrong number.

Oops!

Let's go to the video:

NBC Ignores Brian Williams Scandal at the Upfronts

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NBC got their chance at the dog and pony show, also known as the Upfronts.

Advertisers packed into Radio City Music Hall, some hoping that NBC would tell them what the future of lying Anchor Brian Williams will be at the network. 

Those people were dispointed.

NBC barely said anything about BriLie or the rest of the news division for that matter. 

 The network touted out country music star Dolly Parton and talked breathlessly about their primetime shows. But, they stayed clear of news. 

While NBC’s news shows don’t typically hog much of the limelight at the entertainment upfronts, they usually aren’t virtually ignored.

With the exception of a brief clip showing “Today” anchors as part of a sizzle-reel kicking off the 90-minute presentation — and a second brief mention of the highly profitable morning show by NBCUniversal ad sales boss Linda Yaccarino — the news division was a blank slate.

NBC tried to tap dance around the news omission.

The network insisted the news division was not dissed at Monday’s upfront. News, they said, is never included and no one should be surprised by the absence of an announcement on the sticky topic of Williams’ return.

Now, it looks like Brian Williams isn't the only liar at NBC.

Just saying....

H/T NY Post

Cincy Reporter Helps Find Missing Child

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Like a gift from the ratings gods, a Cincinnati news crew was rolling as they helped find a missing child. 

A 22-month-old girl was found safe at her half-brother's house after he took their mother's car with the little girl inside.

Police issued an Amber Alert.

WKRCs Angenette Levy stumbled upon the toddler as she knocked on the door of the home Monday afternoon. 

The best part of the video is the guy trying to break the door to the house down, before realizing that the window next to the door is wide open.

Let's go to the video: 

Just as FTVLive Predicted

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Back in May of last year, KTVK (Phoenix) moved main Anchor Fields Moseley off the main shows. At the time FTVLive wrote:

"It appears that Main Anchor Fields Moseley is about to have a really bad week. And remember, this is happening in the middle of the very important May book. If I was Fields, I won't be buying the green bananas. He might not be around long enough for them to get ripe."

Moseley saw the writing on the wall and has now announced that "he's leaving" for a new job as the communications director with Maricopa County.

"It's a great opportunity to leave on a high note," says Moseley, who started with the station in 2011. 

Not sure how high the note was, but give him credit for getting proactive to find something before the station pushed him out the door. 

He first announced his departure on his Facebook page, writing that changes in ownership at Channel 3 and his job led him to look for work out-of-state. "This job doesn't feel like an adventure anymore. It feels like a job," he wrote. "So I started looking outside of news (we all have at one time or another) with the goal of staying in Arizona. The four most important people in my life, my wife and kids, love it here and so do I."

KTVK and KPHO are now both owned by Meredith and the company is slowly merging the two stations together. Moseley watched as his anchor role continued to shrink at the station. 

"My wife and I had a lot of serious discussions," he said. "This is not what we came out here to do, so I started looking around really seriously."

He warned that he won't be the last guy to leave the station, either by choice or not. "There's a little bit of mystery as to what's going to transpire once the two newsrooms merge," he said. "You know: 'Do we need this person? Do we need that person?' Change is inevitable, and I started looking for something that was going to be beneficial for my family for my long-term career. I'm looking at what I'm going to be doing for the next 20 years, not the next five."

H/T Arizona Republic

Gee.... You Think the Name Helped Him Get the Job?

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Sometimes all you need is the name to land a job in Chicago.

WGN announced that they have hired Jarrett Payton, son of Chicago Bears legend Walter Payton, as their new sports Reporter. 

Payton has been hired as a sports reporter and host of a new live sports show that will debut on sibling cable news channel CLTV in early June. 

Payton will also have other sports duties on WGN as well. 

WGN news director Jennifer Lyons said of Payton's upcoming work for CLTV and WGN News: "Jarrett's knowledge and enthusiasm for sports will be the perfect addition to our sports department."

Of course the station will say they hired Payton on his ability and it had nothing to do with his name. 

But, you rarely land a job in TV news in the 3rd market with no TV experience.

My bet if his name was Jarrett Jones, you would not be reading this story right now.

Just saying.... 

Float Like a Butterfly

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If you were following KARE (Minneapolis) on Twitter yesterday, I hope you were really into butterflies.

The station did a sweeps piece on the monarch butterfly and how they are vanishing. 

Their Twitter feed became a swan for monarch butterfly information. For two hours the station to monarch crazy on Twitter.  

Not sure how going all butterfly all the time played out in the ratings? But, we're guessing they were number one with the butterfly lover.

The last tweet might have tipped their hand a bit. The station guided viewers to a local floral shop where they could pick up a free packet of milkweed seeds to try and help save the monarch.

Also, nice when the sales department can get involved in the story. 

Take That!

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One Canadian Reporter has grown sick and tired of people saying, "FHRITP" and she decided to do something about it.

CityNews reporter Shauna Hunt decided to hit back after the vulgar remark, doing some on camera shaming. 

Watch as CityNews reporter Shauna Hunt confronts men who bombarded her with vulgarity at Sunday's TFC game.

Rick Sanchez on Kelley Mitchell: Great Broadcaster

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Earlier FTVLive told you that longtime Miami Anchor Kelley Mitchell had died.

Mitchell helped launched WSVN's rock and roll newscast that was copied coast to coast. She and her Co-Anchor Rick Sanchez were "must watch TV" in Miami back in the late 80's and early 90's.

"Great broadcaster in an old world sense. So much so she studied maps when she first got to town so as to not mispronounce street names," Sanchez tells FTVLive. 

For a long time today the death of Mitchell was not reported on WSVN, the same station where Mitchell made her name. 

While other outlets in South Florida were reporting the news, WSVN seemed to be ignoring it. 

Insiders at WSVN tell FTVLive that staffers were "beyond pissed" that the WSVN News Director Alice Jacobs was not allowing the station to acknowledged Mitchell's passing. 

 "I get it she didn't leave on the best terms but can't she let it go?", one staffer said to FTVLive.

Jacobs finally relented and the story appeared on the WSVN website. 

Mitchells was just 58 years old.  

Columbus Station Evacuated Due to Anthrax Scare (Updated)

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Tense moments at WSYX in Columbus as white powder spilled out of an envelope that was sent to the station.

The station has been evacuated on the chance that the powder turns out to be anthrax. 

The newsroom, normally very busy this time of day is right now a ghost town right now.

The fire department is on the scene investigating. 

Looks like WSYX has their lead story for tonight.

That is...when they get back in the building. 

Update: We also hear that the Columbus are is also under a Tornado watch right now as well. Can't call this one a slow news day. 

Former Miami Anchor Kelley Mitchell is Dead at 58 (Updated)

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The Anchor that helped launched WSVN's run and gun flashy newscast has died at just 58 years old.

Kelley Mitchell who worked at WSVN and WPLG before heading into radio, passed away on Sunday.  

Mitchell teamed up with Anchor Rick Sanchez at WSVN and helped launch a style of news that was copied coast to coast. 

Mitchell battle a number of demons over the years, but always seem to bounce back.

"People always say you just don't know who your friends are until the tough times hit you, and I now know I have friends I couldn't even dream of," Mitchell said in 2003.

More as we hear it. 

Update: Interestingly, WSVN where Mitchell made a name for herself has not posted anything about her death on their website. 

Don't Give Up your TV News Gig

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News talent from KGW in Portland went to a local comedy club to try and learn how to do improv.

Why?

Duh.....Because it's sweeps of course.

It is part of the station's franchise called "Teach me...."

What it taught us, was that TV news people should stick to news.

The KGW crew was not very funny at all.

You can watch the video here (we would have embedded it but KGW is stuck in the year 2005 and doesn't allow it)

NBC to Meet with Affiliates, Advertisers Today, Will Likely Dance Around BriWi Topic

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GM's from NBC's 222 affiliated stations will meet later today to hear from the parent network.

They will hear about new shows, planned promotions and other topics from the mothership. 

What they will likely not hear about, will be the future of NBC Anchor Brian Williams. 

It is likely they will hear that NBC News’s chief investigative producer Richard Esposito and NBC Universal general counsel Kim Harris are still putting the finishing touches on their Williams review, assembling facts and talking to witnesses—the anchor’s on-air colleagues, producers, camera operators and sound technicians, among others.

It will be more stalling by NBC as they try and figure out what to do with the lying Anchorman.

Also, starting today is NBC's slot at the Upfronts at Radio City Music Hall.

A usually extravagant presentation in which Brian Williams has participated in the past. Don't look for BriWi to be there today. 

The Daily Beast writes that Williams’s attorney, Robert Barnett, “is fighting tooth and nail to get him his job back”—not negotiating a partial payout of Williams’s reported $50 million 5-year contract, according to an NBC News veteran—the anchor is likely not hearing what he needs to hear.

“It’s a tricky area,” this one insider said, “Sometimes a hired gun will tell you what you want to hear. If Brian’s goal is a comeback, the hired gun’s goal is a comeback. They say, ‘it won’t be pretty, but we can fix this, we can make this happen.’ They’re not going to say, ‘Look, buddy, you have got to get a grip on reality. You are gonna continue to be tabloid fodder, and if you think you’ve had it bad so far, your return to NBC is gonna be a total shit show.’”

Another wrinkle, and not a trivial one, is that the 55-year-old Holt, a respected and well-liked figure among his colleagues, has narrowly lost in the Nielsens in recent weeks to ABC World News Tonight anchor David Muir, but he has managed to stay in the game—with zero promotion.

So, while the NBC affiliate GM's and the advertisers at the Upfronts would love to hear what NBC plans are for Brian Williams, they will likely get the same song and dance we have been getting for months from the Peacock.

Stay tuned... 

Philly News Boss is Leaving

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Longtime KYW Managing Editor Mike Archer is leaving the station.

Here is the internal memo that KYW News Director Sue Schiller sent to the staff and obtained by FTVLive:

From: "Schiller, Susan M - KYW" 
Date: May 8, 2015 at 11:18:31 AM EDT
To: "@KYW-TV News Department" 
Cc: "Kennedy, Brien E" , "Butler, Steve" "Patel, Dipti" <patel@kyw.com>
Subject: Announcement

It is with mixed emotions that I announce Mike Archer will be leaving CBS3 for new adventures beyond the local newsroom.  Mike plans to retire and will be leaving on June 5th.   I am so happy for him because he will be able to spend time with his beautiful wife Maureen, their sons and their families which have grown to 4 grandchildren now.

Mike has been an indomitable force in local television since he first stepped into a newsroom.  He started at WXYZ in Detroit producing the weekend news.   He very quickly moved to New York City where at the age of just 25 Mike produced the 11pm news in the nation’s # 1 market at WABC. It was there he met Larry Kane who convinced him to come to Philadelphia as Executive Producer when Larry returned home to anchor at WCAU (CBS at the time).

It was at Channel 10 where I first met Mike who launched the market’s first 5pm newscast there.  He later was instrumental in starting one of the first cable networks “Court TV” and served as Executive Editor for five years. With “Court TV” began America’s obsession with live coverage of court cases and the broadcast of every gripping detail into the homes of Americans.  At “Court TV” he oversaw live coverage of the OJ Simpson trial, the coverage of the police officers accused in the Los Angeles Rodney King beating case, the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas to name just a few.   We can thank Mike for also helping create the concept of ‘celebrity lawyers’.

After 5 years of commuting daily to NY Mike decided to take the position of Executive Producer at KYW-TV; the position Mike held when I arrived.  I promoted him to Managing Editor where he has been responsible for daily news coverage.

Mike’s experience is unsurpassed. He started when there were still three man film crews in New York City. Here are just a few of the stories he’s covered in his career:  Son of Sam, the 1977 east coast blackout, the 1979 visit of Pope John Paul, Eagles’ Super Bowls in 1991 and 2005, President Reagan’s Inauguration not to mention 4 political conventions the MOVE bombing,  9/11, the Amish shooting,  the Duck Boat accident,  the election of Philadelphia’s first African American mayor Wilson Goode and too many other elections to name and one of his favorite stories the Phillies World Series win in 2008.

I know the valuable lessons I and many other journalists, reporters, producers, photographers, writers, editors and assignment editors, have learned from him. His goal each and every day was to cover the news with accurate reporting and strong storytelling to deliver a quality newscast to the viewers.  I owe much of my journey in broadcasting to the lessons I learned working with Mike early on.  I will be eternally grateful for Mike’s journalistic instincts and integrity.  I thank him for his guidance and candor.  

Enjoy life Mike!  We will miss seeing you every day my friend.

Susan