You would think working for the Major League Baseball Network would be a cushy job talking about baseball all day and kicking back.
Here's some video proof that the job can be a real headache at times:
The Sun Sentinel looks at how TV stations come up with their Anchor teams. But, in the end, it's really just based on guessing and hope.
When station managers look to produce a new anchor team, the process can be more than skin deep. There's audience research, focus groups and sometimes luck in creating a marquee team.
It's a tricky formula that involves three C's: chemistry, credibility and a connection to the community.
"It's an inexact science," said Steven Wasserman, general manager of West Palm Beach NBC affiliate WPTV, where Michael Williams and Kelley Dunn have been anchoring the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts for four years. "Putting anchors together is like orchestrating an arranged marriage. Typically what happens is that you put two people together who never worked together."
The idea is to have a pair of likable personalities that could deliver more viewers in the 25-54 age demographic, the group that advertisers seek to reach through local newscasts.
"You always want news people that you can identify with," said Bill Carroll, vice president, director of content strategy for the Katz Television Group in New York City. "Often, they put together teams that have different skill sets,'' he added, noting that one anchor may be more seasoned and paired with an up-and-coming news personality in the market.
WTVJ (Miami) general manager Larry Olevitch said he and his staff spent months using internal testing, focus groups and viewer feedback to come up with the Jawan Strader and JackieNespral (pictured) team at the NBC-owned Miramar station.
"I think Jawan has extraordinary charisma on the air and has this ability of delivering breaking news with the right energy and smarts. She does the same. She is a senior anchor in this market," said Migdalia Figueroa, WTVJ's vice president of news. "When you put these two people together here, they know what they are talking about, they understand our community, and they understand our viewers."
Strader moved from mornings to co-anchor evenings with Nespral. That move shifted Adam Kuperstein to anchor at 5:30 p.m. with Trina Robinson and for Kuperstein to focus on sports coverage at 11 p.m.
"In the TV world that we live in today, it is an evolution in that your pairings of your talent do evolve with the market,'' said Olevitch. "Jawan came to us in 2012, and he really has become an engaging and energizing force in our newsroom and in our community."
It also doesn't hurt that the anchors' first names have alliteration, which makes it easier to brand.
"Jackie and Jawan, that name pairing, it all of a sudden personalizes them as 'my' newscasters, the one I come home to trust," added Olevitch.
Not sure I ever trusted an Anchor team because their first names begin with the same letter...but ok?
Read more on the story from the Sun Sentinel
Back in December, FTVLive told you that Carlos Zapata, a reporter with Spanish-language station KWHYwas busted for felony domestic violence after he allegedly seriously injured his wife by throwing a flower pot at her head, cops said.
Police say that the pot struck the woman "full force."
Zapata has now been sentenced to five years of formal probation after he pleaded no contest to the charges.
The judge also ordered Zapata to attend domestic violence counseling for a year after entering the plea to a felony count of willfully inflicting corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition upon his spouse.
It seems like the perfect story for May ratings....
A well know couple in the community are being investigated by Florida's Department of Children and Families after neighbors reported that one of the couple’s two children was routinely left alone to roam their streets.
It's the story where you can have the Reporter knock on the door and demand to know why these kids are roaming the streets with no one watching them?
But, you will not see this story on Palm Beach TV news.
Why?
Because the well known couple that is being investigated are WPTV Investigative Reporter Katie LaGrone and her husband, WPBF Anchorman Paul LaGrone.
Gossip Extra writes that West Palm Beach cops were called to the LaGrone’s home twice May 7, at noon and 2 p.m.
The second time, the officer brought a DCF case worker with him.
The couple rents a house in the gated resort community just east of I-95.
A neighbor of the LaGrones who asked to remain anonymous said someone tipped off DCF that the LaGrones allegedly leave their child unattended.
The tip spelled out how Jacob, their 6-year-old, is often seen running around the gated community alone.
The DCF tipsters also said the child’s been nearly hit by cars and is known to ask adult residents to play with him.
At times, he is invited in his neighbors’ homes allegedly without his parents knowing where he is.
Katie LaGrone said she and her husband were totally blindsided when a DCF case worker and a police officer showed up at their house about 2:30 p.m.
“We do let our child play outside,” she said. “He’s got parameters and he’s fully aware of them. He is a healthy, active 6-year-old who does exactly what I or Paul did as children. We also played outside.
“We are cooperating fully with DCF, and WPTV has been very supportive.”
The LaGrones spent Sunday afternoon going door to door on their streets to ask neighbors if they have concerns with their actions.
A DCF spokeswoman confirmed that there’s an open investigation against the couple but said she is unable to provide additional details due to confidentiality laws.
Yesterday, FTVLive showed you video of a Canadian TV Reporter that got fed up with people yelling "FHRITP" and she started shamming those people on camera.
While some of the guys backed down, one guy said he thought it was still funny.
"I think it's fucking hilarious," said Shawn Simoes on camera.
Simoes works for Canadian power company Hydro One and they didn't think it was fucking hilarious and they have fired him.
“Respect for all people is ingrained in our values. We’re committed to a work environment where harassment of any kind is met with zero tolerance and a swift response,” said a Hydro One spokesperson.
We have to say that this idiot getting fired is....well.....fucking hilarious.
Just saying....
According to new NBC News boss Andy Lack, the network is going to announce their plans for Brian Williams future at the network.
Speaking to the NBC affiliate GM's, Lack acknowledged the damage done to the network by the Brian Williams scandal and said a resolution would come ‘soon.’
Lack told the GM's “we’re playing hurt” because of the controversy surrounding BriLie.
The Daily Beast writes that several hours after Williams’s attorney, Robert Barnett, was spotted at NBC headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Center, Lack promised a gathering of network-owned and affiliate station representatives that the decision on the anchor’s fate would come “soon.”
“He said the end is in sight,” recounted an attendee of the closed-door meeting at Manhattan’s AXA Equitable skyscraper, a couple of blocks from Radio City Music Hall, where network executives had just unveiled its prime-time offerings for next fall and the 2016 mid-season.
A second attendee of the affiliates meeting said Lack did not specify what he meant by “soon,” and nobody in the audience tried to obtain clarification during a very brief Q&A.
“It wasn’t clear if ‘soon’ means tomorrow or July,” this attendee said.
Stay tuned....
Our buds over at Devlin Design Group are helping you get over the Wednesday hump:
In his CNN special on ISIS, Fareed Zakaria made the claim that Fox News is one of the favorite cable networks for the terrorist group ISIS.
Let's go to the video:
Who knew? We thought ISIS was more of the Anthony Bourdain type crowd.
President Obama says that it is because of Fox News, it is one of the reasons that people resent the poor.
Speaking at an anti-poverty forum at Georgetown University, Obama denounced what he called “the effort to suggest that the poor are sponges, leeches, don’t want to work, are lazy, are undeserving.”
“I have to say, if you watch Fox News on a regular basis, it’s a constant menu. They will find folks that make me mad. I don’t know where they find them,” Obama said. “They’re all like, ‘I don’t want to work, I just want a free Obamaphone, or whatever. That becomes a narrative that gets worked up.”
“And very rarely do you hear an interview of a waitress, which is much more typical, who is raising two kids and doing everything right but still can’t pay the bills,” Obama added.
Oh is this going to get the Fox and Friends crew and Howie Kurtz all worked up.
Another new hire at Meredith owned WGCL in Atlanta.
The station has hired Mike Mason as an Investigative Reporter.
“Mike is a veteran Investigative Reporter who gets results. He will be a great addition to our News team,” said News Director Larry Perret.
Mason comes to WGCL from WLOS in Asheville, NC where he was an Investigative Reporter. He has also held Investigative Reporter positions in Fort Myers and Tampa, Fla.
“I’m thrilled to become a part of the CBS46 News team. It’s a fantastic opportunity in a great city,” said Mason.
Speaking of WGCL in Atlanta....
They report that a local school principal is getting "Death Treats." Not sure what that is, but it sounds a lot better than "Death Threats."
Just saying.....
Former KRON (San Francisco) Reporter/Anchor John Fenoglio has been hired by KTRK in Houston.
Fenoglio was at KRON for a year. Before that he worked as a West Coast correspondent at CBS News for seven months. His start at the network level was actually global in nature since prior to CBS, Fenoglio was a West Coast correspondent for France 24 International News 24/7 (English edition).
Before The Golden State, Fenoglio worked in Chicago where he produced and served as talent on shows like Outworld TV and Overexposure TV.
H/T Mike McGuff
WTTG in DC got a new set for their morning show and they released a video to promote it.
This has to be one of the strangest promos for a set we have ever seen.
It has bacon, eggs and bikes, plus an Anchor caressing the new set.
Let's go to the video:
Last week was not a good one for CNN.
No riots and no missing planes adds up to low ratings for the one time cable news channel.
How low?
CNN got beat by MSNBC in Primetime.
Ouch.
CNN had 405K total viewers compared MSNBC's 451K, both over a million behind Fox News.
CNN’s 38th-place ranking was its lowest ranking for 2015, and was indicative of a 65% drop in total primetime viewership from their highest-rated week (#8) during the Baltimore protests.
Of course, CNN Media Critic....errrrrrr....Media Correspondent Brian Stelter was off last week. We're sure he will tell you that was the reason for the drop.
H/T Mediaite
Longtime KTTV Anchor Steve Edwards celebrated 20 years at the station's morning show Good Day LA.
This morning the station celebrated Edwards' milestone, but the station totally dissed two of Edwards' longtime co-Anchors.
For years, Good Day LA was the popular morning show, with Edwards, Dorothy Lucey and Jillian Barberie.
But when it came time to celebrate Edwards' 20 years, KTTV did not invite either Lucey or Barberie on the show.
It was a petty move by the station and one that was not lost on viewers. The station should have had the class to invite both of them on. They did not.
Lucey kind of mentioned the diss on social media, but she stayed on the high road while doing it.
Tom Brokaw appeared on Fox News Sean Hannity to pimp his book.
But, the former NBC Anchor did talk about Brian Williams and although he did not sound like he was in BriLie's corner, he did say that many of the remarks attributed to him were wrong.
Let's go to the video:
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