Bumped Out in Buffalo

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WIVB (Buffalo) has parted ways with its Sports Director Steve Vesey leaving the station with no one in sports.

Vesey's bio has been scrubbed from the station's website. WIVB News Director Scott Levy confirmed that Vesey was let go but wouldn’t say why. He added that Vesey is still under contract.

“It’s a personnel matter that I can’t discuss,” said Levy.

The move comes a few weeks after weekend sports anchor and weekday sports reporter Lauren Brill left WIVB for a new job as a sports reporter at a Cleveland station.

It also is only three nights before the Buffalo Bills have their preseason opener.

This leaves the station without any on-air sports anchor or reporter until Tom Martin, the new weekend sports anchor and reporter it hired last week from a Louisiana station, comes aboard in about a week.

Levy said that Martin will be the weekend anchor, which means the news director will be looking for a new weekday sports anchor and sports director.

Until Martin arrives, Levy said a sports photographer will provide the station’s sports coverage. That means the news anchors most likely will provide voiceovers of the sports footage shot by the photographer.

H/T Buffalo News

"I Just Got Bitten by a Fucking Bull Ant"

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Channel Nine (Australia) reporter Alex Bernardt was bitten by a bull ant while doing a stand up.

She dropped the F-Bomb and she was in some pain, but her accent is so damn cute, it's still worth watching.

Bernardt is the same Reporter that had a cigarette stubbed out on her face. 

Channel Nine reporter Alex Bernardt has had a cigarette stubbed out in her face and now a bull ant has interrupted her news reporting.

Leaving Little Rock

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KTHV (Little Rock) reports that Morning Anchor Ashley Blackstone  is leaving the station and will be returning to her home of South Carolina.

 KTHV News Director Dave Parker says that Blackstone has accepted an Anchor/Reporter position there, but they do not say what station. 

Parker added, "We wish Ashley great success as she moves forward in her life and career."

Blackstone has been at the station since 2006.  She was promoted to Anchor of THV11 This Morning in 2011.

KTHV President and General Manager Michael Caplan commented, "We certainly wish Ashley the very best with her new opportunity and thank her for all she has given to Central Arkansas and THV11".

Her last day in Little Rock will be day will be September 25th.

Moving to Mornings in Providence

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WJAR (Providence) is moving Anchor/Reporter Alison Bologna to the station's morning show.

Bologna will co-anchor NBC 10 News Sunrise beginning at 4:30 am with Frank Coletta.

“We are so pleased to announce Alison’s move to morning news,” said Chris Lanni, News Director. “Alison has been a strong part of our evening newscasts for years and we feel this move will only enhance what is already the number-one rated AM newscast in the region.”

Bologna formerly anchored NBC 10 News at 5:30 with Gene Valicenti, NBC 10 News at 7 with Dan Jaehnig, and reported with the NBC 10 Money Watchers team. Readers of Rhode Island Monthly magazine once again voted her the top female reporter in the region. She will continue to be the main fill-in anchor in the evenings as needed.

“Frank Coletta is one of the most respected journalists in our region, and I’m honored to join him on the anchor desk,” said Bologna.  “The decision to move to the morning show comes after much thought with my family and the ability to dive even deeper into my community work all over the state and in Southeastern Massachusetts.”

Bologna is being replaced on the evening newscasts by Emily Volz who comes to the station from WGGB in Springfield, MA.

Headed to Houston

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KNWA (Fayetteville) Anchor Jonathan Martínez has signed off from the station and is headed to Houston.

Martinez will be the new Weekend Anchor at  KPRC starting next week.

“Having the chance to do what you love and be back home with family is a rare opportunity that doesn’t always come along,” he tells Media Moves. “In this case, it’s a dream job and it just so happens to be in the market I grew up watching.”

Before KNWA, he was morning news anchor at Fox affiliate KTRV-TV in Boise, Idaho. He previously worked as a general assignment reporter at KLAS in Las Vegas and KABB in San Antonio. 

Sometimes You Just Got to Improvise

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You know that moment when you throw it to your package and there is nothing there?

Well, sometimes you just have to go with the flow and Improvise.

That's what what the morning team did at KGUN in Tucson did.

Let's take a look:

The Good Morning Tucson team was caught off guard when the wrong video aired on television, but they figured out another way to tell the story.

Bounced NY Reporter Lands Across the Street

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FTVLive was the FIRST to tell you back in February that WABC had parted ways with longtime Reporter Sarah Wallace.

Wallace had been at WABC since 1984. 

Now she is resurfacing across the street at WNBC. Wallace is joining the station's I-Team.

“Sarah is well-known in the community, has incredible sources and isn’t afraid to knock on doors and ask the tough questions,” said Susan Sullivan, vice president of news at NBC 4 New York. “We’re proud she’s joining our I-Team and can’t wait to get her on the air.”

“I am thrilled to be working with reporters who are as passionate about investigative journalism as I am,” said Wallace. “I can't wait to be part of the NBC 4 I-Team and look forward to advocating once again on behalf of tri-state viewers.”

This is a great hire by WNBC, they know Wallace is solid and it's a good bet she will do everything to kick WABC's ass. 

Megyn Kelly Responds to Trump's Attacks

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Megyn Kelly took less than one minute out of her show last night to respond to the comments that Donald Trump has made about her.

Among other things,  Trump called Kelly a "lightweight" and said she "Blood was coming out of her wherever," during the debate.

Kelly took the high road and responded by not responding to the Trump attacks.

Here is what she had to say:

Report: Networks Want to Hire Megyn Kelly Away from Fox News

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If you believe The Daily Mail, both NBC and CNN want to steal Megyn Kelly away from Fox News.

The tabloid says that if anyone won the first Republican presidential debate on Thursday night, it was Fox News co-moderator Megyn Kelly, top rival news executives told the Daily Mail.

They report that top execs from NBC to CNN now plotting about how to bid to lure her away from Fox.

'Because of her commanding presence at the debate, Megyn's the hottest property in TV News for now and into the future,' revealed a news executive for one of the three networks who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak. 

'We would pay her twice what Fox is paying her to get her on board. She is a star and can easily be the next Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer of TV news, but with a sharper edge, more hard-hitting, and supremely gorgeous.'

Another network news executive, a powerful female, who watched the debate on rival Fox network told Daily Mail Online, 'An authoritative voice was born last week, and it wasn't emanating from one of the guys vying for the GOP nomination. 

'It was from Megyn Kelly. Of everyone running the political show, she had the most commanding voice and presence, and really hit Donald Trump where it hurts. It was clear he was dumbfounded and shocked when she threw him that hardball question about all the negative things he has said about women over the years. 

'It's clear Ms. Kelly was the star of the evening, and my news division would kill in a New York minute to have her anchoring the evening news and doing special reports. She's worth many millions a year.'

A rival cable news executive told Daily Mail Online: 'Megyn Kelly was definitely the star of the evening, and added a laser-sharp edge to what was a fairly tedious first debate. 

'With her question about how Donald Trump has said mean-spirited words about women, such as Rosie O'Donnell, I was waiting for her to tell him "you're fired!"

'She out-Donalded Donald! We'd hire her in a second to be on our air. She's the IT girl of TV news. No doubt about it.'

Stay tuned....