Virginia Tech to Honor Slain News Crew on Football Helmets

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The Virginia Tech Hokies will announced they will honor WDBJ Reporter Alison Parker and Photographer Adam Ward by placing a custom sticker on football players’ helmets.

The sticker will feature the number 7 for WDBJ-7 and teal and maroon ribbons with the initials of the victims.

According to school, teal was Parker’s favorite color, and the maroon ribbon will represent Ward, who graduated from Virginia Tech in 2011.

The Virginia Tech football team will wear the stickers on their helmets for the season opener game against Ohio State on Labor Day.

 

Rebranding in Sacramento

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As the Fall TV season starts to ramp up, many stations are rebranding.

Why?

More than likely because some consultant is trying to justify the money that stations shell out to them.

The latest to get in the rebranding game is KXTV in Sacramento.

The station has been known as "News 10" forever, but is now changing the brand to ABC 10.

This move alone is expected to add 8 ratings points and rocket them to the top of the November book.

OK....maybe not. 

Pittsburgh News Crew Shot at by Paintball Gun

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Sources tell FTVLive that a news crew from WPXI in Pittsburgh were fired upon this morning with paintball guns immediately before or after a live shot.

Word is the Reporter was hit, but not hurt.

Police are investigating. 

No word if this is a very sick joke or a copycat idiot, be FTVLive hears that management is meeting right now to determine future of live shots and how to handle them.

The station has made no mention of the incident of their website. 

Stay tuned.... 

Nashville Sports Anchor Hurt in Crash

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WTVF Sports Anchor Steve Layman was covering the preseason football game between the Tennessee Titans and the Kansas City Chiefs over the weekend.

After the game, he and a friend hopped in a cab and before even going 2 blocks the cab was T-boned.

Layman was taken to Truman Medical Center. 

Many on staff learned of Layman's accident on Twitter, but finally an internal email was sent out to staffers. FTVLive obtained a copy:

Hello-

As you may or may not be aware, Steve Layman was in a car accident in Kansas City last night.  Steve was there to cover the Chiefs-Titans game for us.  He had returned from Arrowhead Stadium after the game, got in a cab with a friend and they went two blocks when the cab was t-boned by another car that ran a red light.  Steve was knocked out.  The driver of the cab, his friend and the driver of the other car were uninjured.  Steve wasn't so lucky.. the impact broke his neck, some ribs and cut his face severely.  His face has been stitched up and he is obviously, in a neck brace.  He is resting in intensive care and he thinks they will release him on Monday.  Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.  

Brian McKeegan
Executive Producer of Sports
NewsChannel5 (WTVF-TV)

Layman tweeted out his thanks to the medical staff and said it was a rough 14 hours. 

Alison Parker's Mom: We are No Longer a Civilized Nation

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The mother of slain WDBJ Reporter Alison Parker is past her breaking point — and wonders why more Americans aren’t there with her?

“We are no longer a civilized country,” Barbara Parker said. “We are a nation who has politicians who are cowards.” “ ... What kind of a society are we? What does it take? After Sandy Hook, elementary school children were killed. And nobody does anything.

“What does it say about us?”

Andy Parker, who said his daughter’s funeral will be private for family and friends, is just as astounded that more people aren’t stirred by the litany of death and destruction.

“The problem is, it just keeps going,” he said. “We as a society have become so desensitized to it.”

The couple, in a wide-ranging interview, recounted the scene at their suburban house on the morning of the attack.

The television was turned off when the phone started ringing. Nothing was the same once the voice on the other end spoke.

“There’s been a shooting,” said a colleague of their daughter, WDBJ-TV morning show reporter Alison Parker. “We don’t know anything.”

Andy Parker, with a dad’s intuition, felt the bad vibes instantly. He hoped for the best, and braced for the worst.

“Right then and there, I had this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach,” Parker told the Daily News in his Virginia home. “My heart was just sinking. I thought, ‘Maybe she’s just hurt.’”

Andy and Barbara are now bent on making people feel uncomfortable: Gun lobbyists, NRA mouthpieces, gutless elected officials.

Parker is bristling to make changes in state laws, in background checks, in gun-show loopholes and eventually in federal legislation. Alison’s boyfriend, Chris Hurst, who is an anchor at WDBJ, plans to join in the effort.

“I’m trying to get all the groups that are out there, and somehow find a way to galvanize everyone,” said Parker, who knows the task ahead is Herculean.

“I’m so emotionally drained,” he said, breaking down once more. “If anything can come out of this, it’s that this mission will be my life’s work.

“They messed with the wrong family.”

H/T NY Daily News

Murdered Photographer Honored at Roanoke Church

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Adam Ward was remembered at St. Marks United Methodist Church on Sunday.

The week before, Ward and his fiancée, Melissa Ott (who Produced the news at WDBJ) sat in that same church for Sunday service. 

Somber parishioners grieved the murder of Ward this past weekend.

The Rev. Rob Lough comforted around 200 people at the Church about 10 miles outside Roanoke, Va.

“How long must we bear the pain in our souls, the sorrow in our hearts?” the pastor asked. “How long shall our enemies exalt over us? Consider and answer us.”

Some parishioners held each other as church pianist Michele Richardson played “Poor Wayfaring Stranger.”

Ward’s family did not attend the service.

“Darkness can feel so real sometimes,” Lough said.

Richmond Weather Anchor Headed to Cleveland

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WWBT (Richmond) Weather Anchor Samantha Roberts is headed to WOIO's Action New........ errrrrr Cleveland 19 News.

Roberts is moving within the Raycom family and has worked her last day at WWBT.

 

No word as to which shift she will be doing in Cleveland, but it was obvious to her that she wasn't moving up in Richmond with longtime main Weatherman, Andrew Freiden entrenched at the station. 

She acknowledged as much on Twitter:

Jacksonville Station Spices Up Newscast with Porn

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WJAX Action News Jacksonville spiced of Friday's newscast with a bit of porn.

The newscast was encouraging viewers to check out some of the back-to-school pictures on their website.

All I can say, if school was like this when I was a kid, I would have gone everyday, including weekends. 

Guess that WJAX showed these pictures should come as no surprise. After all it is a Cox station (you see what I did there?).

Screen Shot 2015-08-31 at 5.00.18 AM.png

Bumped Up in Grand Rapids

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WOOD (Grand Rapids) has bumped up Reporter Casey Jones (the name of my first dog) to the morning Anchor gig  alongside Emily Linnert.

“We heard from viewers right away that they connected with Casey as a new member of the team. He grew up in West Michigan, went to college here and really understands what’s important to our community,” said WOOD TV8 News Director Dan Boers.

Jones says becoming the newest “Daybreak” anchor is a dream come true.

“I’m thrilled for this chance to deliver the important news and information to viewers in the hometown I grew up in,” he said.

Prior to his time on “Daybreak,” Jones reported and anchored for the news and sports departments at WOOD TV8 and FOX 28 in South Bend, Ind.

Sherman: Megyn Kelly wants to Go Mainstream

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Author Gabriel Sherman is claiming that Fox News Anchor Megyn Kelly wants to "go mainstream" and maybe looking to leave Fox News.

Sherman has been challenged on a number of his reports and many think this one is also farfetched.

According to Sherman, Kelly was exploring going to CNN before she signed her last contract at Fox. 

If Kelly IS really looking to go to CNN, she might want to check out a couple of other Fox News alums that made the jump to CNN. 

Both Paula Zahn and Kirin Chetry moved from FNC to CNN. Neither one of those people have been heard from in a long, long time. 

Just saying.....

Here's Sherman talking about Kelly:

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