easttxtv

A 'comedy newscast'?!? Sounds like something that would make KDAF's Newsfix seem like Masterpiece Theatre in comparison.

Still hard to believe.... I figured it would be a cold-dead-hands moment before WFAA would ever be owned by another company besides Belo. (Just like it would be a hell-freezing-over moment before the Dallas Morning News would be owned by anyone but A.H. Belo)

http://unclebarky.com/dfw_files/c20a608f4d5c84351e0beb9c1ccf208a-1303.html Hard to believe, but WFAA's former sister newsgatherer in Dallas, the Morning News newspaper, had its own buyout drama almost 10 years ago as more than 100 were handed not-so-golden parachutes. This included the paper's longtime TV critic, unclebarky.com blogger Ed Bark. More recently, Bark has been tallying the departures of anchors/reporters at the 4 DFW market TV news stations; they add up to more now since the beginning of 2014, but at the point of this article (http://www.unclebarky.com/dfw_files/2ff9402b1a563c2f3d76a8df5edf8ffb-3639.html), the departure count was 50 (KDFW has lost 9, KXAS - 12, WFAA - 12, KTVT - 17) from the market.

Good, no more of those corny 'listen to Larry' jingles on KTVT's weather promos. >ugh<

And now, an anniversary for someone not about to be kicked out the door for 'being there too long (or making too much money)', by the end of their contract..... Deborah Ferguson, morning co-anchor at KXAS, just celebrated her 25th anniversary with the station. A recent newscast included a clip-reel of several stories Ferguson either reported on or anchored over the years, plus several congrats from locals and well-knowns (and even 1 from her original morning co-anchor, Jeff Eliasoph, who has since moved onto another NBC station) from her career in north Texas. Betsy Price, mayor of Fort Worth, even issued a 'Deborah Ferguson day' in the city. http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Deborah-Ferguson-Celebrates-25-Years-at-NBC-5-369251881.html A separate clip on the same page shows Savannah Guthrie from Today adding well-wishes on behalf of the show. Hard to believe it's been 25 years...congrats Deborah!

Belated congrats (from sometime over the holidays) to David Finfrock, chief meteorologist with KXAS, who has been with them 40 years. Hard to believe. He has been on in DFW longer than any of the current weather or news anchors in the market. The only previous on-air person who served longer was the late/great Harold Taft, who was chief meteorologist at WBAP/KXAS for 42 years (1949-1991) and helped to mentor Finfrock. KXAS only did a very brief on-air mention with a few clips. Happy 40th to David.

Way too early, but from what I've seen, not unprecedented. I remember NBC had the rings-peacock bug going by June 1999 in advance of the 2000 Sydney Summer games.

DFW news viewers have to say farewell to yet another longtime fixture, as Byron Harris, WFAA reporter for going on 41 years, is calling it a day. The linkie in the previous post (my phone was acting stupid and wouldn't let me do this text part after the link was typed) gives no last-air date or out-the-door date for Harris.

www.dallasnews.com/investigations/watchdog/20151022-watchdog-farewell-to-an-in-your-face-tv-reporter.ece

WBAP (pre-KXAS) had a '5'-shaped newsdesk in the late 1960s/very early 1970s. Probably the only attempt at a numbered shape desk ever in the DFW market.

As long as the traditionals aren't too inflexible or stodgy, yet don't go the wannabe-MTV News route, they should be around in some amount or form. Yes, we have computers and gadgets in which to get newsbits, but there should still be some viewer demand--and station owner desire--to have a televised local news presence.

I don't get it. I have tried to watch KDAF's version, and it is just a mess, completely unwatchable. And yet the concept expands to other markets? >ugh<

IIRR, WFAA (pre-Gannett/Tegna) has done some over the years; I've forgotten when or what subject(s) were covered.

Would be strange to hear Charlie there after their longtime voice of News 8, not only because the current announcer has voiced WFAA's newscasts for so long, but also it would be Charlie's *third* station (after KDFW and KTVT) if he were brought on at WFAA.

Well, the newest DART buses have monitors with still images (looking somewhat like a Powerpoint display/presentation) but I don't know if they're ready to function with streaming or archived video (whoever a potential partner might be). The light rail cars DART has do not have monitors; I'm not sure what it would take to equip them.

http://www.unclebarky.com/dfw_files/359fa0fe9fda5312b45f366a6fb86cac-3430.html http://www.star-telegram.com/entertainment/tv/article28032814.html This week, yet another DFW market veteran decided to call it a day as Bud Gillett leaves the news reporter beat after more than 3 decades in north Texas TV. From 2001 to the present, Gillett reported for KTVT; prior to that he was with KDFW. His career previously brought him to Detroit, Indianapolis, and St. Louis. This KTVT Facebook post has a video of clips from some of his work over the years in DFW: https://m.facebook.com/CBSDFW?_rdr#!/story.php?story_fbid=1047827108573758&id=108571612499317

This sounds almost like the quite unwatchable 'Newsfix' and it's predecessor on KDAF in Dallas. Thankfully the other newsers in the market haven't gone the cheeeap/homemade/phone-it-in route with their newscasts.

Definitely agreed -- the Comcrap part can stay in Philadelphia. Now that the Peacock is officially up top, I kinda wonder why that wasn't done sooner.

No sooner than she announced her departure from WFAA, it has been reported that Janet St. James has been diagnosed with breast cancer, which was not found during a November mammogram. It has spread to her lymph nodes; she will have a double mastectomy. The news report also states that St. James posted a video about her condition to her Facebook page. http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2015/04/former-wfaa-tv-reporter-janet-st-james-diagnosed-with-invasive-breast-cancer.html/ Sad to see her go through this, hope she can pull through.

Another DFW move: Janet St. James, WFAA's longtime medical reporter, will depart the station March 17. She has accepted a VP position at a healthcare/hospital company. St. James was with WFAA for 19 years, and covered the medical beat since 2000. No word on if a replacement medical reporter will be named; if not, it will likely mark the first time in decades that a major DFW news station has not had an in-house medical reporter. http://unclebarky.com/dfw_files/f6ac5899604bb14eb8384c9f5d78944a-3334.html

Brian James was introduced on air today as a new meteorologist at KXAS. He will appear on weekend morning newscasts. James was previously at KVII in Amarillo before being tapped to come to DFW. He worked with KXAS meteorologist Rick Mitchell when they were at KOCO in Oklahoma City.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/columnists/barryhorn/20150213-hot-air-george-riba-the-man-behind-8000-stories-closes-book-on-37-year-wfaa-career.ece After 42 years in Dallas-Fort Worth TV (37+ as a sports reporter (and fill-in anchor) at WFAA), George Riba is calling it a day this week. Tonight a retrospective will air, and Friday is Riba's last day. I knew he'd been at it a while, but not that long. Happy retirement, George.

I wondered what kind of tagline / image campaign they might come up with.... (Well, it'll probably be better to me eventually than the ketknbc domain has been) Can't wait to see what else Nexstar does with them!

http://popcultureblog.dallasnews.com/2015/01/kris-gutierrez-is-new-nbc5-co-anchor.html/ Kris Gutierrez has landed the 5pm co-anchor position at KXAS; he will start in March.

This is worse than the radio stations that announce "Live!! from the (favorite sponsor here) News Center!" or "Here's (whoever sports anchor) from the (even more favorite sponsor here) Sports Desk!" I'm sorry, but this is just TOO MUCH product placement.....