Out & About

[Daybreak 269]

 

WGCL CBS Atlanta 46 has hired KPNX anchor Scott Light as the Evening Anchor for CBS Atlanta News.

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/scott-light-joins-wgcl-as-evening-anchor_b102828

 

Let's see how long he last until they fire him and blame him for not improving the ratings...

[Samantha 2876]

In a Speculatron Time Machine posting, I mentioned WRAL and KSL as two of America's great stations.

 

Turns out they're also the top two local TV news websites in the country. Each draw a majority of the area's adult population to their websites; for KSL, that's a whopping 67%, while WRAL pulled in 54%.

 

The other three in the top five were WVIR, WMUR and KCRG.

 

Also in re: Scott Light... Good luck. He's going to need it.

[mre29 1340]

 

The other three in the top five were WVIR, WMUR and KCRG.

 

Yay!

[sanewsguy 509]

 

WPMI/WJTC also hired two new reporters, Stephen Quinn as a field reporter and Jordan Early as a social media reporter.

 

OK, I'm going to vent here for a minute. Why do stations need "social media reporters"? It's a pointless position if you ask me. Anybody can do social media, you do not need somebody specific to just do social media.

 

It's much like the traffic reporter position. It usually exists so NDs can put some inexperienced young female right out of school on the air because "she resonates with the audience" (BS an ND would tell you).

 

Some stations (such as KSAT) actually take this position seriously and put experienced people (off-duty police officers) on the air. Most don't.

 

Now ND's have found another position they can use to place an inexperienced young blonde on and that is the social media reporter position. It's a stereotype, that the average person who uses social media is young and female. While that may be true, you really don't see stations hiring an older male (or female) for this position (imagine Rob Jennings as the social media reporter, yeah that'll never happen...).

 

Besides, Jordan Early is not a good fit for this position. I looked at her twitter feed (@JordanEmmaEarly) and she barely tweets, maybe once or twice every two or three weeks. If you're going to be a "social media reporter", then maybe you should tweet more often...

 

Done ranting there...

 

 

 

New FCC approval this morning. It has greenlighted the assignment of license of KGNS Laredo to Frontier (through its Yellowstone subsidiary).

 

Yet we're still waiting for them to greenlight the Barrington deal and the Comcorp deal...

 

 

 

In a Speculatron Time Machine posting, I mentioned WRAL and KSL as two of America's great stations.

 

Turns out they're also the top two local TV news websites in the country. Each draw a majority of the area's adult population to their websites; for KSL, that's a whopping 67%, while WRAL pulled in 54%.

 

The other three in the top five were WVIR, WMUR and KCRG.

 

Also in re: Scott Light... Good luck. He's going to need it.

 

With the exception of WMUR, none of these are owned by mega-chains. WVIR is owned by a Florida firm whose only three stations are WVIR, WBBH, and WZVN. The other three are locally-owned. Maybe this has to do with it?

 

Also of note, WRAL and KSL are on in-house CMS's.

[mre29 1340]

 

With the exception of WMUR, none of these are owned by mega-chains. WVIR is owned by a Florida firm whose only three stations are WVIR, WBBH, and WZVN. The other three are locally-owned. Maybe this has to do with it?

 

Compared to Sinclair and possibly Nexstar, I'm not sure you can call Hearst a "mega-chain".

[NewsMaster 226]

Compared to Sinclair and possibly Nexstar, I'm not sure you can call Hearst a "mega-chain".

If that's the case then WBNS (and possibly WTHR) are probably up there too.

[TexasTVNews 1366]

Boston's WFTX FOX 25 is relaunching its 5:00PM Newscast, FOX 25 News at 5 will return to the air on October 7th. Maria Stephanos, Mark Ockerbloom, and Meteorologist Kevin Lemanowicz will anchor the 5PM Newshour in addition to their 6, 10, & 11PM duties. The newscast will bring the total hours of news produced on WFXT to 52 hours a week, the most of any station in Boston. “Dr. Oz,” which currently airs in the 5 p.m. hour, will move to 3 p.m., replacing “Anderson Live,” which was not renewed for a third season.

[tyrannical bastard 3442]

 

OK, I'm going to vent here for a minute. Why do stations need "social media reporters"? It's a pointless position if you ask me. Anybody can do social media, you do not need somebody specific to just do social media.

 

It's much like the traffic reporter position. It usually exists so NDs can put some inexperienced young female right out of school on the air because "she resonates with the audience" (BS an ND would tell you).

 

Some stations (such as KSAT) actually take this position seriously and put experienced people (off-duty police officers) on the air. Most don't.

 

Now ND's have found another position they can use to place an inexperienced young blonde on and that is the social media reporter position. It's a stereotype, that the average person who uses social media is young and female. While that may be true, you really don't see stations hiring an older male (or female) for this position (imagine Rob Jennings as the social media reporter, yeah that'll never happen...).

 

Besides, Jordan Early is not a good fit for this position. I looked at her twitter feed (@JordanEmmaEarly) and she barely tweets, maybe once or twice every two or three weeks. If you're going to be a "social media reporter", then maybe you should tweet more often...

 

Done ranting there...

 

I must agree....most traffic and social media reporters are vanity positions for the inexperienced. I think that a good way to leverage social media is to try and seek out all of the "garbage" that people post, and either affirm it to be true, or debunk it with cold, hard facts. Social media in the wrong hands has done irreparable damage to us as a society since it gives anybody the power to spread anything, no matter how true it is. We can only hope that journalists haven't been damaged...because many of them could be just as gullible as us, and some have fallen for the biggest hoaxes.

 

I have seen a police officer do traffic before....anyone remember Officer Mike Kilburn from WBNS in the early 2000s? I think he had a short stint at WCMH soon afterwards...

[A3N 996]

 

I must agree....most traffic and social media reporters are vanity positions for the inexperienced. I think that a good way to leverage social media is to try and seek out all of the "garbage" that people post, and either affirm it to be true, or debunk it with cold, hard facts. Social media in the wrong hands has done irreparable damage to us as a society since it gives anybody the power to spread anything, no matter how true it is. We can only hope that journalists haven't been damaged...because many of them could be just as gullible as us, and some have fallen for the biggest hoaxes.

 

I have seen a police officer do traffic before....anyone remember Officer Mike Kilburn from WBNS in the early 2000s? I think he had a short stint at WCMH soon afterwards...

 

Good points. IMHO, social media reporters add nothing of value to a broadcast. We have that in here in San Diego for the Padres telecasts every tuesday, and it has gotten to the point where I tune the game out when the segment pops up. They pose topics for viewers to respond to, and the reporter will read them on air- it's stupid. I am not opposed to using social media during a newscast, if it will promote an intelligent discussion and or get an honest reaction of the public. However, far too often we see the typical " OMG, did you see the Miley twerking video, did you guys like it?!?!?!" question on social media, and somehow it finds its way on to a newscast for no legitimate reason. On a side note in regards to traffic reporters...The California Highway Patrol provides traffic reports to local stations. I believe that the CHP partners with KTTV in LA for traffic reports and here in San Diego, they do it on KGTV. In fact, Phil Konstantin, a former CHP officer went to work as traffic reporter at KUSI after he retired from the Highway Patrol. He then jumped to KGTV to be their traffic/helicopter reporter (he was laid off earlier this year when KGTV gave up their chopper), now he is working for Metro Traffic appearing on air at KFMB.

[CircleSeven 1944]

The CW is coming to WWAY.

 

Wilmington Star News posting that in October 1st, Morris' ABC affiliate WWAY will add the CW affiliation on its digital subchannel. Before, folks would have to watch the CW via a cable-only CW plus affiliate or from a neighboring market station in Myrtle Beach. The 3.2 subchannel will be branded Cape Fear CW.

 

Currently, Retro TV occupies the 3.2. That network will move to subchannel 3.3, a week prior to the CW launch. It's also stated that sometime next year, WWAY will add a 10pm newscast, airing after the CW primetime programming.

[Nelson R. 560]

The CW is coming to WWAY.

 

Wilmington Star News posting that in October 1st, Morris' ABC affiliate WWAY will add the CW affiliation on its digital subchannel. Before, folks would have to watch the CW via a cable-only CW plus affiliate or from a neighboring market station in Myrtle Beach. The 3.2 subchannel will be branded Cape Fear CW.

 

Currently, Retro TV occupies the 3.2. That network will move to subchannel 3.3, a week prior to the CW launch. It's also stated that sometime next year, WWAY will add a 10pm newscast, airing after the CW primetime programming.

Wow they're gonna need to acquire a lot of syndie shows to fill up the time. But good for WWAY.

[Nelson R. 560]

And I just looked at WWAY's schedule. How do you have infomercials at 9, 9:30, noon AND 12:30 weekdays?

[Ntropolis 593]

 

And I just looked at WWAY's schedule. How do you have infomercials at 9, 9:30, noon AND 12:30 weekdays?

 

To add to that, they were having "network difficulties" this past Monday night that caused them to cancel the rest of their 5/5:30/6pm newscasts. The replacement? An infomercial.

 

There's also infomercials at noon. "Your Hometown Show" is essentially a paid program.

[Samantha 2876]

KGUN evening anchor Jennifer Waddell is headed to Nashville, where she'll work for WZTV.

[NewsMaster 226]

According to the NMSA, WENY in Elmira, NY is the first non-Gannett station to use the This Is Home package from Gari Media Group.

[GoldenShine9 1509]

 

According to the NMSA, WENY in Elmira, NY is the first non-Gannett station to use the This Is Home package from Gari Media Group.

 

Are its sister stations in Flint, Toledo and Erie considering using that music as well?

[mike91 66]

WENY has a partnership with the Elmira daily newspaper the Star-Gazette, which was the first newspaper in the Gannett empire, so maybe it has somethig to do with that. They have also adopted a new graphics package that sister stations WSEE/WICU use (which is a huge step up from what they were using before) and a new logo (also a huge step up from the previous look). Overall, a pretty good look for a mid 170's market and definently leaps and bounds ahead of what market leader WETM (Nexstar) uses (they haven't had a graphics update minus their weather gfx in like ten years, but with new ownership (previously they were Newport) maybe they will get one of the Nexstar standardized packs.

[sanewsguy 509]

 

WENY has a partnership with the Elmira daily newspaper the Star-Gazette, which was the first newspaper in the Gannett empire, so maybe it has somethig to do with that. They have also adopted a new graphics package that sister stations WSEE/WICU use (which is a huge step up from what they were using before) and a new logo (also a huge step up from the previous look). Overall, a pretty good look for a mid 170's market and definently leaps and bounds ahead of what market leader WETM (Nexstar) uses (they haven't had a graphics update minus their weather gfx in like ten years, but with new ownership (previously they were Newport) maybe they will get one of the Nexstar standardized packs.

 

WETM's graphics (the 2005 KXAN graphics package from GO) aren't too bad. They've held up well. They use the 2005 NBC Artworks graphics for weather (they updated them a couple of days after Nexstar took control), which makes me think that they might start using that full time, but maybe not.

[Nelson R. 560]

This just in: Morgan Fogarty threw us a shocking curveball. She's returning to WCCB!

 

http://www.wccbcharlotte.com/story/morgan-fogarty-to-return-to-wccb-charlotte-20130909

 

Can't see WCCB carrying 3 weeknight anchors. Christine Noel may end up filling her own vacancy on weekends!

[Daybreak 269]

 

This just in: Morgan Fogarty threw us a shocking curveball. She's returning to WCCB!

 

http://www.wccbcharlotte.com/story/morgan-fogarty-to-return-to-wccb-charlotte-20130909

 

Can't see WCCB carrying 3 weeknight anchors. Christine Noel may end up filling her own vacancy on weekends!

 

What???? There is more to the story (maybe she wants job security since AJAM is just beginning and don't know how things are going to work out...) But this is very odd to me but I may be over thinking.

[CLTNewsWatch 4]

What???? There is more to the story (maybe she wants job security since AJAM is just beginning and don't know how things are going to work out...) But this is very odd to me but I may be over thinking.

 

I would have thought that she would have a contract with Al Jazeera. Was she seen on air on Al Jazeera? It was only a couple of weeks ago that she left WCCB.

[TexasTVNews 1366]

Lots of news expansions, along with the coming and goings courtesy of our friends at TVSpy.

 

• After 14 years at Washington DC's WTTG FOX 5, Brian Bolter is saying goodbye. Bolter anchors the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts solo and the 10 p.m. newscast alongside Shawn Yancy. His last day at WTTG will be This Thursday. Bolter's replacement has not been announced.
  

 

• KING and KONG, Belo’s NBC affiliate and independent station in Seattle, are expanding their evening newscasts. Beginning tonight, KING will expand its 6:30 p.m. newscast from 30 minutes to an hour and KONG will present an hour long newscast at 9 p.m. Dennis Bounds and Jean Enersen will continue to helm KING’s 6:30 p.m. newscast as it expands to an hour. Rob Piercy will debut as the anchor of KONG’s 9 p.m. newscast.
  

 

• Wichita's ABC 10 KAKE has added two new newscasts, one on Sunday mornings and one at 4 p.m. on weekdays, to its lineup. The Sunday morning newscast, which debuted yesterday, is anchored by Annette Lawless with meteorologist Blake Smith. The 4 p.m. newscast, anchored by Larry Hatteberg and Deb Farris, will debut this afternoon. The station is currently searching for a replacement for Jeff Herndon, who signed off from the anchor desk last week.
  

 

• Bettina Boateng has moved from mornings to evenings at Birmingham's NBC 13 WVTM. She replaces Andrea Lindenberg, who departed from the station last month after her contract was not renewed, the Birmingham News reports. Boateng took over as co-anchor of the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts, alongside Mike Royer, last week. “Bettina has become a friend to me and my family over the years,” Royer said in a statement. “Now, I’m really excited to work with her every day." Boateng joined WVTM in 2007 as a weekend anchor and was promoted to morning anchor in 2010. Before moving to Birmingham, she was a weekend anchor at WCBD in Charleston, S.C. According to the Birmingham News, Lindenberg wrote on Facebook that she will seek a “more simple life” with her family. “Though this was not my decision, it is one I’ve wanted to make but was always too scared to do on my own,” she wrote.
  

[WAVY 10 Fan 232]

WAVY-produced FOX 43 News at 7 expanded to two hours beginning this morning

[Nelson R. 560]

Morgan Fogarty will return to WCCB tomorrow! http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/09/09/4300725/an-about-face-for-fogarty-as-she.html#.Ui49-rwmzk8

[news89 467]

Jessica Ralston at Huntington-Charleston market leader WSAZ Newschannel 3 is off to Journal's WTVF Newschannel 5 starting Monday Oct 21 will be anchor of 5 and 10pm newscasts. Currently, Jessica anchors from WSAZ's Charleston studio for 530, 6, 10pm news on MyZ (WSAZ subchannel) and 11pm news. No word on replacement for her at WSAZ. But last week Amanda Barren was filling in for Jessica. Jessica has been with WSAZ since December of 2003. http://www.wsaz.com/station/bios/news/2697701.html