TheRob

Lisa Benson (ex-KSHB) is airing some grievances on Twitter today.

I would use the old Tones on Tail song "Go!" at the start. When the newscast ends, play a song with "Stop!" in the title.

Three Kansas City anchors are leaving at the same time. Richard Sharp is going from KSHB to Sacramento. Nicole DiAntonio is traveling from WDAF-TV to Washington, D.C.. Steve Albritton is leaving KMBC-TV for Cincinnati. In St. Louis, KTVI has two pregnant meteorologists simultaneously. https://fox2now.com/2019/09/06/angela-hutti-and-jaime-travers-are-expecting/

I was watching KOSA during the shooting coverage today, and the anchors left the set twice because of armed officers running through the shopping mall where they have a studio. Now the anchors are in the parking lot, losing their mics periodically, with an empty set on screen.

KTVI's Kim Hudson is going on medical leave. https://fox2now.com/2019/08/29/kim-hudson-explains-why-she-will-be-off-air-for-a-few-months/

Nexstar has reached a deal with AT&T/DirecTV/UVerse.

KCTV sports anchor/reporter Tom Martin is leaving for a video production company.

Sad news from WHNT: https://whnt.com/2019/08/09/remembering-whnt-news-19s-ivy-anderson/

Hello again from Dish: https://keepmystation.com/wdaf

Anyone on this board could afford to buy a half-hour of time on a mid-market local TV station.

KNPN (St. Joseph) anchor Bob Heater died over the weekend at age 63. He had been a part of St. Joseph, Missouri radio and TV for 40 years. https://www.newspressnow.com/news/local_news/voice-of-st-joseph-bob-heater-dies-at/article_b103b42e-b0e0-11e9-bc01-af1413bcf4bc.html

Scott reports that former Headline News anchor Bob Losure has died. I haven't seen it anywhere else. https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2019/7/23/headline-news-anchor-has-died

The fine will be in the millions of dollars. No one's losing any licenses.

FCC calling: https://www.wsj.com/articles/fcc-investigates-whether-sinclair-showed-lack-of-candor-when-trying-to-buy-tribune-11561600586?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1 In a June 25 letter to Sinclair viewed by The Wall Street Journal, the FCC said it is investigating whether the nation’s biggest owner of local television stations “engaged in misrepresentation and/or lack of candor” with the agency when it was seeking approval for the $3.9 billion deal.

Former KUSI anchor files lawsuit: https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/former-kusi-anchor-sues-for-10-million-claiming-pay-inequality

KOTV's former news director Jeff Bardach (former co-worker of mine) has landed at KDKA in Pittsburgh as assistant news director. He was out of work for several months.

By my rough count, we would have to reassign around three more people to achieve that digital-first mantra. We already have a lot of people who are titled "multi-platform" and report to the digital content manager. I could see it being difficult for those mid-market stations that produce a lot of news, but don't have the resources to devote to a lot of web content. Personally I would start at ten percent and maybe assign a different reporter each day to be the "digital reporter of the day."

WTHR has been a longtime ratings leader in Indianapolis, but they've been cutting back in recent years too. Good news for the competition...

The New York Post (I know, I know) reported today that Tongen thought he had Lewy body dementia. Only his doctor would know for sure.

TV companies are gradually coming after the managers after years of cutting talent salaries. Make one general manager run two or three stations. Give the ND a new title and double the duties. Gray recently "promoted" a few news directors to be general managers, even though those people will continue to be their station's news directors. Meredith added "station manager" titles to a few sales directors and news directors recently.

The sales staff visits the newsroom:

"You're free, news director. Go on now. Get."

KSHB'S news director is leaving.

Here come the layoffs. https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2019/5/6/breaking-cnn-to-to-cut-bodies