Big Rollo Smokes

A big one out of Los Angeles: Good Day LA co-anchor Tony McEwing is retiring after three decades at KTTV.

Her IG post from Oct. 2021...

In case anyone is interested... Soo Kim will be interviewed on Roland Martin's streaming show Roland Martin Unfiltered tomorrow (1/3) and will be discussing his still-pending purchase of TEGNA.

My first thought was...Good lord!! Between the illness/death of Chris Bradley four years ago this month, and then the Mike Davis scandal and now this...another sign that the once-mighty 10TV has fallen on hard times. We might need to hold a séance and reach out to the legendary "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes so he can cut a new version of his classic promo just for them...

For the third time in four years, WBNS-TV in Columbus is looking for it's next chief meteorologist. Ashlee Baracy is leaving 10TV for what the station describes as "an exciting new opportunity." She will sign-off this Thursday (12/15). https://www.10tv.com/mobile/article/news/local/ashlee-baracy-leaving-10tv/530-3252e926-2f27-4df5-9f63-ed8ad224f438

That still leaves out Lima, Toledo, and Zanesville. Not to mention Marietta, which is covered in the Parkersburg WV market.

Or, the 1992 New York Mets. The worst team money could buy. I'm in Ohio right now and I watched it on WCMH-TV. Where did it air in the non-Nexstar markets?

Please see my above comment.

Quick history lesson: when KYW-TV launched Eyewitness News, the station was in Cleveland and an NBC affiliate. Networks have nothing to do with local news branding, at least back then.

Former tv news director and executive Al Primo, credited with conceiving the Eyewitness News format for Group W in Cleveland and Philadelphia, and then perfecting it at ABC in New York, has passed at age 87. Here's the story from WABC-TV, where Primo served as ND and where his creation attained perhaps its greatest and longest-lasting success. (Note [9:52 PM ET]: the story contains an incorrect reference to Stu Nahan and Bill Bonds launching Eyewitness News in NYC in '69, which they did–but in LA. I've already reported this to WABC-TV and hopefully, they'll dig deeper into their own history and make the necessary corrections rather than cut-and-paste from another source.) (EDIT [12:35 AM ET, 9/30]: Said corrections have been made.)

True also spent time in the Albuquerque market, starting with KOB-TV in the late 1970s. (He is featured in this newscast air check from April 1980.) True was fired from KOB-TV in the summer of '80, apparently on a suggestion of a consulting firm, but resurfaced at KGGM-TV (KRQE) and stayed there until the end of 1987.

That's probably because those three stations were sisters, owned by General Electric at the time.

They were still running that show? Geez what was that, like three ownerships ago?

That erection has lasted much, much, much longer than 36 hours. Someone may seriously need to consult their medical professional posthaste, because something may be very wrong.

FWIW... Winfrey has a corporate connection to CBS going back to when her syndicator, King World, was purchased by the old CBS in 2000, before the merger with the first Viacom. Her historical connection with ABC was established well before that, starting at WLS-TV in Chicago in 1983. And her early career consisted of stops at (then-) ABC affiliate WJZ-TV in Baltimore, and CBS affiliate WLAC-TV (WTVF) in Nashville.

It was the other way around. WRAL-TV dropped CBS.

From Cincinnati, WXIX-TV (Fox 19) reporter/anchor Michael Baldwin is leaving the Queen City and moving behind the scenes. He's headed to WDTV in Weston-Clarksburg WV as News Director. Both WXIX-TV and WDTV are owned by Gray. Let me share this personal note: I interned for Michael when he was at News 12 Long Island back in 2011, starting only weeks after he suffered a huge personal tragedy. Shortly before my internship ended he moved to Ohio and joined WEWS in Cleveland, then onto Cincinnati five years ago. Seeing where he was nine years ago and where he is now is amazing. He is a great reporter and an even better person. Good luck to him.

Freaking Warner Music Group slapped a worldwide block on this clip. I was hoping to show this to a curious friend.

And before that, Silverman green-lit America Alive!, which killed The Gong Show and daytime Sanford and Son reruns. It was a talk-variety hour that would be considered "infotainment" in today's landscape with multiple hosts, including Jack Linkletter (Art's son) and Bruce Jenner (before he became Caitlin). It was live from New York, with remotes via satellite from Los Angeles and elsewhere on the East Coast, in front of a studio audience, and was a multi-million dollar flop that lasted just over five months on the air.